He kissed her slowly and thoroughly, beginning with her mouth and heading slowly south as though she were a long-denied treat and his diet was over.

“I think you even taste like apricots,” he said, as he toyed with her breasts before sucking one sensitive tip right into his mouth.

Oh, what that man could do with his lips and tongue. He kissed her skin everywhere, bringing it to tingling life. Slow and meticulous, he seemed intent on kissing every inch of her.

“Oh, Patrick,” she sighed.

“I didn’t take enough time with you in the elevator,” he murmured against her ribs. “I was in too much of a hurry, too eager.”

“I loved what happened in the elevator.”

He grinned up at her. “Me, too. But this time, we’ve got all night.”

And he was as good as his word. He kissed her everywhere, and what he wasn’t kissing, he was touching, stroking, learning with his hands.

She was close to begging him to take her, when he slipped her thighs apart and put his mouth just there. She felt zapped-shocked to the core-and tiny helpless cries escaped her.

He licked her until she couldn’t hold back, and every part of her exploded; fireworks burst behind her eyelids and she let out a sob of relief.

Only then did he sheath himself. As he positioned himself at the still-pulsing entrance to her body, he smiled down at her with great tenderness and held her gaze as he entered her slowly.

Even though they’d been intimate in the elevator, this was completely different. It was light, and they’d made this decision as consenting adults, not as adrenaline-pumped earthquake victims. He felt so right moving inside her, reaching all her lonely places, that she longed to close her eyes and savor every sensation. But somehow she knew how important it was for him to look into her eyes, so she kept them open for him, ignoring the quiver of fear that such intimacy caused.

When he started moving faster, she lost her grip on conscious thought and concentrated instead of hanging on to him. He was beautiful, decent and gorgeous. If only she could stop her feelings from going too deep.

If only it weren’t too late.

His eyes darkened, his breathing harshened, his movements became half-crazed. As climax rocked her, she set off his explosion and they seemed to melt together in one perfect moment.

“I love you,” he said as he poured himself into her body.

CHAPTER TWELVE

I LOVE YOU. The words echoed in the air along with their labored breathing and pounding hearts.

Briana wished Patrick hadn’t said those dangerous words, those dangerous, magic words, as she played her fingers through her lover’s hair, feeling warmth coming off him in waves.

It was a moment of such perfect contentment, she wished she could make it last. He loved her.

After a minute or two, he raised himself up on his forearms so he could look down into her face. Cupping her cheek in his palm, he kissed her softly on the lips. “I didn’t mean to blurt out my feelings so soon,” he said. “They’re true, though. I do love you.”

“Well, I’m glad it’s not an automatic reflex thing, every time you climax.”

He chuckled. “No. Usually I’m not so articulate. If I’d thought about it, I wouldn’t have said it, I guess, but I didn’t think.”

“Oh, Patrick. I love you, too.”

What a tangled web she’d woven, and hadn’t she become well ensnared in it? The man she was meant to entrap had trapped her, body and heart.

“You do?” He seemed almost as surprised as relieved.

She smiled up at him. “I love you. I love Dylan and Fiona, I even love poor disaster-plagued Courage Bay.”

“That’s good, but I haven’t even had a chance to date you properly yet. You may think you love me, but wait until you see my woman-getting arsenal. You’ll be under attack and won’t know what hit you.”

“Under attack, huh?” she said, feeling girlishly silly and delighted at the idea.

“That’s right. Morning.” He kissed her lips. “Noon.” He kissed the spot where her breasts met. “And night.” As though he couldn’t resist, he came back to her mouth and kissed her again, deeply.

“What form will this attack take?” she wondered aloud, loving this fun-loving, sweet, sweet man, so different from the suit-and-tie mayor.

“My arsenal is mostly secret. However, I think it’s fair to say there will be wining and dining.”

She considered. “Two fine weapons.”

“I don’t think flowers would be going too far.”

“A woman always likes to receive a bouquet now and then,” she agreed.

“That’s more the mental siege, to break down your resistance, before I step up the attack and move into the physical phase.”

“Oh, you’re planning to bully me?”

He shook his head. “Woo you.”

“I like the sound of wooing.”

“After the wining, dining and flowers, there will be some very physical wooing, don’t you worry.”

“You’re sounding awfully confident.”

He kissed her again, a nice loud smacker. “Actually, I’m not, but my heart’s gone now, and since I can’t get it back, I’ll just have to get you along with it.”

“Oh,” she said, feeling a prickle at her eyelids that surprised the heck out of her, “that is so sweet.”

“I know I’m pushing you, and rushing you and pressuring you and doing everything I shouldn’t, but I need you to realize that I’m also a package deal. You can’t have me in your life and not have Fiona and Dylan.”

She snuggled up to him and kissed his chin, then the tip of his nose, and then his lips, which still tasted a little of her. “In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m already in your life. And theirs.”

Even though she’d tried to resist him, Dylan was as up front about his own brand of wooing as his dad, and Fiona didn’t have to do a thing to steal her heart. She’d fallen for the little tyke the first minute she saw her.

Her happiness was slightly tarnished by a flickering thought for her uncle, but she pushed it aside.

She couldn’t have fallen in love with a man who wasn’t trustworthy, and she couldn’t go on loving him without admitting how she’d come to work for him.

Phew, it wasn’t going to be easy, admitting that she’d taken the job under false pretenses. But when she explained why, and shared the results of her investigation, she hoped he’d understand that although she’d joined his staff with an ulterior motive, she would never have done anything to hurt him or his family.

Suddenly, a sense of urgency gripped her. As soon as she saw Joe Carlton, she’d tell Patrick everything.

They made love again, their newly expressed feelings adding a poignancy and intensity she’d never experienced before. “I never thought I could be this happy again,” he said when he was buried deep inside her body and they were as close as two people can be.

By the time they’d finished round two, which had somehow morphed into round three without a break, Briana was feeling emotionally and physically sated.

“Are you hungry?” she asked.

He narrowed his eyes at her. “That depends. If we have to leave this apartment to find food, then no, I’m not hungry. I’m too tired to move. I may never move again.”

“How about if I told you I already have a salad and chicken breast prepared?” She wasn’t the only one who needed refueling. They’d both been pretty acrobatic that last round.

“In that case, I’m famished.”

She chuckled. “I also have a freezer full of stuff. I have domestic urges,” she admitted, as though it were a shameful secret. “When I’m upset or thinking deeply about things, I always cook. And since I live alone, well, like I said, I have a freezer full of stuff.”

He dragged himself out of bed and stepped into his shorts, leaving his chest bare. Which was just the way she liked it. If she had her way, he’d always go bare-chested. In fact, she might make it a rule for his entry into her apartment, she thought with a foolish sense of burgeoning happiness. Or maybe it was a burgeoning sense of foolish happiness. Could she be this lucky?