As they reached Jared’s luxurious apartment building, he took the bag of food from her and they headed inside. It never failed to amaze her how beautiful the building was. It was one of those old hotels whose exterior was art deco, but inside everything was sleek and modern with leather couches, subtle décor, and glittering chandeliers.

“Do you suppose Layla and your brother are still…” She didn’t finish.

“Probably. If he’s anything like me, he can go for hours.”

She sucked in a breath and stumbled. With a low laugh, he wrapped an arm around her, catching her before she face-planted on the nice marble floor of the lobby. What was it about this man that made her lose all control of her body? She was not a klutz. Luckily it was dark enough outside that he wouldn’t see the blush burning a path across her face.

Can go for hours. Her mouth dried up, and her tongue scraped like sandpaper as she licked her lips. As a virgin, she should have been terrified at the idea of hours in bed with a virile man like Jared, but…she wasn’t. It had the opposite effect. Her legs turned to jelly, and a strange quiver started up in her abdomen. Desire. Jared. That word and his name seemed forever linked.

“I should stop teasing you.” He laughed softly, the rich sound warming her from her head to her toes. “But it’s just too much fun.”

She didn’t dare reply to that. Her mind was still caught on the idea of being in his bed again and seeing just how long he could go. She hadn’t let herself think about the sort of man she’d lose her virginity with. But now she couldn’t stop thinking about it…or Jared.

When they opened the apartment door, she glimpsed Layla and Tanner, fully clothed and squabbling like children in the kitchen. What a relief! She’d been a little afraid that she and Jared would stumble upon the two lovebirds in a less-than-flattering situation.

“We had pizza last night.” Layla stood arms akimbo, attempting to corner Tanner against the wall by the pantry. “We’re not eating it again tonight.”

Tanner was a foot taller than Layla, and his lean muscled body towered over hers, a resolute expression on his features as he stood his ground.

“I’m not cooking tonight, babe. You wore me out. Whatever we eat is gonna be takeout or something.”

“I wore you out?” Layla’s voice was a little shrill, but Felicity swore she detected a barely restrained giggle hidden beneath the tension.

Tanner wrapped his arms around his girlfriend’s body and pulled her to him. “Babe, you sure did, and I meant that as a compliment.” Tanner smiled, a smile that was an echo of Jared’s. Her heart tightened like invisible strings were lightly squeezing it.

“I smell food…” Her back to Felicity and Jared, Layla sniffed the air.

Over the top of her head, Tanner looked at them, noticing their arrival and the bag of food from the Italian Village.

“I don’t smell anything,” he lied and then kissed the tip of her nose and grinned in a comically evil fashion.

“Yes, you do, you liar. Smells like—” Layla spun around and gasped. “Felicity!” Squealing like she hadn’t seen Felicity in years, she ran over to her, hugging her.

Braced for the contact, Felicity accepted the hug and returned it. Jared dodged around them, food in his arms as he headed for the kitchen.

“So…” Layla bit her lip for a second. “I know you want to kill me right now. But I bet you had fun today, didn’t you?” She pulled back from the hug but left her hands on Felicity’s shoulders as she studied her.

Feeling a bit impish, Felicity cocked one brow. “I am going to kill you. He showed up on my doorstep, Layla. On. My. Doorstep. Like a lost puppy.”

Her friend scoffed. “I doubt that. No guy that hot has to play the lost puppy card. So tell me everything that happened, and I mean everything.” Layla tugged Felicity over to the huge L-shaped couch facing the sixty-five-inch flat-screen.

Jared and Tanner were in the kitchen, talking softly as they set out plates and food.

“Well…he brought me pizza.”

With a low groan, Layla rolled her eyes. “Those Redmond boys have an obsession with pizza. Seriously, you have no idea how long we argued today over not having pizza for dinner.”

“I believe it.”

Felicity shot a glance at Tanner. He mouthed, “Hey, Felicity,” and winked at her.

God, he was such a nice guy. Really. Never in the three months that she’d known him and Layla had he ever made her feel like the odd one out whenever she hung around them.

“Okay, so pizza, then what? Hot sex? I know there was hot sex.”

“What? No!” Felicity hissed.

Layla bit her lip for a moment, looking pensive. “No hot sex?” She huffed out a breath. “Huh…when he left today, he had that look Tanner gets when he’s going to take me to bed and bang me hard enough to see stars.”

A flash of heat exploded through Felicity at the thought of Jared on top of her, his hands gripping the headboard as he…

Whoa…for a second she couldn’t breathe. “No. Definitely nothing like that. We went to see the Sargent exhibit at the Art Institute.”

