She shook her head, her expression half-amused, half-exasperated. “Don’t try to soften me up with compliments. I might not remember everything but I do remember that how charming you can be, and that you’re lethal when you want something.”
“At least you remember the important things.”
She laughed. Good Lord, she laughed.
“You’re impossible,” she said, her voice throaty, the sound sexy.
And just like that he felt the old jolt, the electric heat that had brought them together, again and again.
“But you like that about me,” he drawled, and he saw a flash in her eyes, the laughter chased away by something deeper, hotter.
She felt the heat, too. The physical pull. So the desire wasn’t gone. Good to know, he thought, his gaze meeting hers and holding, wanting her to feel what they’d once had. Daring her to let the fire burn again.
*
He was doing something to her right now, she thought, unable to look away from his intense blue-green eyes.
He was challenging her…making her think…feel. So like Colm to throw down the gauntlet, to force her out of safety.
“Impossible,” she repeated, her pulse thudding in her veins, her body tingling, a thick hot craving stirring within her.
“You love the impossible.” He unfastened his seatbelt and stood.
He was so tall, his shoulders so broad. Her heart jumped, and jumped again as he closed the distance between their leather chairs. “What are you doing?”
“Showing you how much you like the impossible.”
“Not smart,” she whispered, gulping for air as he leaned over her and unfastened her seat belt.
He drew her up, to her feet. “Now you’re just being contrary,” he answered, sliding his arms around her and drawing her close against him.
He was oh, so warm, and so very hard. He felt wonderful, too wonderful, and familiar in the kind of way that made her heart ache.
Once, he’d been her man.
Once, he’d been her world.
Colm tilted her chin up, forcing her to look into his eyes. “Remember this,” he murmured. “Remember us?”
Her heart was pounding. Her legs went weak.
“We are good together. We fit,” he added, his intense eyes held her captive and she stared up at him, thoughts scattering, emotions swirling. She couldn’t think straight, didn’t know anything right now. “You’re not fair.” She licked her upper lip, her mouth suddenly dry. “This isn’t fair.”
“How so?”
She struggled to organize her thoughts, which wasn’t easy when her heart was pounding so. He felt so good. He felt like everything she loved. “I think you know I like…this…”
He stroked her cheek. “Mmmm.”
It took an effort to speak. Her senses were swimming, nerves screaming with pleasure. “So you’re using me….against me.”
His lips quirked. “All is fair in love and war.”
“Is this war?”
“No, baby, it’s love.”
But that didn’t sound right. It didn’t fit. They’d been many things to each other, but he didn’t love her. She didn’t know why. But love had never been part of the equation.
“It’s not love,” she said, stiffening, her hands going to his chest to push him back. “I might not remember everything, but I don’t think we are—” She broke off, frowned. “It’s not love, is it?”
His head dropped, his lips lightly brushing hers. “We’ve made love a thousand times.”
“But that’s not love.” She leaned back and pressed harder on his firm chest.
He didn’t budge. If anything, he held her more firmly, one of his hands low on her hip, caressing her, stirring her senses, distracting her just when she needed to concentrate most.
His lips trailed a slow path along the side of her neck, making the sensitive skin tingle and burn. “Says who?”
She drew an unsteady breath and closed her eyes as he focused on the soft hollow beneath her ear. Heat flared and everything within her felt bright and taut. She wanted more. She shouldn’t want more.
She should put a stop to this. “I can’t think when you do that,” she murmured, her fingers widening on his chest, feeling the heat of his body, the thudding of his heart.
He was a magnificent male. He was everything she’d ever wanted. But she couldn’t want him now. It was hard to remember why. She just knew she couldn’t, shouldn’t, let this happen.
“You must let me go.”
He kissed the line of her jaw. “No.”
“You’re a barbarian.”
He kissed her ever so lightly near the corner of her mouth. “And you love how I can make you feel.”
Warmth rushed through her, surging up from her belly through her chest and into her neck and face making her cheeks burn. But she didn’t contradict him. She couldn’t, not when he was right.
Worse, she wanted him to kiss her, really kiss her. Not these teasing kisses, and pecks, and touches. She wanted his mouth, and his taste. Him.
And she was about to tell him what she wanted, her hands sliding up his chest, when the plane shuddered violently in a pocket of turbulence that sent them crashing into each other. Colm bit back an oath and kissed her swiftly on the lips before putting her back in her seat and buckling the seatbelt tightly.
“I want you, girl,” He gritted, tugging on the strap, making sure it was snug, “but I also want you safe. Tomorrow, we pick up where we left off, and that’s a promise.”
*