It was the way it always was between them. A heavy dose of wanting and need shot through her. Her sense of the world around them dulled even as she became sensitized to his every touch…his lips molding hers…his body pressing against her.
She broke his hold on her to twine her arms around his neck, kissing him back with all the ardor she had kept pent up inside her.
As soon as he felt her willing response, he groaned and took the kiss deeper. His hands moved restlessly up and down her sides before one shimmied down her leg and then snaked around to cup her bottom and bring her flush up against him, letting her feel his erection.
Finally, he tore his mouth from hers and they broke apart. They were both breathing heavily. He looked as if he still had half a mind to take up where they had just left off, which was, she realized, not far from how she was feeling.
He spoke first. “You are hands-down the most frustrating woman I’ve ever known, petunia.”
“Same goes,” she parried.
And then his face was devoid of its usual sardonically amused expression, and what she read there made her breath catch in her throat. “Are you going to make me say it, princess?” He paused, holding her gaze so that she couldn’t look away. “The reason I volunteered is that the thought of anything happening to you tore me up inside. I wanted to rip to shreds the bastard who was terrorizing you.”
“Connor—”
“No, let me finish,” he said fiercely. “I may never be as polished as the guys down at the country club, but I have plenty of money these days. You’d have trouble spending all of it even if you tried.”
She nodded. A giddy happiness was growing and spreading within her. Not about the money, but about the fact that he was laying his soul bare.
“More importantly, we have tons of chemistry between us. The kind of chemistry that a lot of people spend a lifetime looking for and don’t find.”
She nodded again, her heart melting.
“And you sure as hell aren’t going to find a man who loves you more than I do. Because it isn’t possible. I’m so in love with you I ache with it.”
He loved her. The confession was blunt and to the point—just like Connor—and she couldn’t ask for anything more. Unexpected tears welled up in her eyes.
He gave her another fierce look. “So, get used it, petunia. You’re under this tycoon’s protection for the duration.”
“May I say something?” she asked almost meekly, her smile tremulous.
“Only if it’s what I’m waiting to hear. Are you ready to say the words, petunia? Because if you’re not—” he looked down and gave her a slow, heated perusal “—I can be very convincing.”
“Darn it, Rafferty,” she said, blinking rapidly. “You’re going to make me cry.”
He caught a tear with the pad of his thumb. “Tears over me?” he said softly.
“Yes,” she said, then sniffed and blinked. “You are the most irritating and annoyingly smug man I’ve ever met and I love you. Madly and passionately.”
He grinned, genuine happiness suffusing his face. “I’d say mad and passionate sort of sums up our relationship.”
“We’ll never be dull,” she agreed.
“I can’t believe you were going to let me walk out that door today.”
“I can’t believe you were planning to walk out,” she countered.
He gave her a lopsided grin. “Even if I had, I’d already formulated a backup plan.”
“Oh?” she inquired. “And what would that be?”
“To woo you and make such a pest of myself that you’d realize we were destined to be together.”
“I realized that long ago,” she said wryly.
He looked surprised. “Do tell.”
Since they were being completely honest, she figured she owed him the truth. “I had the teenage crush on you to end all teenage crushes.”
He chuckled. “Now that I find hard to believe.”
“Believe it,” she said firmly. “Why do you think I was in that bar that night? Why do you think it was so humiliating for me to have you of all people turn me in to my parents?”
“You were there because you thought I’d be there?” he asked, astonishment showing on his face.
She nodded. “I figured if I acted grown up, you’d think I was. Instead, you hauled me home as if I were a sack of potatoes.”
He shook his head. “If I’d known you were there for me, I’m not sure I could have resisted you up to now.”
Now it was her turn to look disbelieving. “I thought you did a good job of acting as if I were completely resistible.”
“Acting would be the operative word there,” he said dryly. “Over the years, it became easy to treat you as if you were just a spoiled little rich girl. It meant I didn’t have to analyze my feelings too closely.”
“You said something in the kitchen after I had turned the water nozzle on you—”
He smiled. “Yeah, how can I forget?”
“You referred to ‘what’s always been between us.’ I thought you knew about my teenage crush.”
“No.” He shook his head. “I meant the electricity that practically crackles between us whenever we’re in the same room.”
She reached out to caress his jaw, tracing the crescent-shaped scar on his chin. “Why didn’t you ever say anything?”
He sighed but his eyes remained intense on hers. “You were the younger sister of my old college buddy. The precious gem of a socially prominent family. The daughter of people who’ve treated me like a son.” He paused. “There’s a trust there that you don’t betray.”
“Sometimes I wish they wouldn’t think of me as quite so precious,” she grumbled. Yet, she had to respect Connor’s code of honor. It was part of why she loved him, she realized.
“I know, petunia.” He turned his head and kissed her palm. “But it’s only because they care.”
“I lumped you in the same category with them, you know. Then I realized that what I thought of as high-handed overprotectiveness was just a way for you to show you cared.”
“Oh, I cared all right.” He gave her a quick kiss on the lips. “But how did you come to that realization?”
“It was the night in the Berkshires. When you were talking about your father and then going back into your old neighborhood to try to make peoples’ lives safer. I realized that’s the way you showed you cared. By protecting the people and things you loved.”