“So they girls are really all gone?” His warm breath heated the bare curve of her neck as he remained behind her with her coat in his hands.

Mary took both her coat and his from him and hung them up before turning back and saying, “We have the place entirely to ourselves.”

“I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want you, Mary. I didn’t think it was possible to want like this.”

He hadn’t yet reached for her, hadn’t yet pulled her in for a kiss. But when he spoke, heat rolled across her skin as if he’d done that, and more.

And yet, though she knew Jack was different from the other men she’d been with, the hard lessons she’d learned over the years had her wondering if it was just her face, just her body, he wanted so badly.

“I’m sure you’ve been with plenty of beautiful women before.” And, Lord, she prayed she could measure up to them.

“Don’t you dare try to act like that’s what this is about.” There was a fierceness in him now. “Yes, you’re beautiful. And yes, your stunning face, your gorgeous body might have been what first drew me to you, but that’s not why I’m going to make love to you tonight.”

“Then why?”

“You could be at a glittering Christmas party full of movie stars and moguls. You could snap your fingers, and a dozen of the world’s most eligible bachelors would come running to give you everything you desired and more. Instead, you spent the night with my family and even made us dinner. You laughed with my brothers. You put my sister-in-law at ease, and you played on the floor with my nephew.”

Ever since Mary had become famous, the men she’d met assumed she craved the glitz. The spotlights and flashbulbs. Only Jack had ever seen the truth—that she’d take spending time with a loving family over all of the fame and flash.

Just like that, her nerves fell away, and she reached for him. He’d remembered to shave that morning, but his jaw was already dark with an evening shadow. Gently, she ran her fingertips over his face as he slid his hands around the curve of her hips.

“It’s my turn to steal a kiss from you tonight,” she whispered as she ran her thumb across his lower lip. He was so tall that she had to go on her tiptoes in her heels and thread her fingers into his dark hair to pull his mouth down to hers.

And as she kissed him, the breath Mary realized she’d been holding since the moment she’d met Jack Sullivan escaped her lips in a happy sigh.

Chapter Twelve

Mary’s lips were so soft, her breath a whisper of warmth across Jack’s mouth. Every kiss they’d shared had been spectacular, but nothing could have prepared him for this. He’d been stealing passion from her before, but now she was giving him her boundless sensuality freely…and so damned sweetly that his hands were shaking as he cradled her hips.

She drew back just far enough to murmur, “You taste so good, like lemons and sugar and you,” and then she was kissing him again, slicking her tongue over his lower lip. Meeting her halfway, his tongue found hers, and she gave up a gasp of pleasure.

The small tastes of her that he’d had this past week had made him ravenous for more than just a few fleeting moments of heaven. He wanted to learn every inch of the incredible woman in his arms. What made her pant. What made her plead. What made her eyes flutter closed as she came apart in his arms.

Slowly, he slid his hands up her curves, from her hips to her back and shoulders. She was trembling by the time he threaded his fingers into her silky hair, and as he took their kiss deeper, her hands clasped his shoulders as if she needed to hold on to him to keep her balance.

Tilting her head back further, he began to rain kisses over her jaw. Drawn like a magnet to the rapidly beating pulse at the side of her neck, he covered it with his mouth. Her skin was even softer here, and she shuddered when the bristles from his evening shadow brushed over her. When she arched back, he licked once into the hollow at the base of her throat, before moving down to press his lips over the bare skin of her collarbone where her sweater had pulled away.

In the heat of their passion, they’d moved so that he was pressing her back against the front door, and as he cupped her face to kiss her again, she lifted one leg around his hips to try to pull him even closer.

Sliding his hand from her hair back down her body, he realized he’d never lost control this fast. He could barely focus on anything but how sweet her lips were, how soft her skin was, how good her hair smelled, how much he loved her soft moans of pleasure as she kissed him back with a desire that matched his. He knew that if they didn’t get into her bedroom soon, he was bound to take her their first time right here against her front door. He gave her one last, hot kiss, then swept her up into his arms.

He should have known she wouldn’t miss a beat as she drew his mouth back down to hers. Somehow he made it through the living room and down the hall to the door at the end of the hall without just dropping with her to the floor like a wild animal. Pushing her bedroom door open with his foot, he carefully walked through with Mary in his arms and laid her gently on top of her coverlet.

Wanting to remember every moment of their first night together, he took a step back from the bed and gazed down at the beauty before him. Mary’s long dark hair was spread out across the pillows, and her dark green sweater and gorgeous flushed skin were utterly enticing as she lay atop the red velvet bedcover.

“Come be with me, Jack.” She shifted up on the bed to reach out for him. “Please, I need you.”

As he went back to her, he made a silent vow to give her everything she deserved—not only more pleasure than she’d ever known before, but also the love he’d been keeping deep inside just waiting for the moment when she appeared in his life.

Mary’s lips curved with joy as she pulled him down over her on the bed. He didn’t know how long they kissed, rolling over with each other on the soft velvet, hands stroking, mouths devouring in their hunger for each other. Her passion matched his, and he found himself wondering if a lifetime could possibly be long enough to fill such a deep well of need.

And then her hands were moving to the buttons of his shirt, and he didn’t stop kissing her as he captured them with his. Holding her captive against him, he gave a final nip to her lower lip before lifting his head to stare down at her.

Already a stunning woman, with her cheeks flushed and her eyes heavy with arousal, there wasn’t any painting, any vista, any wonder in the world that could match her beauty as she lay in bed beneath him.