“Exactly.” She said it matter-of-factly, because to her, it was. “He’d finished his residency and had signed on as a full-time ER doc. Everyone expected me to leave, I think. To go to pedes or surgery or something. But I like the ER. So I didn’t leave.”

He looked nonplussed. “I guess that makes for some awkward moments.”

“That’s putting it mildly.” She shrugged. “Anyway, I moved out of the house a year ago and the new wife moved right in behind me. They’re… good together.”

“That’s magnanimous of you,” he said warily, and she laughed ruefully.

“I guess I liked him enough not to want him to be unhappy. Meredith, now, she’d like to see him strung between two anthills and dipped in honey.”

Finally that one side of his mouth lifted, lifting her heart with it. “Note to self,” he murmured. “Don’t piss Meredith off.”

She nodded once, pleased to have been able to make him smile. “Exactly.”

But too quickly his smile faded. “Were you dreaming again tonight?”

Thinking about the dreams made her cold again. “Yes.” She rubbed her arms to get warm and he took over, pulling her against him, rubbing her back briskly. The man was like a furnace, warm and strong and male, and she snuggled closer, wanting more.

And finding it in the pulse of his hard arousal against her hip.

She sucked in a breath, suddenly much warmer. He wanted her. And she wanted him. But before she could decide what to say or do, he shifted, settling her away from his lap, and all that wonderful, sensual heat disappeared. His arms came hard around her and he tucked her head under his chin. “I’m sorry,” he murmured against her hair.

She pulled back to see his face. He was wearing a guilty look. “Why?”

He glanced at Meredith’s door. “Look, I promised you that nothing would happen that you didn’t want to happen.”

“Yesterday, in the car. I remember. And so? Nothing has happened.” She lifted her chin. “Not yet anyway. That could change.”

His chest expanded and his blue eyes grew dark. Still he resisted. “If Hatton hadn’t come knocking on that door last night… I was trying to…” He closed his eyes, his cheeks darkening. “I wanted you. If we hadn’t been interrupted I might have tried to push you into something you weren’t ready for.”

Alex considered the most appropriate response. He was trying to take care of her, and while she found it sweet, she was leaning toward being very annoyed. “Daniel.” She waited until he opened his eyes. “I’m not sixteen anymore and do not want to be any kind of a victim in your eyes or anybody else’s. I’ll be thirty on my next birthday. I have a good job. A good life. And the good sense to make my own decisions.”

He nodded, respect in his eyes. It was grim, but it was respect. “Understood.”

“But, Daniel.” She hooked her finger inside his loosened tie, trying for sultry, but sounding wistful instead. “I still want to be… unbridled.”

His eyes flared. Then he was kissing her and she could feel the heat and power of his mouth. Then he was rolling her beneath him and she could feel the heat and power of his body as he thrust against her, his movements hard and deliberate. His hands held the sides of her face, his fingers shoving into her hair and he moved her head, this way, then that, until he found the perfect fit.

And then he feasted, a low groan that sounded like her name rumbling from deep in his throat. Alex held on, determined to enjoy every minute of the wild ride for as long as it lasted. She met him thrust for thrust and when he nudged her mouth open she complied, learning the varied textures of his lips, his seeking tongue.

Too soon he lifted his head to drag in a lungful of air. He looked down, his eyes dark and hot and slightly dangerous. “That was…”

“Really good,” she whispered, startling a soft laugh from him.

“Really good? I expected more from a woman who comes up with ‘unbridled.’ ”

She arched her brows. “That’s because I wasn’t yet. Unbridled, that is.”

His lips twitched, but his eyes remained intense. “Next time you will be,” he murmured. “Now go back to bed.” He started to shift, to lift his body from hers and in a split second of certainty she knew what she wanted. With both hands she grabbed his belt and yanked him back, pressing her heels down into the sofa and her body up into his until she could feel him throbbing against her again, hot and hard. “I don’t want to.”

His eyes widened, then narrowed. “No. There’s no way. Not here.”

Feeling a power of her own, she held on to his belt when he tried to move again, realizing that if he’d really wanted to be gone, he would have been. He wanted this, too. She rolled her hips in what she hoped was a blatant invitation. “Why not?”

He was looking at her with an incredulity and a… carnal craving that made her own desire treble. “You want a freaking list?” he whispered.

“No, I want you to shut up and kiss me again.”

Relief had his shoulders slumping. “That I can do.” And he did with a kiss that started sweet, but quickly became hot and wet, dragging her back down into the swirling mass of needs and wants that she had no intention of escaping. She tugged at his shirt until she’d pulled the tails free and was free to explore the smooth skin she’d only glimpsed before. He groaned into her mouth. “Alex, stop.”

Her fingers stopped stroking and she pulled back far enough to see his face. “You really want me to?” she whispered and held her breath as want and responsibility warred in his eyes. After what seemed like an eternity he shook his head.

“No.”

The breath she held rushed out. “Good.” Nimbly she freed the buttons up the front of his shirt, then pulled the tie over his head and dropped it on the floor. Finally she had full access to his warm, hard chest, and she fanned her hands side, to side, feeling every flex and ripple. Golden hair covered him and she brushed at it with her fingertips, trailing lower until his abs twitched. “Daniel, look at you,” she whispered.

He kissed her again, softly this time. When he answered, his whisper was husky. Tender. “I’d rather look at you.” He pulled at the belt of her robe and caught her nightshirt in one hand. “Lift up.” She did and he pulled the nightshirt over her hips, continuing until she felt the cool air on her breasts. She shivered.

Then closed her eyes when his body slid down hers and his mouth closed over her. She shivered again, but this time from the heat. He sucked and fondled until she was thrusting against him, her hands in his hair, pulling him closer. He switched to the other breast, and she twisted, knowing she could get no closer, but trying nonetheless.

His hand flattened on her stomach and she sucked in a breath and held it, waiting. But he didn’t move it up or down, just kept it lightly resting, and she realized he was waiting for permission. Encouragement, even. Instead she begged. “Please.”

The single syllable launched him back into motion and his fingers slipped under the cotton that still covered her and she knew she’d been right about how good that thumb of his would feel. He made her shiver and shudder, but when she whimpered for more he shifted his mouth back to hers, swallowing her little moans.

She was so close. Digging her heels into the sofa cushions she surged against his hand until her blood was pounding and every nerve on every last inch of skin was firing. Until finally, light exploded behind her eyelids and she fell back against the cushions, panting and feeling better than she’d felt… possibly ever.

He dropped his forehead to her shoulder, his body rigid, his breathing labored. “Okay.” His murmur was ragged. “Now go to bed. Please.”

But his hand was still touching her intimately and she knew there was no way she could sleep now. Her pulse still thrummed and she still… needed. Judging from the way his body was still pulsing against her thigh, Daniel felt the same way.