My dick twitched. “Christ, Anna!” I said hoarsely. “You should never say that to a man in a crowded place.”

I knew it was the alcohol talking for her right now, but that didn’t make it any easier for me to hear.

“I’m not saying it to just any man,” she protested. “Just to you.”

Fuck! Her saying that made it even worse.

“I want to be with you, Kaleb,” she said mournfully. “I’m not asking for a future or a commitment. I just want to know what it’s like to be with a man I care about the way I care about you. You left the timing up to me. I’m telling you what I want right now.”

I swallowed the damn lump in my throat.

A month ago, we were becoming friends with a phenomenal physical attraction.

Now, I was completely obsessed with making this woman mine.

She hadn’t even hinted that she wanted to be more intimate in the last month, not since right after I kissed her.

I’d thought that was probably a good thing.

Even though I cared about Anna, we were from completely different worlds.

She’d go back to her life as Annelise, and I would go back to the much lonelier existence I’d lived before I’d met her.

It was the way things had to be.

My main goals when I’d invited her here were to see her relaxed, happy, and ready to return to California.

I was accomplishing those goals much faster than I thought possible.

Wait! That wasn’t quite true. Anna was accomplishing those goals because she was so damn strong and resilient.

“Is that alcohol talking for you, sweetheart?” I said drily.

“No,” she said insistently. “Maybe it’s made me braver, but I know what I want. I just want…you.”

Fuck! I wanted her, too, but not like this.

“That’s not going to happen tonight, Anna,” I grumbled.

Hell, it was probably never going to happen, even though my cock was screaming in protest at the moment.

She lifted her head from my shoulder and looked at me. “It doesn’t have to happen right this moment, but I wanted you to know that I hope you feel the same way you did a month ago.”

Actually, I…didn’t.

A month ago, I’d wanted her more than any other female on the planet, and we’d been friends.

Now, I knew I’d be screwed if I claimed her gorgeous body.

She’d be mine.

Since the two of us being together was impossible, I had to keep myself in check.

“It’s a rule for me that I don’t fool around with drunk females,” I grumbled.

“My feelings aren’t going to change, Kaleb,” she said in a serious tone. “I want you, and I think you still want me.”

Oh, hell. I heard the vulnerability in her voice and it nearly broke me. Maybe we couldn’t take this relationship beyond the point of friends, but I never wanted her to think it was because I didn’t want her.