“A what?”

“Nothing.” She smiled at him. “I’m all ears, Theo.”

“No, you’re not.” Theo’s gaze strayed to Lucy’s pretty forearms, wrists, and hands, then to the hollow at the base of her slim throat, to her shoulders, breasts, thighs, hips…

“Does your confession have to do with lust?”

“No.” Theo looked up quickly. “I mean yes! I mean-” Theo brought his arm up over the back of the sofa and stroked her shoulder. “That night at the Mandarin-”

“Theo, look. I’m aware my feelings for you don’t come at a great time, and I also know women have this annoying habit of falling for you-”

“Are you done yet?” Theo brushed his fingertip down the curve of that beautiful, sweet face.

Lucy swallowed and nodded.

“I don’t care about any other woman. Just you. Only you.”

Lucy’s lips parted and her eyes became huge. “What exactly are you saying?”

“The night of the party wasn’t my best work, Lucy. I blew it. I wanted to tell you I loved you, but I was so screwed up in my head that I couldn’t. It was a disaster and I apologize.”

Theo drew his thumb along her bottom lip and watched her turn in to his touch. “I saw you standing there in the ballroom and the force of your beauty and strength just about knocked me over. It was like everything had come to the surface for both of us, right at that instant, and I was in awe of you, so crazy about you, and so afraid.”

“I scared you? I hadn’t even had my first margarita at that point.”

“I’m walking toward you, ready to strip bare my soul to you, and Tyson picks that moment to tell me that you deserve to be savored, enjoyed, and spoiled. Do you know he goes around talking about you like that?”

Lucy beamed. “That’s really nice of him.”

“He was right, you know. And all I could think was that I wouldn’t have time to spoil and enjoy you and if that’s what you deserved, you’d be better off with someone who could.”

Lucy shook her head. “That’s why you acted so weird all night?”

“I didn’t want to let you in and then lose you. I’m sick of losing people, you know? When my parents died, the only thing that kept me going was how angry I was, and how much Buddy needed me. When Jenna left me last year, it was the same shit all over again.”

“Oh, Theo-”

“I thought I could keep my heart safe if I crammed my life so full that there was no room for anyone new to squeeze in. But you squeezed in anyway.” Theo smiled. “You found a crack and you pushed through. Does this make any sense to you?”

She nodded softly. “It does.”

“I never meant to play games with you, Lucy. But when I’m with you, I seem to lose my head. Plus I have a hard time keeping my hands to myself.”

At that, her head popped up and her eyes widened further.

Theo stroked her cheek again and put his mouth to her ear, whispering, “I want to feel you and bury my nose in you and kiss you all over. You draw me in, make me weak.”

Lucy looked to her left and then to her right and said, “You talkin‘ to me?”

“Yes, you,” he said, laughing. “And ever since you started ignoring me, I haven’t been able to remember the reasons why I shouldn’t be with you, just the reasons why I should.”

“What reasons are those?”

Theo got to his knees in front of the sofa. He smoothed her forehead and ran his fingers through her hair. “That you’re everything I’ve ever wanted. I need you in my life.”

Her reaction wasn’t what he expected. Lucy winced and leaned over, clutching her sides. “Are you all right?”

She peered up from her crouch and nodded.

“Was it something you ate?”

“You might say that.”

Theo opened his arms, and Lucy fell in to him, pressing against his chest and sighing in contentment. He sighed, too. She was back where she belonged, in his arms and in his life.

Theo put his lips on her hair and held her tight. “Now that you know how I feel, I want you to take off your clothes and make me glad I’m a man.”

She giggled and brought her lips to his throat, flicking her tongue across his skin. “You’re so suave, Theo. No wonder the women throw themselves at you.”

“So it worked?”

Lucy laughed. “Will this disrobing be for professional assessment purposes only?”

Theo reveled in the feel of her warm and soft kisses on his throat and face. He closed his eyes and wallowed in the scent of Lucy. “This is all horribly unprofessional.”

“Good. Then kiss me.”

He obliged, grabbing her with one arm and pulling himself up to the couch, falling over her, pressing his body down into her, cradling her head as he kissed and nibbled and probed and generally lapped her up.

“You taste so good, Luce. You feel so damn good to me-” Theo’s hands moved along her back and onto her hip and up into the front of that T-shirt, and all he could think about was getting his palm on a breast- one of those round, warm female breasts that he’d missed desperately.

Lucy had her hands inside his shirt as well, up underneath the cotton, her fingers splayed over his chest, her mouth meeting his and giving back every bit of what she received. Lucy was hot and sweet and Theo knew he had waited far too long and made far too much of a very simple reality-this woman was what he wanted. He loved her.

“Let me love you, Lucy.”

“I thought you’d never ask.” She pushed up to a sitting position, then threw herself at him and knocked him back into the couch cushions, covering him with her heat and her smell and the silky sweet kisses and sexy little moans he didn’t think he’d ever be able to live without.

He yanked on her T-shirt and pulled it over her head. He grabbed the waistband of those revolting pink sweatpants and pushed down until they cleared the mounds of her butt, which he then grabbed onto with both hands.

“Let me feel you. Let me look at you. God, yes, I need you so much, Luce.”

Lucy popped up and sat on his thighs. She smiled down at him as she reached around and unhooked her bra, shrugged out of it, and tossed it to the floor. Then she reached up and dragged the ponytail holder out of her hair.

And there she was, naked from the hips up, all pink and soft and sexy, and those eyes were sparkling and daring him and Theo wanted this woman so much he thought he’d bust.

He brought his hands up and cradled her breasts, watching with fascination how the large dark pink nipples puckered and elongated from the gentle touch. He stroked his fingers across the pale freckles on her chest, then across the beat of her blood as it pulsed through her carotid artery, thinking such a profoundly simple thought-that a human body could be exercised and molded and trained, but it was the spirit inside that made a person who she was.

And he’d always loved the person inside this body.

Theo rose up and brought his mouth to her left breast and suckled on her, felt her move back and forth on his thighs, heard her moans grow deeper and louder.

“Do you think we could possibly ditch these butt-ugly pink sweatpants, Luce?”

She nodded enthusiastically and rose on her knees and shimmied the pants down, then reached behind her and pulled them off her calves and feet, tossing them to the floor.

Lucy was now just wearing a pair of lacy underwear, not a thong but not granny panties, either, and Theo could see her like never before. Her hips were smooth and curvy and her belly-the one they’d worked on for ten months-was soft and rounded and vulnerable, and he stroked her there, spread his hands over her, and she rolled her head back and groaned. She was simply beautiful.

He let his hands travel downward, and he cupped her mound through her panties. Her head flew upright.

“Wait,” she gasped.

“For how long? And why?”

Lucy grabbed his wrist and held his hand still. She looked down at him. “I’ll be right back.”

“Oh jeez, Luce. Not this again.”

She was already off him, and he watched her as she ran into her bedroom. Before she could change her mind, he ran in there after her, catching her just as she slipped a slinky little camisole over her top. He came up behind her and nuzzled the back of her neck, all while he slipped off her panties.