The waiter quickly returned and Ty signed the bill, then held out a hand to Julie. She gladly accepted it and let him pull her toward him.

He whispered," Say good night, be nice, and whatever you do, don't invite him back to your house." His words were soft and comforting, rather than bossy.

Dave followed at Ty's heels like a puppy dog following its master. Forcing herself to be polite, Julie smiled and said, "It's been a lovely evening, Dave, but I'm afraid I've got an early day ahead of me tomorrow. Good night."

Not surprisingly, he barely blinked in her direction. "Fine. Great. So, Ty, you up for getting a beer? I could call some friends to meet us."

A muscle jumped in Ty's cheek and his voice turned cold. "Sorry to disappoint, buddy, but I've got a beautiful woman waiting for me to take her home."

Julie's heart pounded. She didn't need Ty to be her knight in shining armor. Yet it felt so good to hear him call her beautiful.

Dave shook his head admiringly. "Wow, you must get all the babes. Who is she?" A sneer curled Ty's lips and Julie was taken aback, accustomed to the carefree grin that drove everyone wild.

"We're keeping our relationship under wraps," he said. "She's not convinced I'm good enough for her yet."

As Dave's mouth dropped open again, Ty put his big palm on the small of Julie's back and guided her through the front door, then out around the corner.

Perfectly happy to go wherever Ty was leading her if it meant getting away from that uber-jerk, she was surprised to find that he'd just steered her into a tiny pizza joint.

"Two slices with everything on 'em and a pitcher of Coke," he told a passing waiter, then pushed her into a carved wooden booth and shoved in next to her. "Please tell me that was a blind date." Her stomach was grumbling. The waiter slid two enormous pizza slices onto the table. She picked one up and inhaled.

"I wish." She took a bite. And then another. "God, this is good." Julie couldn't deny how nice it was to have Ty's warm, hard body pressed up against her in the little booth. He was watching her eat, his eyes moving from her mouth, to her throat, to the tops of her br**sts on display in her red dress.

She felt like an idiot for even bothering to dress up for a dud like Dave, but at the same time, part of her was happy she'd looked good. Foolishly, she liked it when Ty looked at her. Liked it even better when he was enticed by what he saw.

She looked down at her empty plate, then at his full one. She'd been raised always to be a lady. And a lady never ate more than a man, never raised her voice, never put herself in an untenable position. Thus far with Ty, Julie had done all three. And the strangest thing was, she wasn't the least bit ashamed of any of it. In fact, she felt downright good.

"You gonna eat that?" she asked, swiping his slice before he could answer.

"Few things are sexier than a woman who eats," Ty murmured, and his words felt like a caress. Her ni**les hardened beneath the thin fabric of her dress.

She gulped down some soda, then wiped her mouth off with the back of her hand. God, she loved how free she suddenly felt.

"I refuse to believe that any of those women by your pool eat. They're all ribs and silicone." He stared at her. "I don't believe I've ever called those girls sexy, have I?" She forced herself to swallow. "I guess I just assumed."

"They're not my type."

The noise of the pizza joint fell away and she felt like they were the only people in the room.

"As far back as I can remember, I've had a thing forcurvy blondes with big . . ." Why did he have to be so predictable, such a cavemen?

"Brains." He grinned, then looked down at her amply presented chest. "Although a nice pair of br**sts is good too."

She reached out for her soda, trying not to show how pleased she was by his comment. "We all know you're a master at coming on to women," she said, trying to extricate herself from the position she was in. The one where she was about to beg him to take her right then, right there on the table.

"Unexpected compliments, focusing on their hidden assets." Ignoring her sarcasm, he said, "I just want to say one more thing about tonight, and I don't want you to try to turn it around or read anything bad into it, okay?"

She looked up at him and saw sincerity in his eyes. "I'm all ears."

"Your date was an ass. He was crazy for not paying attention to you. And he doesn't deserve you." His words hung in the air, and Julie could have sworn she heard what he didn't say: And I don't deserve you, either.

Only she was starting to wonder if maybe he did.

Ty bought her an ice cream cone and she enjoyed t more than she should have. If she'd had any sense of self-preservation she would have ended the night long ago, locked herself in her bedroom and forced herself to watch the news or read a book.

But surprisingly, she enjoyed his company. He had a natural charm with his fans. Dozens of people wanted pictures and autographs outside the ice cream parlor. When the two of them finally returned to her home, everything in her world felt like it had been turned upside down. She couldn't deny the truth any longer. She wanted him. Desperately. Wanted him touching her, kissing her. Wanted him inside her. Her body no longer cared what her brain was telling it or the warning sirens clanging around in her head.

"Thanks for a great night," she said, and she meant it. But she also hoped that he'd know she was trying to say she didn't want it to end.

He reached for her hands, rubbed his thumbs across the sensitive skin. "How about next time we leave your date at home?"

"Okay," she whispered, letting him pull her closer. She hadn't wanted to be kissed this much since she was eighteen, when she saw Ty walking across the deck straight toward her, the embodiment of her crush.

"Good night, Julie," he said, then leaned down and kissed her gently on the cheek. She stood completely still, her heart sinking like a rock. She watched him walk down the hall into her guest bedroom and close the door with a soft click.

She'd just been turned down by the one man who had never turned down anyone in his life. She'd never felt so stupid, so embarrassed, so senselessly aroused in all her life.

Ty sat down hard on the queen-size bed in the guest room. His hands were shaking. Did Julie have any idea how f**king hard it was for him to keep his hands off of her? How much he wanted to take her right there on the carpet in front of her fireplace?

He couldn't think of the last time he'd been this hard. Blue balls were not something he experienced on a regular basis—until Julie.