An hour later, Halley left Evan in bed, making an adorable little snuffling snoring sound, and went over to his dresser. She pulled out a pair of his boxer shorts and stepped into them. After dragging one of his T-shirts on over her unruly hair, she went down the hall to the kitchen, walking softly so she wouldn’t wake him.

There had been plenty of times in the past where she had worn his clothes for various reasons, but this was different. For one thing, she wasn’t wearing any panties, since hers were beyond repair. But she’d also never had sex with Evan before, and his scent was still on her skin, mixing with the clean softness of the clothes. Her body was deliciously satisfied and sore, making her feel practically delirious with happiness.

In a matter of minutes, she had found enough ingredients in Evan’s refrigerator to have an omelet cooking on the stove as she hummed to herself. She caught herself and laughed. Geez, she was humming. Something she never did. While cooking for him.

It felt… right.

Like this was where she was supposed to be. But she was terrified to tell Evan. Sure, he had said he loved her, but she had always known that, had heard him say it before. What she didn’t know was what Evan wanted from her. Just a hookup here and there, a friends with benefits kind of thing, or an actual relationship.

If she asked, he might give her an answer that she didn’t want to hear.

Working so hard to build her business, she had never had time to make a lot of friends. She had met Evan her first day at college, and had been friends with him ever since. She couldn’t imagine him not being in her life.

Loading the dishwasher with what looked like a week’s worth of dirty dishes, Halley knew she and Evan were going to have to talk sooner or later.

Just not today. Today she just wanted to enjoy him.

Glad to see he’d taken out his trash, she flipped the omelet, then squirted soap into the dishwasher and shut the door. She turned the machine on, then spun around to find Evan standing in the door yawning.

Naked.

He sniffed the air. “Mmm. Something smells good.”

Halley backed up a foot as he strode into the kitchen, filling the room with his masculine presence. Her butt hit the counter.

“It’s an omelet, no big deal.” It felt ridiculous all of a sudden, that she had cooked for him.

Which made no sense, since she had done that dozens of times before. She had known sex would change their relationship for the worse, make it uncomfortable, and here it was, happening already.

“It is a big deal.” He kissed her forehead. “Thanks.”

Brushing him aside, she reached over and turned off the heat. “Shit, it’s burning.”

His finger snaked out and ripped off a piece. He tossed it in his mouth and said, “It tastes perfect.”

Damn, why did that please her so much?

And why did she like that he was nuzzling into her neck?

“You look cute in my clothes.”

“Well, I had to wear something.” Halley tried not to be turned on, but she was failing miserably.

Evan was nibbling on her ear, his hands reaching up under the T-shirt to cup her breasts.

“You’re naked under those shorts, aren’t you?”

Halley heard a roaring in her ear, then realized it was the dishwasher as the water started shooting through the clean cycle. “Yes.”

“Good.” Strong hands gripped her waist, tossing her onto the counter.

Halley sat down with a hard thump and stared at Evan in disbelief. “Geez, what are you doing?”

Actually, she had a pretty good idea what he was doing. “I just turned the dishwasher on, you know.”

She was sitting right on top of it, and could feel the vibration through the countertop, jiggling her thighs where she was already starting to feel uncomfortably aroused.

“Even better.” He moved between her legs, forcing them apart.

He gave her a long, slow kiss that left her breathless.

The slit in the boxer shorts she was wearing was yanked apart. “Are you okay to do this?” he asked. “Or are you getting sore?”

Okay was an understatement. She was dripping in anticipation. “I’m okay.”

The T-shirt was tugged up and over her head. Evan bent over her breast and sucked lightly on her nipple, making her squirm in need.

“This tastes even better than the omelet.”

The counter was still vibrating, and steam was floating up out from the dishwasher door, rushing between her legs and causing her nipples to tighten. Halley gripped the backsplash and arched her head, crying out as Evan drove a finger into her.

He stretched her with two, then before she could blink, had moved himself into place and thrust into her through the opening in the boxers. It was unexpected and rough, the urgency on Evan’s face exciting her.

There was no slow build of a rhythm, just fast strokes and his hands on her hips urging her to meet him thrust for thrust. Still gripping the counter, she could do nothing but take and feel. His hard abdominal muscles bumped against her clitoris with each push into her, and she felt it all the way down to her toes.

