Their lips met. His were so soft. Kennedy just leaned into him. It was sweet and good and sent chills rippling along her skin. This man wasn’t just a hot, cocky war vet. No, there was something else going on between them. He was different than other guys.

Pulling back, she gazed into his green eyes and smiled, feeling herself start to blush. “I can’t believe I just did that after the lecture I gave you about kissing.”

“You don’t gotta apologize for anything, honey.” Kyle grinned, then leaned in again, and his hand cupped her cheek to pull her closer.

When their lips met again, it felt like she was on a magic carpet ride at a theme park she used to go to when she was younger—soaring, flying. Her heart hammered in her chest, and his smell intoxicated her.

Before she knew it, she pushed her hand into his hair. He deepened the kiss, and explosions went off all throughout her body. It felt like riding the perfect wave, the excitement and uncertainty of it all. This man was more than she’d ever dreamed of, and she thought of Jenna’s romance novels.

Kyle pulled back, just a little, and a breathless laugh came out of him. “What are you smiling about?”

Kennedy was embarrassed all over again. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have started the kissing.”

“Shh,” he said, meeting her eyes with a huge smile on his face. He trailed a path down her cheek with the back of his hand. “That was a good kiss.”

She knew it couldn’t be true. He’d had a fiancée and was so much older and more experienced than her. Then there was the whole spell casting over all women thing. But she smiled. “It wasn’t bad.”

“Oh yeah?” he said, a challenge in his tone.

“Yeah.” She giggled.

He focused on her lips. “Let’s try again, and maybe we can get more than ‘it wasn’t bad’ for the Yelp review.”

She found herself kissing him some more. His lips trailed kisses down her jawline and to her neck. He inhaled deeply again. “Mmm,” he said, drifting back to her lips as she giggled.

Forcing herself to pull back, she said, “We can’t kiss like this the whole trip.”

A slow, lazy smile filled his face. “Why not?”

The way his eyes looked her up and down made every part of her tense. “I don’t … I’m not that kind of girl.”

Furrowing his brow, he moved a strand of hair out of her face. “What kind of girl are you referring to, Ms. Dawson? I mean, other than the kind who kisses a man like he’s about to go to war and you’re vowing to wait for him.”

She sputtered out a laugh. “Is that what that kiss was like?”

“Hmm, almost. But just to make sure, let’s try again.” He leaned in.

She held him back. “I’m serious. I usually don’t do this. I usually don’t have instant relationships with lots of kissing. I’m waiting …”

He scanned her face. “You’re waiting?”

“For marriage.” She swallowed and looked away. “For intimacy.”

“Oh.” For a moment, it felt like he was trying to decide something. Then he reached out and took her hand. “I respect that.”

“You do?” She couldn’t believe she was having this conversation with Kyle Bones, ex-Navy SEAL and multimillionaire MMA fighter.

“I do.” He kept his hand over hers. “So we can slow the pace.”

She smiled. It felt like everything had changed between them. “And this is just a trip over this weekend.” She pulled her hand back.

“Right. To have fun and get to know each other, maybe some kissing, but just for the weekend.” He grinned at her. “After all, I’m leaving for a month after this trip, travelling all along the coast of California and through Utah and Nevada. I won’t be around anyway.”

Even as he told her that he wasn’t going to be around, she knew she was falling for him.

When they arrived in Jackson, it was almost eleven o’clock. After getting off the plane, they found a Jeep waiting for them. Kyle said goodbye to the pilot and put their bags in the Jeep.

Cruising out of the airport, Kennedy felt herself start to tire. It’d been a long day. It actually felt like two or three days with all that had happened.

Kyle pointed. “It’s about ten miles, and then we’ll be there. Then you can go to bed, Sleeping Beauty.”

It startled her a little that he would call her that. “Why would you call me that?”

Shifting into another gear, he frowned. “Because you’re falling asleep.”

“No, I’m not.” She leaned back into her seat, thinking about kissing him on the plane, thinking about how her friends would never believe what was happening. Heck, she didn’t even believe it, and she was living it.

They drove for a little while, and she closed her eyes, still unable to believe she was here.

“Are you going to tell me why it upset you that I called you Sleeping Beauty? Do you have something against that Disney princesses or something?” Kyle asked.

She smiled and thought about how everything felt so weird and so normal at the same time between them. It was strange to her that she trusted this guy so much that she was actually falling asleep. “I … the night at the dance club, Carrie said, ‘Maybe tonight you’ll meet your Prince Charming.’ And then you appeared right in front of us.” She let out a nervous laugh. “Oh my gosh, I need to shut up.”

“Oh no.” He reached over, and she felt his hand on hers.

Opening her eyes, she turned to see his smile was even bigger than normal. “You like this way too much,” she said accusingly.