Layla sighed heavily as though the weight of an entire world had settled on her shoulders. “I would have sworn he was into you. Still…” Her eyes flicked to Jared and Tanner. “Maybe he’s playing it slow.”

“He’s just being nice.” Felicity tucked her legs up and wrapped her arms around her knees and sighed.

“Dinner’s ready, princess,” Jared called out.

Layla’s face lit up like it was Christmas. “Princess?” She whispered the word at Felicity and looked like she was about three seconds away from squealing.

“Don’t even go there,” Felicity warned.

“Layla, get over here and eat.” Tanner sniggered. “Quit making trouble.”

Felicity mouthed back “Thank you!” to him, and he merely nodded as if he’d only done his duty.

The four of them dug into the rich Italian food.

“So, Felicity,” Tanner said and reached for his wine, “Jared said you went to the Art Institute. I can’t believe you got my brother into an art museum.” He elbowed Jared and shot a wicked grin his way.

“I enjoy the finer things, like art.” Jared glowered at his younger brother, completely unamused at Tanner’s teasing.

“It was a great exhibit. A lot of pieces were on loan from other museums and private collections.” She knew that this didn’t mean anything to the others, but it meant a lot to her. Museums held paintings and other forms of art and artifacts as assets. Private collectors hoarded their own pieces like dragons their gold, and rightly so. If high-end thieves ever got wind of their locations, they’d steal them. For the institute to have so many Sargent works together in one place was the equivalent of finding the Holy Grail for an art student.

Layla sipped her wine, and then with a smile at Felicity, she focused on Jared. “Did you know that Felicity wants to be a curator of a museum someday?”

Felicity aimed a kick at Layla from under the table, but Layla was prepared. After years of living with siblings, she’d learned the art of dodging under-the-table kick moves.

Jared leaned back in his chair, hands resting on his thighs. “I didn’t know that.” He paused, then spoke more softly, as though she and Jared were the only ones in the room. “I think you would make a great curator. You have the passion and the knowledge required.” His eyes were almost a honey brown, warm and melting.

God, she loved it when he looked at her like that, as though she could do anything, be anything, all because he believed in her. She’d only known him a day, but he’d glanced at her so often that she felt like he’d been looking at her like that forever.

“Thank you.” Her reply came out a little husky, and she drank a few gulps of wine to moisten her dry throat.

“So, Layla, what did you and Tanner do all day?”

Bold, brash Layla only showed her teeth liked a cornered fox. “What didn’t we do might be the better question.”

At her reply, Tanner choked, dropping his pasta with a splat as he desperately chugged wine like it was water. As he continued to cough, Layla whacked him on the back.

“Don’t forget to chew, big boy.” She snickered.

“Christ, Layla.” Tanner laughed. “Give me some warning before you go announcing our private business.”

She rounded on him. “If you think this is business, honey, we must not be doing it right.”

Jared shoved back from the table as he burst out laughing. “Okay, you two, enough. Go back to your bedroom before you drive me crazy.”

His brother, grinning like a jackal, scooped Layla up out of her chair and into his arms. “Hope you ate enough, babe, because I’m ready for another round.”

And with that, Layla and Tanner were once more closeted away in their room.

“Guess this is what I miss when I work on the weekends.” Jared shook his head, lips curved in a sexy smile.

“No wonder you work a lot. It’s tough to be around them when they get into bunny mode,” Felicity said with a giggle.

“Bunny mode?” His lips quirked. “Do I even want to know what that is?” Jared stood and collected his dishes and hers before heading over to the sink.

“You know…busy as bunnies,” she added. For some reason she couldn’t say “humping” to Jared. Talking about sex around him made her body heat up like a firecracker.

Busy scrubbing the plates, he only froze after a second, as though her words sank in. “You mean…humping like bunnies, don’t you, princess?” His jaw clenched slightly, not from anger but from his attempt to hold in a laugh.

“Yeah, that.” She bit her lip and looked away, her face hot.

“Well, I vote that you stay a little longer, help me ignore what sounds might come from their room.”

Stay? Could she? She wanted to, but staying later meant leaving for her apartment in the dark, something she wanted to avoid.

“I…uh…I really need to get back to my place before it gets too dark.”

Jared wiped his wet hands on a dish towel and then curled a finger under her chin, angling her face in his direction.

“Sounds dangerous. I don’t want you to do anything risky. Stay the night then. Please. We can watch a movie, I’ll crash on the couch, and you can take the bed. Sound fair?”

