He’d tried so very hard to be good and decent—to exercise restraint and keep his hands to himself—but at every turn he came up against Abena’s hostility, which only made him ache to get her naked and put her passion to a different use.

He pressed his mouth to hers and felt the fingers of one hand curl into his shirt, while the fingers of the other spread out in a half-hearted attempt to keep him at bay. All he did was drag her closer until her soft breasts flattened against his chest. He couldn’t wait to peel away the wet fabric and get at her breasts. He’d fill his hands with their fullness and cover her little chocolate nipples with his mouth, sucking to get his fill the same way he’d done the night he couldn’t expunge from memory.

But he chose instead to tug off the towel and slide his hands down her damp back to her lush bottom and lift her from the ground. Abena groaned, gasping into his mouth. She slid her tongue across his, and the sensation of that slow exploration was so sweet and delicious he almost cried out.

He marched until her back was against the wall and his erection pressed hard between her legs. Her fingers climbed into his hair, and she undulated her hips in a slow, provocative movement. So slow, he wondered if she realized she was doing it.

Squeezing her ass, he deepened the kiss. He didn’t just kiss her. He took charge. Demanded her capitulation as his hips surged forward and dragged another groan from the depths of her throat.

Santiago pulled back long enough to whisper, “Do you know how long I’ve been wanting to get my mouth on you?” He sucked her neck and licked behind her ear. One hand slid up her side, and when he skimmed her breast, she shivered in response.

“Santiago…” Her eyes were closed, and a pained expression crossed her features.

His hand continued to climb over her dark skin to her throat, where his fingers curled around her neck and his thumb pressed against the beating pulse at her collarbone. “Come with me.” The husky words were part plea, part command.

“I…” She gazed into his eyes and he saw the battle waging in their dark depths.

She wanted to. He knew she wanted to.

“Say yes.” He tasted her mouth again, gentler this time. He sucked her bottom lip and dragged his tongue along the outer edge of her mouth.

“I…” She shook her head. “No.” Her answer came out choked.

“Abena.” She had to say yes. He was damn near the end of his rope. Day after day, he watched her with a growing hunger that threatened to consume him. His nerves were raw, and every time she came near him, he had the sudden urge to rip the room apart.

“I can’t. You know I can’t.”

“Why not?” Determination settled into a hardening of his jaw. Whatever excuse she came up with, he’d knock it down with a more valid argument.

“I’m engaged.”

“Dump him.”

She shook her head again, and wiggled until he put her down. But he didn’t step away. He crowded her against the wall with his hands braced on either side of her shoulders.

“I want you, Abena. I’ve made no secret of that fact.”

“Want, desire, is not enough.”

“Do you have this with him?”

“Let me by.”

“Do you?” he demanded, his voice hoarse and raw. “I don’t think you do.”

“What you think doesn’t matter.” She pushed against his chest, and he finally stepped back. “What happened between us was a one-time thing. Accept it.”

“And the conversations? The time we spent in each other’s company?”

“Meaningless. Like this kiss, which is not a big deal.”

“I’d hate to see what a big deal is,” he snarled.

She picked up her towel. “Just a few days ago, you were telling me about a lady friend, and now you think you can kiss me and take me to bed. Just like that?” She snapped her fingers. “I know the kind of man you are. You don’t have any qualms about bedding anyone you want to. Staff members, hookups, one-night stands—as long as they have two legs you can sink yourself between. Well, you won’t be using me.”

“I haven’t slept with anyone since I moved to Miami. And for the record, don’t believe everything you hear.”

Normally, he didn’t care what people thought of his love life. He loved women. He loved sex. And yes, he liked to flirt. But the rumors of his sexual prowess had taken on a life of their own, transforming his bedroom antics into legendary status, with alleged frequency he’d have neither the time nor energy to accomplish with his work schedule. If he slept with as many women as he’d been accused over the years, he wouldn’t be the VP of operations. He’d be a gigolo.

“I don’t believe you, not that my opinion matters. I still won’t sleep with you. I deserve more. I have more, with a wonderful man.”

“Dr. Appiah.”

“Yes!”

“You love him so much? Yet you kissed me like a woman who hasn’t had a good fucking in years.”

She inhaled sharply. “If all I needed was a good fucking, Santiago, what makes you think I would choose you?” She didn’t wait for an answer. She picked up her key fob from the patio chair and headed toward the door. The door beeped when she waved the electronic device over it.

“You never answered my question, Abena.”

She stared at him. “What question?”

“Do you love him?”

“Of course I do.”

“Why? Because he’s a good man?” Santiago asked snidely.

“Yes, he’s a good man. And he gave me something you obviously couldn’t.”

“Which is?” He stilled, ears straining in anticipation of the answer.

“He gave me a commitment.”

She disappeared, and the door eased closed behind her.

---

Abena didn’t bother taking the elevator. Barefoot, she raced down the stairs to the third floor. In her office, she slammed the door and leaned against it. She couldn’t go around kissing Santiago. She had promised to marry another man. Wore his ring. Why didn’t she remember that?

She touched a hand to her swollen lips. They pulsed and tingled from the pressure of Santiago’s mouth. She’d enjoyed the kiss way too much and wanted more. What the hell was wrong with her? She was engaged, for goodness’ sake.

All of her willpower and common sense disappeared whenever he touched her. No man had ever made her feel like this before. So tempted. He was the only man who’d put his tongue on her. No other man knew her in such an intimate way. She’d never allowed it. Not even with her fiancé, Marc.

Her virginity and refusal to have sex had been the stumbling block in the first go-round of her relationship with Marc, and the reason they’d taken a break in the first place. Upon their reconciliation, she’d made it clear that even with a ring, she would not have sex with him. He finally agreed to go along with their chaste relationship.

He tried to break her willpower from time to time, but for the most part, he respected her request that they wait until marriage. Such an arrangement would not work with a man like Santiago. She didn’t even know what to do with a man like him. That much virility couldn’t be contained.

Most men wouldn’t agree to the terms she’d set during the second iteration of her relationship with Marc, but his patience made her fiancé special. He was the kind of man dreams were made of, and she would not allow Santiago and her undeniable attraction to him to sidetrack her from the right decision.