Sounds from the second floor had her heading up, just in time to see Guy step out of the powder room next to the aviary...

Shirtless.

Guy's gaze gleamed in amusement at the way Jillian spun on her heels with a little yelp of embarrassment and started fanning herself as if she was being roasted under the hottest Texan sun.

Jilly couldn't believe what she had just witnessed.

Guy de la Rocqwas in her second-floor hallway.

Shirtless!

Meaning, his chest was completely bared to her sight, and he...and he...

He was so unfairly perfect.

All smooth golden skin stretched over exquisitely carved panes. A light dusting of hair that disappeared into the waistband of his jeans. And V-shaped muscles that had her mouth completely dry—aaah!

Guy was suddenly standing in front of her again. "I finally get why you asked me to bring an extra shirt."

Jilly momentarily forgot her embarrassment as he held up his shirt, now completely ruined by bird vomit.

"If I understood your manual correctly," Guy murmured, "this would mean your cockatiel has fallen in love with my shirt, correct?"

"I'm so, so sorry," was all Jilly could think of saying. "Please let me have it dry-cleaned—"

"It's fine."

"Or maybe I could buy you the same shirt if you'd let me know—"

"If you'd really like to pay me back—"

Guy suddenly took a step toward her, and Jilly automatically took a step back.

"I could easily think of something."

He took another step forward, and Jilly backed another step.

"Um..." She had a hard time coming up with a reply, with the way he simplykepttrying to close the gap between them, which then left her to keep backing away because she wanted—no,needed—the opposite.

Forward, backward, forward, backward.

Why couldn't he simply stop—

Aaaah!

Jilly would have fallen backwards down the steps if not for Guy catching her, pulling her forward, andbam!

She was pressed against him in an instant.

Every inch of her front was now touching every inch of his front, his skin was warm and solid against her trembling form, andoh.

Her breath caught at the way his gaze smoldered with icy blue heat as he gazed down at her.

Oh...my...gosh.

Guy's nostrils flared as the peaks of her breasts started to harden against his chest, and he felt something primal and possessive surge through him when he saw her gaze turn hazy with desire. His Jillian was a living, breathing picture of innocent need, with her cheeks tinted pink, her lips parted, and her soft curves gradually molding against his.

Everything about her drove him out of his mind, and so...