No amount of cold shower would ever be enough to get me out of my situation. An iceberg could fall on me, and I'd continue to be hard as a rock. And Maggie was the reason.

Maggie Stewart. Undercover vixen.

I shouldn't have made a move. I should have stopped before I began.

If I tried not to think of how smooth and pliant she'd felt underneath me, maybe I could survive the night. But that kiss... And her touches... And the little moans she'd produced I bet she hadn't even realized she'd made. The feel of her. All of her. All that was Maggie.

I turned the water colder, letting it freeze my thoughts, or numb my body, whatever came first. Instinct relayed that something else had happened to her that she wasn't telling me. It wasn't just because she'd recently broken up with some asshat, an idiot who was dumb enough to let go of possibly the most perfect woman alive. But her hesitance revealed something else to me; there was more to that story. And as long as she was keeping it, she would not be ready for the relationship I wished we could have.

Through the years, I'd constantly thought of one person—Maggie. Ten years was a long time to pine for someone. I had almost given up two years ago, until I accidentally found the article of her sister's wedding. The whole story of her sister and her husband was something close to the fairy tales Ma had believed in, wished she'd had but had never received. Not even close. I didn't know what drew me to it. Maggie had changed through the years but those eyes...those blue eyes which conveyed more than she would ever admit to saying, they called out to me. When I'd realized who I'd been staring at, I just had to see her again...

Call it fate. Call it kismet. Call it whatever the hell you want. It is what it is.

Something had brought her back into my life. I couldn't waste it by foolishly rushing her because I was horny.

I shut the water off. My heart had finally slowed down. And my other situation...well, that was going to take a while. At least it had come down to half-staff. I would have to ignore it as much as I possibly could. I toweled off in front of the bathroom mirror and noticed a small mark on my shoulder. Was it a scratch? Had Maggie done this? A grin spread on my face.

"Vixen," I muttered to the reflection staring at me.

Ever since she had returned in my life, I'd been lighter, happier, like there was more sunshine than cloudiness in my days and the stars had brightened at nights. I could get used to this—the utter happiness. The joy that had been absent in my life for so long.

The disciplined fighter in me had to surface. Maggie was the type of girl who didn't jump into bed with just anyone, especially someone who hadn't been present in her life for so long. If my assumptions were correct, she was still getting over a terrible heartbreak. I pitied the guy who had let her go, if I ever had the chance to meet the moron.

With a towel wrapped around my hips, I was about to hit the lights in the cramped room when a shadow flittered under the door. Was Maggie on the other side of it? What were her intentions? Was she going to join me in the shower and finish what we had started?

My facial muscles twitched at the prospect. I reached for the knob and swung the door open, only to face an empty hallway. The space was perfumed with her intoxicating sweet orange scent. I breathed her in, closing my eyes at the memory of the taste of her lips and the softness of her skin under my touch. Once again, there was a twitch under the towel. Leaning my head against the wall that separated the living room from the bedroom and bath, I worked to calm my heart beat down.

"It's not going to happen tonight," I convinced myself, and like a horny teenager I used to be, I pressed my groin to the wall, imagining Maggie between the cool wall and my hard...

That served to make things worse. What was I thinking? I should have read the signs. But she did kiss me. My eyes drifted to the end of the wall, to the opening where Maggie waited. Was she waiting? Was she waiting for me to go over there and do something?

No, I had to stop punishing myself or worse, I might make a massive error in judgment and inadvertently push her into doing something she wasn't prepared to do.

With a last heaving breath, and squeezing my fist against the wall, I headed back to take cold shower number two.

* * *

When I came out of the bathroom again, my defenses rose when I heard a man's voice, followed by the tinkle of Maggie's sweet laugh. I found Travis stretched out beside Maggie on the couch, his arms spanned across the back of it, and his feet rested forward on the coffee table. Maggie occupied the little bit of space left on one end of the sofa, clutching a pillow over her chest. Travis felt my presence before he saw me, and straightened. He might be almost twice my size, but I could have him face down on the ground with both his arms and legs broken within seconds. And he was aware of it.

"Ah, hey, Rev," he said, sliding up, and away from Maggie, to perch his ass on the sofa arm. "I was just telling Maggie that we should all go out tonight. Bailey got an invite to another party."

I kept my tight fists on the towel around my hips, certain that the rolling droplets of water from the shower would steam over my skin, hot from the rage building. Maggie caught my attention, and within seconds, she had my heart beating harder for something else.

I'd always found peace with her.

"That's alright. We'll stay in. We rented a bunch of movies to watch," was my calm response to Travis the Hound, but the twitch on my jaw warred with that reply.

"And I ordered pizza. I hope you don't mind," Maggie added. "I didn't know which toppings you liked, and I was going to ask you through the door while you showered. I got meat lovers."

