“Because of the past?”
She shook her head and stared straight into his eyes and hoped he could see what was in her heart. Was terrified that he actually might.
“Because of right now.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
DANIEL cocked his head toward Kimberly because he was worried that his ears had played tricks on him.
The anxious way she held his gaze, the nervous tilt to her mouth told him Kimberly just admitted to having feelings for him.
God, he wished he wasn’t so tired. He was functioning on thirty-six hours without sleep. Not the first time he?
?d done it, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last, but he hadn’t slept well all week, thanks to a certain blonde refusing to let his mind have peace.
A smart man would go home, rest, and think long and hard before contemplating becoming involved with the only woman who’d ever broken his heart.
Yet looking at her hopeful expression there was no way he could walk away.
“Can we go to my room to talk, Daniel?”
Only a stupid man would turn down an invitation made by a woman like Kimberly.
Daniel wasn’t stupid.
He stood, took her hand and lifted it to his mouth. He placed a soft kiss in the center of her palm. “Let’s go.”
Gulping, she stood and laced her fingers through his. Her hand trembled. “Daniel, this isn’t an invitation for more. I…” She hesitated. “There’s a lot that needs to be said before you and I can move forward.”
She wanted to talk. She wanted to move forward. She wanted. He could hear her want in her voice. Despite his logical arguments on the reasons why it shouldn’t, Daniel’s hope built with every floor ding of the elevator.
By the time they reached the twenty-third floor his insides felt raw. Raw and ready and racing.
Logic stayed somewhere on the main level, and his libido had risen to the occasion.
Kimberly fumbled with her room key, sliding the card several times before the light blinked green.
Looking unsure, she flipped on the light, met his gaze, and took a deep breath. “There’s so much I need to say to you that I don’t even know where to begin.”
She really wanted to talk? That’s really why she’d invited him to her room? And why wasn’t she shutting the door? She stood there, holding the door wide and looking ready to bolt.
She laughed nervously. “I—Do you want a drink? There’s a minibar and—”
He didn’t want to talk. “Shut the door, Kimberly.”
“The door?” She glanced at where she held the door, blinked as if she hadn’t realized she was still holding it open, and nodded. “Okay.”
But she didn’t.
She moistened her lips and lifted her eyes to his.
Tension zapped between them.
He took a step toward her, placed his hand over hers, and released her fingers from the door one by one.
The moment the door closed, Daniel pulled her to him, and their lips touched in a hungry kiss.
A hungry kiss that demanded more. A hungry kiss that released long-suppressed desires. A hungry kiss that threatened to devour his whole being.