With him touching her, anything sounded fair. A girl couldn’t think when he was offering such an opportunity.

“But I don’t have any clothes or even a toothbrush.”

His hands slid down from her chin to wrap his fingers around her throat, the hold possessive but not threatening.

“You looked good in my clothes. I wouldn’t mind loaning them out again. And with all the hotels I visit, I always leave my brushes behind, so I keep a bunch of new unopened packages of them in the drawer to the left of the sink. You are welcome to one.”

He effectively destroyed any argument she would have had, and finally she had to concede with a nod.

“Okay, I’ll stay.”

He took a step closer, their bodies almost touching, and his head dipped a few inches as though he was going to kiss her.

Please, please kiss me. Her silent prayer went unanswered. Instead, he swept the pad of his thumb over her lips, as though trying to memorize their shape and feel.

The man was going to kill her. All these near-kisses and no…kisses. If she didn’t get control of herself, she was going to grab him and kiss him herself.

“Good. Let’s change, and then we’ll get a movie going.”

Ten minutes later, Felicity was sitting on one end of the couch in the center of the L-shape, wearing Jared’s black boxers and a large red T-shirt. Jared wore pajama bottoms, blue-and-black plaid with a blue sweatshirt that said “Creighton Law” across the chest.

“Creighton?” She pointed at his faded sweatshirt as he collected several thick blankets and pushed the large leather ottoman toward her so she could prop her feet up.

“Yeah. Been out six years, but I love this sweatshirt too much to give it away.” He tossed her a fleece blanket, and she settled into it, relishing the way the soft fabric soothed and warmed her.

“You like old movies?” Jared held up two DVD cases. Suspicion and Notorious.

“Tough choice…um…Suspicion.” She nodded at the Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine flick.

He popped the movie into the player and turned the TV on. Once the huge flat-screen was filled with the credits, he joined her on the couch. Rather than sit a few feet away, he lifted up her blanket, eased in beside her, and curled an arm around her waist, tucking her firmly against his side. The sudden intimacy had her entire body tensing, both with apprehension and excitement.

“It’s just a movie,” he murmured in her ear and feathered a kiss on her temple, as though assuring her that she didn’t have to go any farther physically than she was with him right now.

How did he seem to know what to say? He was perfect and too damned tempting.

His scent, that wonderful woodsy scent mixed with fresh rain, was an endless comfort. It reminded her of home. When spring showers washed through the town and she’d leave her windows open. The scent and sounds of rain were a soothing enticement.

“I’m glad I went to see Sargent with you.” His chest rumbled with his low murmur.

“Me, too. It sounds like you don’t get enough time to enjoy life.” She winced. “I’m sorry, that sounded rude. I didn’t mean it like that.” She lifted her head and leaned into his touch when he brushed the hair back from her face.

“I know you didn’t. You don’t have a mean bone in your body, princess.” He tapped her cheek playfully with his index finger.

“Hey! I can so be mean. You don’t know me.” She bristled, irritated at the increasing amusement at his face. Tiny lines crinkled around the corners of his eyes and mouth. A sexy mouth, one she’d fantasized about kissing most of the day.

“I am getting to know you.” He was tracing her lips, his brow furrowed in thought. She sucked in a breath, wondering, waiting to see what he’d do next.

“You, Felicity, are a kitten, sweet, soft…”

Struck by an impish impulse, she bit his thumb.

“Why you little—” He tackled her back on the couch, laughing as she squealed. He pinned her down with the weight of his body and started tickling her.

“Oh! Quit that!” She was laughing too hard for the threat to be taken seriously. The blankets fell off them and onto the floor, and in the midst of their playful struggles, Jared’s hips slid into the cradle of her thighs. The intimate press of his body to hers made them suck in a shared breath. Faces close, both of them panting, Felicity dared not move except to wriggle her hips under his. He captured her wrists, pressing them down into the soft, worn leather of the couch on either side of her head. She licked her lips, rocked her hips again in a silent invitation, a plea for something she needed but feared to ask for.

“Not a kitten,” he murmured moving a few inches closer, enough that his nose brushed the tip of hers. “More like a tiger. Fire, spirit, beauty.”

For a man who claimed he knew little of art, he painted with his words.

“Please, Jared.” She didn’t know what she wanted him to do, only that he had to do something.

“Shouldn’t…” he breathed.

“Have to…” she begged.

“Yeah,” he agreed and dipped his head toward her.

