Ronan thinks I’m drunk. He’s not completely wrong. My flushed skin feels a size too small. My eyes keep bouncing from one spot to the next to next like they have ADHD. And I have a nice floaty feeling. My thoughts are slightly jumbled, but I’m aware of them.

The truth is I’m caught somewhere between buzzed and drunk. Not sober enough to drive, but sober enough to know exactly what’s going to happen if Ronan comes into my hotel room.

Smiling playfully up at him, I nudge the door open with my toe. I clutch his upper arms and edge into the room, drawing him along with me.

Even though we agreed not to talk about it, the entire time we were sitting at the bar, I hadn’t been able to get the image of the dead man out of my mind. I couldn’t get over the idea that one minute he’d been alive and the next he wasn’t. I didn’t have any idea who the man was, but that didn’t stop me from thinking about all the things that he’d never do again, and all the things I’d miss out on if the same thing suddenly happened to me.

And the whole time, Ronan was there. I can’t think of any other single guy who would have sat quietly at the bar, just talking to me, instead of making one pass after another. When he pocketed the keys and guided me back to the room, I’d thought that this was it, this was the time when he’d turn into a typically pushy male and use the fact that I’m drunk as an excuse to get into my pants.

But he wasn’t. He seems genuinely concerned about me.

That, plus the fact that it’s been a long time, too long, since I last felt a male touch is why, right this second, I’m inviting him into my room.

I draw him over the threshold and into the dark room.

“Are you sick?” Ronan asks.

I shake my head. “No, just a little light headed.” Tomorrow morning, when I know damn good and well that I’ll regret this moment, I am going to blame this entire experience on the alcohol I drank, but for right now the only thing I want to do is feel Ronan’s body pressing against mine.

I reach up and wind my arms around his neck. His hands settle on my hips.

“Cassie—” His voice is strained. “—you just had a lot to drink.”

“And your point is what, exactly?” I rise onto my toes. Even in this position I’m still several inches shorter than him.

“That you don’t know what you’re doing.”

I notice that, despite the fact he thinks we’re making a mistake, he hasn’t made any effort to push me away.

“You’re wrong.” I tighten my arms, trying to draw his mouth closer to mine. “I know exactly what I’m doing.”

His hands flex against my hips. I sway closer until his hardness presses against my lower belly and grin. “Feels like you’re pretty excited.”

“Who wouldn’t be?” He closes his eyes. “Cassie, you’re gorgeous, but I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“When we first met, you made it pretty obvious that you were into me. What’s changed?”

“Nothing.” Ronan breathes deeply through his nose. “You’re the most attractive woman I’ve ever met.”

I’m not a vain person, but even so, his words send a thrill shooting through me. “I am?” I whisper.

Keeping his eyes tightly closed, Ronan nods. “Yeah. And there’s nothing I want more than to crawl into that big bed with you.”

“Then let’s do it.” I run my thumb back and forth against the nape of his neck and revel at the faint shudder my touch triggers. The corners of my mouth lift into a sexy grin. “This is the first time a guy I’ve invited into my room has ever played hard to get.” It’s a nice change from the normal.

“Cassie,” Ronan groans. “You don’t understand.”

His fingertips press through the thick ugly material of my Northwest uniform and into the soft flesh underneath.

“Cassie, you’re … different from any other woman I’ve ever met. If we do this … I want it to be different … special. Do you understand?”

For the first time since I hauled him into my room, Ronan bends his neck, but instead of kissing me, like I desperately want, he rests his brow against mine. Oddly, the touch is way more intimate than any kiss I’ve ever shared. My knees quiver and warmth curls up low in my belly.

Even as I go weak in the knees, the reality of his words penetrates the pleasant drunk fog that’s been clouding my judgement and pierces my conscious. Back in the employee breakroom, before we flew away from Georgia, he asked if I believed in love at first sight. I’d written the statement off as nothing more than yet another cheap come on line. But what if it wasn’t? What if he really did take one look at me and start to fall?

I reject the questions as soon as I think them up. It’s hogwash. Ronan is just like every other guy I’ve ever encountered. He’ll say and do anything to get laid. He just happens to be more flowery and romantic about it than others.

At least this time, I know what game he’s playing and have the skills needed to play along.

Tired of his hard to get routine, I move my left arm and trail my hand down Ronan’s chest, moving it lower still until it finally comes to rest against the tented fly of his uniform. I caress his hardness, grinning as he gasps.

“Tell you what,” I whisper. “How ‘bout you let me show you just how special I can make you feel tonight?”