Halley was burning hot from the steam and her own passion, and when he leaned forward and kissed her, his tongue pushing past hers, she broke on a long slow, shivering orgasm.

As she grabbed the strength to push forward and meet him, stealing the last shudders of pleasure, Evan followed suit, calling her name out into her shoulder.

It was a sound she wanted to hear again and again.

“Damn, how do you do that?” he said a second later, rubbing his lips across her clavicle bone.

“Do what?” Halley dragged in a breath.

“Make me so hot so fast?” He shook his head. “It must be the years of repressed lust.”

Halley jerked up. “Years?” What exactly did that mean?

He pulled back, out of her. “Listen, Halley, I think we need to talk.”

Oh, geez, here it was. The weird, awkward conversation where they both fumbled for the right words. The talk where it was possible her heart just might break.

“Here, eat first before the food gets cold.” Brushing past him, she hopped off the counter and pulled the boxers out of her ass, where they were wedged. “I’m going to grab a quick shower, then we can talk. Okay?”

Halley got the hell out of there before he had time to respond.

Evan watched Halley run out of the room and sighed. He didn’t want to upset Halley, but they did need to talk. She had to know that he couldn’t go back to being just friends. He wanted more.

A relationship. That’s what he wanted. And just why the hell not? He loved Halley. She loved him. They knew each other in all their faults, and still got along fantastically.

Today had proved they were more than sexually compatible. They were so good together, they could make a freaking instructional video.

Reaching into the silverware drawer, Evan pulled out a fork and started munching on the eggs. He heard the shower turn on.

It didn’t take long to finish the eggs and drop the fork into the sink. Evan turned towards the door, then stopped himself. He shouldn’t go into the bathroom. He should give her some privacy.

But somehow he found himself standing in the bathroom a minute later, holding his breath so she wouldn’t hear him. He just wanted to watch her undetected for a minute.

She was in his shower, the clear glass door displaying every inch of her as she tilted her head back and let the spray hit her face and roll down her chest.

The heat from the shower had turned her skin pink on her back and her little curvy ass. With her arms in the air digging into her hair, her breasts rose and beckoned him.

He wanted to step into the shower.

He wanted to take his hands and rub them all over her damp body.

But for now he was content to watch.

Leaning against the doorframe, Evan crossed his arms and settled in for a good long show.

Halley had said she loved him. He had believed her. Halley wasn’t the kind of woman to ever say anything but the truth, whether he wanted to hear it or not. This he had wanted to hear. He had seen in her expression she meant true, deep love. More than friendship.

He still felt the strange urge to watch over Halley, to hold onto her, like this was illusion. That they were kidding themselves.

Halley turned, bending over to grab the shampoo bottle. Evan appreciated the picture she made, leaning over without bending her knees, her round ass slippery and wet, his hand itching to reach between her legs from behind.

Halley saw him and yelped. “Geez, you scared me!”

She clutched the shampoo bottle to her bare chest.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“How long have you been standing there?” She looked embarrassed, though the flush could be from the steam of the shower.

“Long enough to have a fantasy or two.”

“I’ll be done in a minute.” She popped the top on the bottle and squirted a huge amount of shampoo into her hand.

“No hurry.” He watched her reach up and work the shampoo into her hair, a lather quickly building as she roughly scrubbed.

“Are you just going to stand there and watch?”

“Yes.”

She gave a gasp and flicked suds off her fingers. “Well, don’t.”

“Why not?”

“It makes me uncomfortable.”

“We can’t have that.” Evan started towards her, unable to resist another second.

“Oh, no.” She backed up until her behind hit the tiles on the wall.

The demure act was cute, but he had no patience for it. He opened the door. “Come on, I’ll just help you wash your hard-to-reach spots.”

Though she held her arms out to ward him off, Evan also noticed the little gleam of interest shining behind her embarrassment. As well as her firm nipples, and open mouth.

“I just bet you will.”

Steam rose around them, and water was pelting him in the face in a fine mist. Evan stepped into the shower and clicked the door shut behind him. “Have you ever gotten fucked in the shower?”

It was a stupid question to ask. Jealously stabbed through him painfully. He had no goddamn right to ask her that. Also, it was pretty damn reasonable to expect that she had. She had been in relationships over the years.

“No.”

All right then. He smiled. “What’s the dirtiest thing you’ve ever done?”

She shrugged. “What we just did?”

“And here I thought you were such a bad girl.”