Was that the reason why she came to the bathroom door? To ask me about pizza toppings? And not to continue what we had started? It was a good thing I stepped back into the shower, or I'd have embarrassed myself to no end.

"Pizza? Well, I'm staying with you guys." Travis sat back down on the couch cushion, sinking into it.

I cleared my throat, and with a small nod of my head, he understood that I preferred to stay with Maggie alone. Just her and I and the invisible, yet palpable, sexual tension between us. Or was that just my imagination?

Travis stood and raised his hands over his head. "Come to think of it... I think Bailey mentioned something about a seafood buffet at the party. I should skedaddle. See you later, Maggie." He gave me a half-assed shrug and an incredulous grin. Travis was deathly allergic to seafood. Stating that he was going to the party for it was his way of telling me he understood my situation.

We often roomed together whenever we traveled. Travis was a pig and a hound. He trailed mess at every corner, and his mind wasn't always the cleanest either. I followed him to the door, ready to slam it the moment he stepped out.

"Oh, by the way, we got an okay from Harckwick. Two more days, bro." He raised two fingers for me to see.

I was delighted to hear the news. We had requested to stay in San Francisco for another day, and received two more days instead. I planned to spend those days with Maggie. When I turned back to her, I could imagine the grin plastered on my face simulated that of Travis'. It widened as I caught her ogling me and my tats.

Whether it was a good idea or not, I had to tease her. "You like what you see, Beanie?"

Her gaze flew up to my eyes. Playfully, I waggled my eyebrows at her and laughed when the pink of her cheeks deepened in tone.

"I was just... I mean, I didn't..." She covered her reddened face with the pillow she had clutched in her hands.

When I passed her, I snatched away the pillow and quickly kissed her cheek, enjoying the heated blush. But I kept walking. Yeah, I could tell she was still staring at my back, and when I neared the bedroom, I let the towel slip off my hips and down to the floor. Her audible gasp echoed in the room, and I laughed when the same pillow she had used to shield herself hit me right on my gluteal muscles.

I dressed quickly in a pair of sweatpants and didn't bother to put on a shirt. If Maggie would rather check out my tattoos than watch a movie, I was more than fine with that. I would even let her touch.

The moment I walked back into the living room, her reaction did not disappoint. She squeezed herself deep in the far end of the sofa with not one, but two pillows surrounding her. And I wondered...were those placed there to protect herself from me, or to keep herself away? Because I couldn't stop myself, I threw the pillows on to the floor and snuggled beside her, wrapping an arm around her waist. She didn't struggle, but she sat stiffly until I leaned my head on her shoulder and she finally relaxed.

She played another movie—some chick flick that had the cute redhead who had a weird name playing someone who did nothing but shop. It didn't hold my interest at all. For one thing, I'd met enough women who were like that character. They were pretty. They were sexy, but they all were after one thing. And it was normally something I either didn't have or couldn't give. Money or love, never both.

We'd become entangled on the couch at some point. Once the pizza guy came, I had an embarrassing minute of explaining to Maggie why I couldn't quickly get up and walk. I didn't understand myself with her. I was bold, yet I lacked courage. I was happy, yet I had fear. But one thing wouldn't change. I was not looking forward to the time when she had to leave. I wished she wouldn't.

But that time came, sooner than I thought it would. It also surprised her.

She received a couple of text messages, and Maggie told me they were both from her sister. "She wants me to come back now. I don't know what's up with her. She's normally more relaxed. She knew I was going to spend time with you." I was glad to know Nica trusted us enough to be together alone. Perhaps, Maggie hadn't changed all these years. She had always been a straight arrow. I had to promise not to lead her down the wrong path.

I sighed heavily, and regretted it instantly. A frown appeared on Maggie's face. I reached for her chin and cupped it with a hand, silently asking her to look at me. "If you have to go, you should go. Maybe there's an emergency with your niece?"

"No." She shook her head. I traced my fingers up to the line of her jaw to play with a lock of her hair. The simple action soothed me. And after every time I'd done it, my hand smelled like sweet oranges, like Maggie. "She would have told me if that was the case. I'm going to call a cab. Maybe you can catch up with Travis and the other guys and go to the party."

Was it me or did she sound disappointed? "I'll stay in and sleep. I have an early start tomorrow." She smiled, and it made my heart swell.

I followed her to the door while I dialed for a taxi, and slipped into my shoes. We spent the way down to the lobby in silence. It was moments like this that the ability to read someone's mind would come in handy. I hadn't bothered with a shirt, and the close proximity heightened the electricity between us.

"Text or call as soon as you get there, okay?" I asked before kissing her on each cheek and once, but deeper, on the lips. She nodded. We both hesitated to let go of each other, but we must. For now, we must.

Maybe some day, one day soon, I wouldn't have to let her go again.