She wasn’t willing just to let it all end. She wasn’t willing to let herself be pleasured and left like this.

Which was why she refused to let the nervous pace of her heartbeat keep her from moving across the room to him. His eyes darkened as she came closer, the muscles in his rigid jaw jumping as the sheet slipped further down on her chest.

She knew she could drop the sheet and get what she wanted, that his reaction to her naked curves was almost guaranteed. And it was tempting, so tempting, to be consumed by his flames of desire all over again that she almost did just that.

Only, something held her back—that voice in her head that said she wanted his decision to spend another night with her to be more than just the fact that he wanted her body beneath his again.

Not, of course, that she could see any possible future beyond the next few days with Marcus. He was all wrong for her—a businessman who was surely in the market for a wife and kids in the very near future. And she was all wrong for him—a pop star who was on a plane more days than she wasn’t.

And yet, there was emotion there between them. Even in the club that first night, something special had pulsed between them amidst the loud music and strangers. Good or bad, the artist in her simply couldn’t help but want to uncover more of it, just as she dove into the emotions of every song she’d ever written.

When she was standing barely a foot from him, she said, “I loved last night.” She made herself hold his dark, incredibly intense gaze. “I loved everything about being with you.”

Nicola moved closer before he could respond and reached up to feather her fingertips over the very sexy stubble that covered his jaw. Just that small touch had her feeling as if electricity was coursing through her veins.

“I’m going to be in town for a couple more nights for the video shoot today and a concert on Saturday night."

She wanted to press herself against him, wanted to put her lips on his. But she needed to finish what she’d started first, needed to make sure that she got more than just a couple more stolen kisses out of Marcus.

Reminding herself that direct had always been her best option, whether in business or songwriting—and hoping that it would be the same now, with the most beautiful man she’d ever known standing before her—she said, “While I’m here, I’d like to spend more time with you, Marcus. No strings for either of us. Just more of this."

She went up on her toes and softly pressed her lips to his, knowing she’d done everything she could, that she’d been completely honest with him.

Now all she could do was wait for him either to agree...or say goodbye.

* * *

Marcus’s mind was made up.

This thing he was doing with Nicola—hell, it wasn’t even a one-night stand anymore, since technically they’d spanned it out over two nights already—couldn’t go anywhere.

Yes, physically they were perfect together. He wasn’t going to lie to himself and say that he’d ever had as powerful a physical connection with any other woman in twenty years. What had happened last night with Nicola went so far beyond any response he’d ever had to a woman that he was still reeling from it.

It was nearly impossible to try and force his brain—and body—beyond that physical perfection, especially when she was standing there in front of him, sunlight streaming in through the sheer curtains to outline her curves beneath the sheet she had loosely wrapped around her naked body.

But he already knew that a couple more days with her would be too dangerous, too potent...and he didn’t want to break her heart. Not when he knew how sweet she was, how innocent.

He didn’t understand why she looked at him with such trust in her eyes, and such hope. Maybe it was because he was a novelty to her, because his clean-cut business persona was a change from all the famous people she surely hung out with most of the time. But given that things hadn’t worked out with Jill, who he’d thought wanted the same things out of life he did, there was no doubt in his mind that a relationship definitely wouldn’t work out with a young pop star who would quickly tire of him and want to get back to her normal glitzy life.

A smart man would get out before he got burned. And until Jill, Marcus had always prided himself on being smart, on making the right decisions, even if they weren’t easy ones.

Nicola watched him carefully as thoughts pinged around inside his head. He’d learned to read her well enough after two nights and two mornings together and he could see that she was nervous about his response. After all, yesterday when she’d asked him for another night, he hadn’t let temptation sway him. Not until he’d seen her again and realized that one hot night of sex with her was inevitable, as inevitable as the fact that it could never go beyond that.

Her phones all started ringing again and he knew it was time to say goodbye.

But instead of the words he planned on saying, the words he knew he should be saying to end it with her once and for all, somehow he found himself reaching out to put a hand on her lower back to drag her closer.

She released a long, pent-up breath as he slid his other hand through her soft hair to cup her skull. At last, he lowered his mouth to hers to take the kiss he’d wanted for hours as she’d slept so peacefully, sweetly spooned into him in her big bed. She wound her arms around his neck and sighed against his lips as the soft pressure of their lips quickly raged into an out-of-control dance of tongues and teeth and moans.

Yes, the end was inevitable, Marcus thought as he drank in Nicola’s passion, her innate sensuality. But everything that came before that end promised to be so incredible, so mind-blowing, that even though he shouldn’t let himself justify what they were doing as just a couple more days, he couldn’t turn away from it, couldn’t walk away from her.

Not yet.

He lifted his mouth from hers, but didn’t let go of her. “I’ve got to head back to Napa to take care of some things, but—” He had to stop to press a kiss to her forehead, which had begun to furrow the moment he’d said he was leaving. “—I’ll come back tonight.”

Her smile was brighter than the sun and just looking at all that happiness—happiness he was responsible for—suddenly made him feel like he could do anything, take on any challenge, if it meant making Nicola that happy.

Still, he knew he had to reiterate, “No strings.”

He thought her smile might have dimmed a little bit, but when she said, “I’m definitely not looking for a relationship,” he decided it must have been his imagination.