Halley tilted her head and flattened herself further against the wall. “I’ve never been a bad girl. I’m more like an occasionally veers into the unorthodox kind of girl. Like washing colors with whites. Not bad, just not what you should do either. And I thought you wanted to talk.”

Evan wiped some shampoo suds off her temple and stroked a moist finger down her cheek. He moved in until he was hard against her, the water falling between them onto his chest and pooling over her breasts.

He blinked to shake the water off his eyelashes and said, “We’ll talk in a minute. First, I’m going to get you off again. Here. In the shower. While you’re all warm and wet.”

Halley looked ready to give in. She was sighing and gripping his arms as he licked water off her chin.

Then she said, “Wait.”

The most hated word in the English language. Evan forced himself to say, “Why?”

“I want to do this first.”

Halley put her slippery, sudsy warm hand on his cock and stroked.

Fuck. Evan went from semi-hard to granite in one brush of her eager fingers. Fingers that slid and stuck as the pelting water washed the soap off her.

He groaned.

She said in a thoughtful voice, “Hmm. My hand’s getting stuck. I think I need more shampoo or something.”

Evan couldn’t answer, but braced his legs further apart as she filled her hand up again. Then she touched him with a squeeze, before moving up and down, going all along the length of him before climbing back up and rounding over the head of his cock.

He panted like a Saint Bernard in the desert.

“This feels good,” she murmured.

If it felt any better he was going to rip the shower door off its hinges.

“That’s enough, Halley.”

Her hand paused. “You don’t like it?”

Damn, she sounded heartbroken. Her lower lip even trembled a little and her big blue eyes shone brightly. Then he realized she was faking it. She knew damn well he liked it.

He brushed a wet strand of her hair back and shook his head. “You know that’s not what I meant. I just can’t wait anymore.”

Her expression changed, a smile splaying across her face. “Oh. In that case…” Her hand started moving again.

Evan closed his eyes. “Halley,” he warned.

“Bad girls keep going.”

And she did, her smooth hot fingers working over him until he gave up the fight and let himself come into her hand, feeling out of control, very turned on, and seriously in love with Halley.

Halley unwound herself from Evan, who was once again snoring, and grabbed the sheet to pull over herself.

Evan had been dead to the world for the last hour, but she couldn’t sleep. Her mind was racing, her body exhausted, satisfied, and sore, and reality was slowly starting to encroach on her bliss.

She had no idea what time it was. There were probably a thousand things waiting for her to attend to at the office, and Nora probably thought she’d been run over by a garbage truck by now, she’d been gone so long.

Her phone was in the living room. Or the kitchen. She wasn’t sure. Evan’s phone was still on the nightstand. Holding onto the edge of the mattress, Halley strained forward and tapped his screen, nearly toppling off the bed when she saw it was three fifty-seven.

Her first reaction was to have a cow. Her second reaction was the same.

Holy shit.

How could she have spent the day in bed with Evan when she had a business tottering on the brink of financial disaster?

Biting her lip, she shifted carefully out of the bed and started searching for her pants. She didn’t want to wake Evan up, nor did she really want to leave him just yet, but she couldn’t slough off her responsibilities. She had a catering job at a ladies’ social club at five o’clock and there was no way she couldn’t be there.

The club was a solid twenty-minute drive and she needed to go home and change still. Crawling around on the floor naked, Halley started to wonder if Evan’s smoldering glances had disintegrated her clothes, since they appeared to have vanished. All she had stumbled across was a sandal and her tank top.

Pulling on the tank top without a bra, she wrapped the sheet around her waist and checked to make sure she hadn’t woken up Evan. He was still breathing slowly, mouth open, muscular arm up over his head.

Damn, he was cute. Maybe it was a good thing she had to leave, or she might be tempted to throw herself at him and beg him to let her stay forever.

Which if the sex didn’t ruin their friendship, that surely would.

This way she could avoid the embarrassing talk that Evan wanted to have, where she had to presume he was going to remind her this was a one-time deal. Since that sounded about as much fun as eating maggots, she was glad to be spared that. If she ducked out, then tomorrow they could act like nothing had happened.

She was very good at avoiding. Hadn’t she successfully avoided her attraction to Evan for nearly a year?