“Hey,” he said, glancing at her, then back to the road. “I’ve been the one practically stalking you.”

She grunted. “Finally, the stalker admits to stalking.”

He laughed. “I’m not admitting anything. I’m just repeating what you said.”

“I still felt like you rigged that contest.”

He let out another round of laugher and his eyes shone in the moonlight when he turned to her. “Nope, just got lucky.”

No, no, no. This felt like it was getting way too intense between them way too fast. “I just don’t think this would ever work,” she blurted. He didn’t respond, and she felt awkward. “Never mind.” Why the crap had she just said that? Maybe he didn’t even want anything. Maybe he just wanted a weekend.

“Hey, don’t shut down on me.” He turned down a residential road.

“Forget I said that.” She pointed into the darkness. “Is this your house?” Distraction. Distraction. Distraction.

He hesitated, then nodded. “Yeah, right up here. I built it last year when I was out here looking at some of their gyms.”

“So you haven’t been to the all-stars event before?” she asked quickly.

He turned to her. “You don’t want to talk about why you’re going hot and cold on me, do you?”

Keeping her expression neutral, she didn’t respond.

He let out a breath. “No, I haven’t been to this event before. I don’t want to go, truth be told, but Scar Walker insists I need to be there.”

“Awkward with the ex?” she asked before she could stop herself.

Sputtering out a breath, he took another turn down a long road.

She noticed there were lots of trees, but a sparse number of houses.

“It’s not awkward,” he said in a stilted voice.

“That was believable,” she said, trying to sound serious.

He frowned at her. “Famous people are just people that happen to be famous.”

The side of her lip tugged up. “Right. Money is just a tool, and famous people are just people.” She put a finger into the air. “But exes are exes, and that would be rough.”

He winked at her. “Things are only as big as you make them.”

“Sure. Keep telling yourself that.” She could tell something was off about his tone. It felt like he was trying to give her advice, but she wasn’t having any of it.

The house had black pillars and shutters, and it looked very stately. The lights were on, and it didn’t look empty. “Is someone here?”

“No, I had the caretakers prep it because you and I were coming, but no one should be here.” He parked the car right in front of the door and then hopped out and rushed around.

He did make her feel like a princess.

Opening the door, he held his hand out, and his lip twitched into a smile. “My lady.”

Tentatively, she took his hand. All the fatigue rushed away. The night was cool. A bit too cool, she thought, as goose bumps started popping up on her arms.

“Jackson weather.” He let go of her hand and shivered, then went to get their bags.

When they reached the front door, he pushed in a code, and they stepped in. The first thing she noticed was the vaulted ceiling, and she tilted her head back to take it all in.

“I’ll give you a quick tour.” He kept her bag, but dropped his. “Then we’ll go to your set of rooms.”

She hesitated. “Set of rooms?”

He frowned at her. “I just wanted to clarify that you’re safely stowed away from me at night.”

“Okay,” she said, smiling.

She took his hand, and he took her through the house, going room to room. There was a library and a music room and more rooms than she could count. A huge deck opened up to a pool and a hot tub. Finally, they got to the winding staircase that led to her rooms.

“It is like a prince house,” she said under her breath as they climbed up.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

They got to the top, and he turned to the right. He flicked on lights that lit up the hallway. He didn’t walk far, but turned to the first room on the right. He went in and flicked on that light too.

The room lit up. It was huge, decorated in pale pinks and soft greens, and the furniture was white. There was a sitting area, where he put her bag, and a large king bed.

Kyle motioned to the bathroom. “Everything should be in there, but don’t hesitate to ask for anything you need.”

A skittering laugh came out of her. She thought of growing up modestly, and after her parents had passed, the apartment where she had lived with her grandmother. The whole place had been the size of this room. “I think I’m good.”

Carefully, he let his hand drop and smiled. “Whenever you wake up is fine. I know it’s been a long day for you, but I am glad you won the trip. We’re going to have fun.”

Waving her hand in the air, she said, “Is this the beginning of the sweeping me off my feet thing? Ha, ha.” She felt so awkward. She really just needed to stop talking.

She’d meant it to sound funny, but Kyle’s expression turned softer. Then he was closing the distance between them and gently leaning in. “Can I give you a goodnight kiss?”

Her breath caught, and she put her hand and her other arm out to brace herself on his shoulders. She’d never felt the “weak in the knees” thing before, but now she was feeling it with a vengeance. “I just don’t …”

“What?” His breath was warm against her lips.

Then she was lost. She kissed him. It was just his lips, but it was long and slow and everything. It left her heart racing and all kinds of explosions going off inside of her.

Gently, he brushed a hand down her cheek. “Good night, princess.”

She watched him go and thought that Kyle Bones was definitely sweeping her off her feet.