"You're being flippant."

"Somewhat."

After the movie ended, Julian helped her clean up.

While she was loading the dishwasher, the phone rang. "I'll be back in a sec," she said, dashing to the living room to pick up the phone.

"Grace, is that you?"

Grace froze at the sound of Rodney Carmichael's voice. "Hello, Mr. Carmichael," she said coldly.

At that moment, she could have killed Luanne for going out of town.

She'd only had the one session with Rodney that past Wednesday, but it had been enough to make her want to hire an investigator to find Luanne and bring her home.

The man gave her the creeps.

"Where were you today, Grace? You're not sick, are you? I could bring you some-"

"Didn't Lisa reschedule your appointment?"

"She did, but I was thinking we could-"

"Look, Mr. Carmichael, I don't see patients in my home. I'll see you at your appointment time. Okay?"

The line went dead.

"Grace?"

She jumped and screamed at Julian's voice behind her.

He stared at her with a curious look that would have been funny had she not been terrified.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm sorry." She set the phone down. "It was just that patient I told you about. Rodney Carmichael. He weirds me out."

"Weirds?"

"Makes me nervous." For the first time, she was more than grateful for Julian's presence. Otherwise, she'd be headed over to Selena and Bill's to impose herself on their hospitality for the rest of the weekend.

"C'mon," she said, turning off the kitchen light. "Why don't we go upstairs, and I can start teaching you to read English?"

He shook his head. "You don't give up, do you?"

"Nope."

"All right," he said, falling in behind her. "I'll let you teach me, but only if you put on your red night-"

"No, no, no." She paused on the stairs and turned around to look at him. "I don't think so."

He reached up and brushed her hair from her shoulder. "Don't you know I need a Muse to inspire me to learn? And what better Muse than you in-"

She stopped his words by placing her fingers over his lips. "If I put that on, I seriously doubt you'll learn anything you don't already know."

He nipped her fingers with his teeth. "I promise to behave."

Knowing it was a very bad idea, she let him talk her into it.

"You better behave," she said over her shoulder as she continued up the stairs and to her bedroom.

Grace entered her large, walk-in closet that her father had turned into a small library years ago, and dug around the bookshelves until she found her ancient copy of Peter Pan.

Julian dug in her dresser until he found that wretched outfit.

They exchanged items in the center of the room. Grace ran to the bathroom and changed clothes, but as soon as she saw herself in the gauzy red nightie, she froze. Ugh! If Julian caught sight of her in this, he'd run screaming from the room.

Unable to bear the humiliation of seeing his disappointment in her body, she changed out of the nightie and into her modest pink dorm shirt, then wrapped herself in her thick, terry-cloth robe before returning to her room.

Julian shook his head at her. "Why are you wearing that?"

"Look, I'm not an idiot. I don't have the kind of body that makes men drool."

"What are you trying to tell me? You're a man?"

She frowned at his logic. "No."

"Then how do you know what men want to ogle?"

"Because they never do. Okay? Men don't drool over me the way women drool over you. Heck, I'm lucky if they even realize I'm female."

"Grace," he breathed, moving from the bed. He went to stand at the foot of it.

"Come here," he commanded.

She obeyed.

He stood her directly in front of her full-length mirror. "Tell me what you see?" he asked.

"You."

He smiled at her reflection.

Leaning down, he rested his chin on her shoulder. "What do you see when you look at you?"

"Someone who needs to lose fifteen to twenty pounds and buy stock in Porcelana fade cream for my freckles."

He didn't look amused.

He reached his hands around her waist, to the front of the robe where her belt tied it closed.

"Let me tell you what I see." He all but purred in her ear as he placed his hands on the belt without opening it. "I see beautiful hair as dark as night. Soft and thick. You have the kind of hair that a man loves to feel cascading over his bare stomach. Hair a man wants to bury his face in so that he can smell you."

She shivered.

"You have the heart-shaped face of a mischievous imp with full, sensuous lips that beg for kisses. As for your freckles, they are beguiling. They add a youthful charm to your body that is uniquely you, and utterly irresistible."

It didn't sound so bad when he put it that way.

He tugged open her robe and grimaced at the sight of her pink dorm shirt.

He parted the robe wider.

"What have we here?" he breathed, his eyes devouring her.

Before she could think to protest, he pulled the robe from her shoulders and let it fall in a pool at her feet. He returned to rest his chin on her shoulder as his gaze captured hers in the mirror.

He lifted the hem of her dorm shirt.

"Julian," she said, catching his hand.

They locked gazes in the mirror. Grace froze, unable to move as his hot, tender look held her enthralled.

"I want to see you, Grace," he said in a tone that let her know he would not be denied.

Before she could gather her thoughts, he removed her shirt from her, then skimmed his hand over the bare skin of her stomach.

"Your breasts are not small," he whispered, straightening to tower over her. "They're the perfect size for a man's hand." To prove his point, he reached up and cupped them in both his hands.

"Julian," she half moaned, her body on fire. "Remember your promise."

"I'm behaving myself," he said, his voice hoarse.

Leaning her head back against his hard pecs, Grace breathlessly watched him in the mirror as he released her breasts and ran his hands over her ribs, down to her hips, then under the waistband of her panties.

"You have a beautiful body, Grace," he said as he brushed his hand over her mound.

For the first time in her life, she actually believed it. He nuzzled her neck as his hand played in the short, dark curls.

"Julian," she cried, knowing if she didn't stop him now, she would never be able to stop him later.

"Sh," he breathed in her ear. "I've got you."

And then he separated the tender folds of her body and touched her core.

Grace moaned as heat tore through her. Julian captured her lips with his own and kissed her deeply and fully.

Instinctively, she turned in his arms to taste him better.

He picked her up then, never leaving her lips as he carried her to the bed. Somehow, he even managed to lay her back and join her on the mattress, all the while maintaining his kiss.

The man was seriously talented.

And oh, her body was hot. Afire from his touch. His wickedly erotic smell. With the feeling of his body lying against hers. Grace trembled all over as he separated her thighs with his knees and placed his fully clothed body against her.

His weight was wonderful. His body hard and virile as he ground his lean hips against hers. Even through his jeans, she could feel his erection pressing against the center of her body. As if magnetized, her hips rose to meet his.

"That's it, Grace," he whispered against her lips as he continued to grind his swollen groin against her in a masterful way that told her she would already be climaxing if he were inside her. "Feel me touching you. Feel my desire for you and you alone. Don't fight it."

She moaned again as he left her lips and trailed hot, searing kisses down her throat, to her breasts which he suckled gently.