Halley caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror over his dresser and jumped back, slapping her hand over her mouth. She didn’t look like nothing had happened. Taking a cautious step forward, she took in the mussed frizzy hair without an ounce of hair product in it, the clean shiny face sans makeup, the pouty plump lips and the wrinkled tank top clinging to her breasts.

This woman looked exactly like she’d spent the day in bed having the best sex of her life. This woman staring back at her looking pleased and territorial. This woman looked relaxed and in love.

Halley liked her. She didn’t want that expression to go away.

Except that she was really damn late and still couldn’t find her bra or her pants.

Tripping over the sheet wrapped around her lower half, she found her phone by her shoes. She had a text from Nora asking her where she was and when she thought she’d be back in the office. Then Nora suggested she check her email before carrying out any plans for revenge on the hackers.

Halley stopped looking under the bed for her pants and swore under her breath. Dragging her sheet behind her, she checked the time again. Yep. Still late and totally screwed. After scrolling through her email and deleting several unimportant messages, she ran across one with no title.

The message was from her hackers.

Sorry. Wrong caterer. But you look great wearing nothing but a smile.

After a moment of shock, it struck her as wildly funny. That’s it? That’s all she got for being subjected to humiliation and financial devastation? A lukewarm apology?

A choking snort-like laugh escaped her mouth before she could stop it and she clicked on the sender to see if there was a return address. Of course there wasn’t. Somehow they had sent the message without a sender address, and she was certain if she tried to hit reply to sender, it would just bounce back into her email. She could do a search but it would come up empty.

Not that she knew what she would say to them anyway other than to call them all reckless assholes who needed a life and maybe a girlfriend.

“What are you doing?”

Halley whirled around. Evan was sitting up in bed, yawning but looking ready to devour her all over again.

“Go back to sleep,” she told him. “I’ve got to go.”

He grinned. “So soon? But we haven’t even had sex in the living room yet.”

That gave her momentary pause before she mentally shook herself. No, she had to leave. A half an hour ago.

“I can’t. I have a catering job in less than an hour and I have to change and drive there.”

Evan scratched his chest. She was tempted to throw a shirt at him so she wouldn’t weaken and stay. And just where in the hell were her jeans?

“Okay, I understand. But you’re coming back tonight, right? Pack yourself an overnight bag and come over after the job’s done. You know I’m always up late.”

Halley wanted to say yes. But she had the sneaking suspicion that if she came back, she was going to wind up sorry. Friendless, heartbroken and financially mortified. Better to leave now and when she returned pretend they had never been naked together.

Taking little geisha steps, she held onto her tightly wrapped sheet and swallowed hard. “I think I’ll just go home afterwards. I’m going to be tired.”

Tired of pretending she didn’t love him and that her life wasn’t spiraling way out of control.

“So? I’ll let you get some sleep. In the morning.”

Evan’s voice was coaxing, seductive. Halley fought the urge to look at him. Frantic, she darted her eyes around the room, then gave a cry of triumph when she spotted her pants bunched up by the closet.

“No, not tonight.” Or any other night, if she wanted to keep her sanity.

The teasing tone left his voice. “But we need to talk, Halley.”

“There’s nothing to talk about.” She headed towards the closet. “We had a fun day and now it’s over. End of story.”

That was not the end of the story as far as Evan was concerned. He watched Halley wiggle her way around the room like a giant fruit roll-up, her hair frizzy and lopsided and her breasts doing an enticing little jump with each jerk forward.

Did she really consider what they had shared nothing more than a fun day? Damn, that hurt. But Halley was a busy woman and he knew she didn’t date much. Maybe he had been nothing more than a sexual diversion. An oversized stress ball.

She bent over carefully, trying to grab her pants off the floor while still holding on to the sheet. A painful lump formed in his chest.

“Halley.”

“What?” Halley was hopping on one foot as she tried to step into her pants, all while keeping the sheet wrapped around her.

Exasperation rose in him. “Jesus, drop the sheet. You’re going to fall and knock your teeth out.” It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen every inch of her body. And tasted it.

“I’m fine.” She continued her one-footed dance.

He stood up and stalked over to her. He held her arms so she wouldn’t wind up in a heap on the floor. “No, you’re not. Why are you running out on me and acting like you don’t want me to see a flash of your ass?”

She blew her hair out of her eyes and stopped struggling with her pants. “Because now we have to go back to being friends and that’s not what friends do.”

“Friends don’t show friends body parts, huh?”