The velvet press of his lips to hers melted in a slow-burning fire. Feathery, teasing, his tongue sought hers, and she gasped against his lips in erotic delight. The kiss hardened, turned possessive, and it thrilled her. Her body was on fire, the way he gently restrained her, took his kisses slowly, deeply, a banked eagerness one thread away from losing the control he held as he taught her how to kiss.

Open-mouthed, raw, persistent yet tender. He demanded everything and conquered her kiss by kiss, sigh by sigh. When his hold on her wrists vanished, she slid her hands up his body, fingers dipping and rising over the contours of his muscled back. They settled on his shoulders and her fingers dug in, clinging as he assaulted her senses and destroyed everything she thought she knew about him, about herself.

Their bodies rocked together, an ancient rhythm hindered only by clothes. The leather of the couch was soft and whispered beneath her as she tried to shift, to find some way to ease the pangs of desire exploding like fire in her womb. Fear tinged each kiss, fear of the climbing heights, the pounding blood and the flashbangs of heat along her skin whenever he touched her. Felicity had never felt this way before.

Jared’s kisses cast her into the fire, molded her into something new, never to be undone by any man’s kiss but his.

She slid her hands under his shirt, and the warmth his skin radiated made her toes curl and her back arch. His hips rolled into hers again, and she hissed sharply as arousal and need shot through her. Her nails raked his back, desperate for another taste of the endless bliss each movement of his body promised. Was this what the poets and songwriters meant? This steady yet frantic race toward an unknown length of time when only pleasure could exist? White-hot stars shot across her eyes.

Jared nibbled her lips, licked the seam of her mouth, and then plunged his tongue inside again and again, until she felt like she was free-falling. The room went black around her, and she drifted in the clouds, not a breath left in her as she let go. After an eternity she came back down, bit by bit, to realize where she was…and what she’d done. With Jared.

“You are so fucking beautiful when you come,” his gruff voice murmured close to her ear, tickling her, sending delicious little shivers through her.

A new tingle licked like warm little flames up and down her spine, and her womb clenched again with a new riot of small aftershocks. It was the first time she’d heard him curse, and somehow the way he’d said it made her body spasm. Embarrassed, she ducked her head into his shoulder and neck, hiding from him.

“So shy? Don’t be, sweetheart. Not after that.”

A kiss, so faint she wondered if she’d dreamed it, tickled her ear.

“We’ll just sleep here, together,” he suggested gently. She couldn’t resist snuggling deeper into him. Jared embraced her, completely wrapping himself around her.

It sounded so simple, but she’d never be able to just drift off…

* * *

Jared knew the moment she fell asleep. So quick, so sweet, she curled into him like a sleepy kitten, and almost purred before drifting off. He gently shifted her body so he lay lengthwise against the back of the couch and she lay in front, spooned against him.

The tumble of her hair teased his nose with those hints of vanilla, and the sweet scent of her skin was alluring. She tasted like heaven, had kissed like it, too. Wild, innocent, passionate. There was no casual seduction or feigned interest. Felicity poured her heart and soul into her lips. Each kiss was imbued with the power of her soul.

And when she’d come apart beneath him? Jared swallowed a moan, trying to ignore his body’s hungry demands for more. This had been for her, to show her what she had to look forward to. He couldn’t give her everything he ought to—but he could give her that. And it had been something for him as well, sinking into her mouth, feeling her unwind beneath him and let go. Their chemistry was palpable, scorching his body in ways he’d not felt for years. But he knew a girl like Felicity deserved chocolates and dancing and moonlit serenades—and he just wasn’t in the position to give her those things right now. He’d have to let her go so she could find another man to be her prince, another man to make her happy…

Still, the thought of someone else, another man touching her, holding her, kissing her… He tightened his grip and held on, afraid she’d vanish like mist after sunrise.

Please, let me have this, let me have her, just for one more night.

He was a good Catholic boy, but it had been years since he’d prayed for anything. Reaching over Felicity’s body, he retrieved the blanket from the floor and settled it around their bodies. A soft click from down the hall made him lift his head.

Tanner padded toward them in the direction of the kitchen, wearing only pajama bottoms. He froze when he saw Jared holding Felicity on the couch. Jared held a finger up to his lips to indicate silence, and then he turned his attention back to the movie that still played on the flat-screen. Tanner could think whatever he wanted, and Jared knew he would hear about it tomorrow, but he didn’t want to think about it right now. And he didn’t want to wake Felicity. She was smart enough and shy enough that she’d try to pull away. He couldn’t allow that. Not yet. He had to have her for just one more day if he could. Then he would let her go.