“No,” she said, “after that.”

He’d had so many fantasies of Lori naked and begging for him to take her here in his bedroom, that as he carried her into it, her question was instantly forgotten. He laid her down on the covers, pulled the shirt he’d given her to wear in the truck all the way open, and slid it from her body.

Sweet Lord, he wanted to start all over from the beginning, wanted to make her come another three times with his hands, his mouth.

Just as he was lowering his mouth to her br**sts, she said, “Did you even mean it?”

Reluctantly moving his mouth away from her chest, he cupped her br**sts in his hands and teased the ni**les with his thumb and forefinger instead until they were sharply aroused points. “Did I mean what?”

Now she was the one losing hold of their conversation. “That—” She arched deeper into his hands. “You—”

He took advantage of her confusion to lick across one tip and then the other, loving the way she gasped with pleasure as he tasted her. He was just sliding one hand down her flat stomach to the bare, slick flesh between her legs, when she finally got all the words out.

“You said you liked me, Grayson.”

Again, it took him longer than it should have for her words to actually make it all the way through to his brain. Especially when he had his hand cupped over her sex and he could feel how wet, how ready she was for him.

But when he lifted his gaze to hers, and he saw the surprising vulnerability in them, he finally understood what she was asking: Was he just making love to her tonight because he wanted her body?

Or had they, against all odds, developed a deeper connection than that?

Grayson knew he shouldn’t have let her stay on his farm all week, and that he definitely shouldn’t be taking her to his bed now. He also knew that he should be working overtime to keep tonight to nothing but sex.

But knowing all those things hadn’t made a damn bit of difference so far, had they?

“I do like you, Lori,” he admitted in a low voice. “More than I should.”

“I like you, too,” she whispered as she reached out to gently touch his face. “More than you know.”

Her eyes were full of such sweet emotion that his heart stuttered in his chest.

For three years he’d sworn to himself that nothing—and no one—would ever touch him again. But he’d never counted on Lori Sullivan blowing past every wall, every fortress in less than one week.

And it scared the hell out of him.

Chapter Eighteen

Grayson knew what he needed to do. He needed to stop them from going any further, just as he had in the cottage. He needed to turn his back not only on desire, but on affection as well. Because while he hadn’t been a monk these past three years, there hadn’t been any risk at all of emotional connection with the women he’d slept with.

But with Lori, everything was at risk.

“Grayson.”

His name on her lips had him refocusing on her, and when he did, he was surprised to find her smiling as she gazed back at him. He could still see desire in her beautiful eyes, but more than that, he realized there was understanding.

Understanding he’d done nothing whatsoever to deserve.

“One night. That’s all you have to give me.” She leaned in close, as if to tell him a secret. “And I won’t tell anyone that you like me, if you don’t tell anyone that I like you, too.”

With that, she drew him back down over her so that she could give him one hot, sweet little kiss after another, each one of them made to confuse and inflame and drive his demons back down. Soon they were tangled up in each other again, his hands greedily filling themselves with her sleek curves, her sighs of pleasure sounding out against his mouth as he stroked over her br**sts, her hips.

Grayson wanted nothing more than to hear, to feel her come apart again in his arms, but before he could take her over yet another peak with his hands and mouth, she moved so quickly, and with such remarkable strength, that the next thing he knew, he was lying on his back with Lori straddling him.

“Next time I come,” she informed him in a no-nonsense voice, “you’re going to be inside me. Or else.”

Hell, those beautifully filthy words coming out of her pretty mouth were almost enough to finish things off for him right then and there, but of course she had to make things even more touch-and-go by reaching for his belt buckle and brushing her fingertips over his raging hard-on.

“There’s nothing you like more than torturing me, is there?” he asked as he shoved her hands aside to yank his jeans and boxers off himself.

“Actually,” she said as she stared at his erection with wide eyes, “there’s one thing I think I’m going to like a whole lot more than that.”

Before he could prepare for it, she reached out and wrapped her hand around him. His loud groan reverberated off his bedroom walls.

“Lori—”

“You had your fun with me, now I’m going to have mine with you.”

Naughty didn’t even come close to the way she looked as she licked her lips greedily and moved her hand down, then back up the length of him. And maybe he would have gritted his teeth and let her have her fun a while longer if she hadn’t shifted just then so that the tips of her long, dark hair tickled his chest and he could feel her warm breath coming down over him.

“Time for you to come again, farm girl,” he said as he yanked her back up his body. “So if you want to make good on your threat, you’d better grab one of the condoms out of my bedside table.”

“God, you’re bossy,” she said, but she’d never looked happier about his bossiness than she did when she leaned over to pull out the box of condoms. “You’ve never opened the box.” She frowned as she caught sight of the date stamped on it. “These expire next month. When’s the last time you had sex?”

“It should have been twenty minutes ago in my truck,” he growled as he grabbed the box out of her hands and ripped it open, sending condoms flying everywhere. Grabbing the nearest one, he had it on in seconds. “Now be quiet, and get over here.”

She was half-laughing, half-scowling as he lifted her back over his hips, but as soon as he began to slide inside, her eyes fluttered closed and she gave a low moan of pleasure.

He held tight to her hips so she wouldn’t move too fast—at least, not this first time, when he wanted to memorize every single sensation. How warm and wet and ready she was. How she fit him as though she’d been made for him.