Wiggling her pants up her calves, she said, “Yes.”

“What if I want to be more than friends?” He started to caress her arms with his thumbs, and leaned forward to place a kiss on her warm shoulder.

She stiffened. “Knock it off. You can’t change the rules now. If we do this again, then what happens eventually when the lust burns out? I don’t want to lose you, Evan.”

If that’s what was bothering her, then maybe there was hope for him after all.

He nibbled on her ear, noticing the way she drew in her breath. “Do you love me?”

She sighed. “We’ve been over this. Yes. But there’s love. And then there’s love.”

“Well, do you love me?”

Hot fingers shoved on his chest. He stayed firmly next to her.

“I’ve got to go.”

“Answer the question then I’ll let you go.”

Halley looked over his shoulder and rolled her eyes. “I plead the fifth.”

That was promising. He teased his tongue into her ear. She gasped.

Evan wanted it all, and he wanted it now. Halley was the woman for him and he wanted to spend a lifetime loving her. “I love you, you know. Always have, always will. I want us to be together. For real.”

“What?” Halley squawked, wondering if she was hallucinating. “What are you talking about? This was supposed to be about sex, remember?”

Her heart was beating like a hummingbird’s wings and she was so weirded out hopeful she felt sick. He couldn’t mean it… but if he did, she was going to be really excited. She couldn’t kid herself anymore that she just wanted Evan’s body. She wanted everything.

His heart.

He whispered in her ear. “This whole day was about love, not sex.”

Oh, damn, that was romantic. Her knees gave out, she loosened her grip on the sheet and her jeans puddled to her ankles.

He kissed her jaw, his hands cupping the sides of her face. “Be with me.”

Who was she to say no? “Yes. Yes, yes, and yes.”

Leaping into his arms, she really went down as the sheet trapped her legs. Evan caught her and smiled down at her.

“I’m so glad you said yes. Because I was going to have to blackmail you for real if you said no.”

She laughed, feeling a little punch drunk on happiness. She tried to force herself to back up, but her body wasn’t having it. Neither was Evan. He still held her tight.

“Now let me go, I’ve got to leave!”

He kissed her full on the mouth, a possessive deep kiss that had her sighing with pleasure. Oh, yeah. Waking up to this was a dream come true.

“So let’s just clarify. That was a yes, you want to be together?”

“Yes.” Dating her favorite person. She couldn’t ask for anything better.

Evan squeezed her hard enough to collapse a lung. “Now tell me that you love me and I’ll let you go.”

“I do love you.” Halley sniffed a happy sniff and let go of her sheet all together.

“Keep saying those words, sweet stuff.” He grinned at her.

A shiver went through her. When she had spotted that angel between her legs, she could never have imagined this would be the result.

“Hey, I forgot to tell you, the Three Commandos sent me an email apologizing.”

“You’re kidding.” Evan moved to the computer.

Wearing nothing but a smile suited him. She said, “No, I’m definitely not kidding.”

Evan started clicking on the computer. “Well, we’ll have to email them back.”

“I don’t want to mess with it, Evan. And I don’t want to send them a nasty email. Let’s just forget about it.” Her conscience wouldn’t let her torment them in return and she had no desire to start an online feud with random online trolls.

He glanced back at her, tossing his light hair out of his eyes. “I wasn’t going to send them a nasty email. I was going to thank them. After all, they’re semi-responsible for us getting together.”

She stepped out of the clinging bits of the sheet and went to stand behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist. Her thighs rubbed against his and she dropped a kiss onto his back. “I have to leave now.”

“Promise you’ll be back tonight?” Evan abandoned the computer and stood up.

“Yes.” As soon as the last slice of raspberry cheesecake was served, she was out of there.

Evan turned around and Halley found herself pulled into his arms. Before she could blink her tank top was gone, tossed over his shoulder and lying crumpled on the keyboard.

“How long until you have to leave?”

“I needed to leave a half an hour ago.”

Halley moaned as his hand moved between her thighs.

“I’ll be quick.”

Halley tried to dredge up the strength to say no. “How quick?” she asked, breathless.

“Just long enough to do a quick Cupid imitation.”

All kinds of perverted analogies involving arrows and Cupid ran through Halley’s mind.

“As long as it doesn’t involve any hacking.”

What Evan whispered to her made her laugh, before the sound was swallowed by a very friendly kiss.