Page 25 of Baby Bodyguard

“Not ready to get down and dirty? Then why don’t we start with something a little simpler?”

Sami swallowed, unable to resist the question he dangled before her. Who’d have thought she’d be so easy to bait. “Simpler? Like… like what?”

“Like this.”

She waited for the inevitable. Because Noah’s kiss was inevitable. The brief instant between his softly spoken “Like this” and his mouth joining hers lasted a heartbeat… and an eternity. When he finally kissed her she tumbled, every thought and emotion careening out of control. If he’d picked her up and dropped her off the TransAmerica building in downtown San Francisco, the fall wouldn’t have been longer or harder.

It terrified her.

It thrilled her.

Don’t think! she ordered herself. This wasn’t a moment for rational thought, but a moment to appreciate each and every sensory explosion. His lips were warm and strong, capturing hers with a breath-stealing decisiveness. In that instant, she made an incredible discovery. Noah tasted better thanchocolate, which was saying a heck of a lot considering her obsession with that particular necessity of life. She locked her arms around his neck and indulged her newest obsession, one she feared wouldn’t be easily sated.

She’d been anticipating this kiss almost from the minute he’d walked into her life and taken over their interview. Considering his formidable appearance and forthright manner, he should have intimidated her from the start. At the very least, she should have found such a take-charge sort of man unappealing.

Instead, she found him fascinating. He was a lone wolf dressed all in black, his silvery eyes blazing a path straight to her soul, his soft, rumbling voice seeping deep into the very fiber of her being. They were the perfect opposites, her vibrancy providing a blaze of aurora borealis color against his night-sky darkness.

His arms tightened, locking her flush with his deliciously masculine angles. Oh my, but this man had been well put together—large, powerful, and with a clear understanding of a woman’s most secret passions. He muttered something dark and delicious, asuggestion that sent an illicit thrill racing through her. Her tongue tangled with his, their lips melding and releasing, before melding again.

She groaned, desire shivering through her. “Look at how well we’re communicating. Maybe we should do this instead of talking.”

“We were doing this. Right up until you started talking.”

“Oh.” She glanced at him from beneath her lashes, offering a half-sultry, half-teasing look. “In that case, are we going to argue? Or are we going to kiss?”

His breath feathered her face in a soft laugh. “I believe that depends on whether or not you’re going to keep quiet.”

She gave the matter a whole two seconds of serious consideration. “I think I can shut up if it means more kissing,” she offered.

His head dipped downward, his mouth sealing hers. The heady lust-rush was every bit as instantaneous and intense as before. She stood on tiptoe, practically scaling him like a climbing wall. Her hands fluttered from his shoulders, down the definition of muscles across his chest to the flat planes of his abdomen. She didn’t have the nerve to explore any further, though she wanted to. Badly. Instead, she lifted upward, tracing the strong sweep of his jawline and high-angled cheekbones.

Too bad he hadn’t come for the daddy interview, the wistful thought teased through her mind. He’d have been a perfect choice.

“Oh, dear,” she murmured.

He drew back, his expression an explicit statement of intent. For a man who fought to maintain an air of implacability, she’d decimated it quite thoroughly. In any other circumstances she’d have relished untying his knots of control. But he wouldn’t appreciate exposing his inner needs only to have them shut down. And that’s precisely what she had todo.

“Um… Noah?”

“What’s wrong now?”

“We shouldn’t be doing this.”

“That’s only just occurred to you?” he asked dryly.

“You distracted me or I’d have thought of it sooner.”

A hint of laughter drifted into his darkened gaze. “Are you always so easily distracted?”

“Not often,” she admitted. “Maybe because I’ve never met anyone with quite so many distracting qualities.”

He grimaced. “Thank you. Ithink.”

“I meant it as a compliment,” she hastened to reassure. “But that doesn’t change one tiny—not to mention, pertinent—detail.”

“You mean the tiny, pertinent detail that involves Babe hiring me to work for you?”

“Right. That one.” Her fingers crept across his chest, intent on stealing a final caress or two. “You’re my employee, remember?” She hoped he did, since she was having difficulty keeping that troublesome fact straight.

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