Cross My Heart (A Contemporary Romance Novel)

and covered her breasts with his hands, and she arched into him.
    He held her firmly, his thumbs moving softly over her skin. “Do you want me to tell you why this is a good idea?”
    “Yes,” she said, the word turning into a gasp as he bent his head and circled her left nipple with his tongue.
    He lifted his head to look at her. “Every time I look at you, I feel like I’m on fire. Like I’m going to combust if I don’t throw you down on the nearest flat surface and bury myself inside you. And I’m willing to bet you’re on fire for me, too.”
    She closed her eyes as he bent to tease her other nipple, swirling his tongue around the hard nub until she squirmed. “I think about you all the time,” she whispered. “I lie awake at night thinking about you.”
    He lifted his head again. “So let’s get it out of our systems. Let the fire burn itself out. Two weeks ought to be enough for that, don’t you think? After that Claire will be living with me, and you’ll be moving away. We can have a friendship then. A lasting friendship, I hope. But the truth is…and please don’t take this the wrong way…I think I’ll have an easier time being friends with you from a distance.” He looked at her, and his brown eyes were dark with desire. “I can’t resist you, Jenna. Please don’t ask me to. There’s no reason we can’t have two weeks together.”
    He made it sound so simple. So logical.
    If she trusted herself to be equally logical, she’d agree without a second’s hesitation.
    But looking into those brown eyes, Jenna felt a pull on her heart that had nothing to do with logic or with lust, and everything to do with the fact that it would be so, so easy to fall in love with this man. So easy to give things up for him, to change her own life so she could be part of his.
    And even if she didn’t, even if she walked away as planned, she might not come out unscathed. After she’d left Derek and the Mollies, it had taken her a long time to feel whole again. She didn’t want to leave a part of herself behind when she moved away from Iowa...and Michael.
    But it was impossible not to give into the magnetic pull between them, especially when Michael was running his hand over her skin, trailing his fingers slowly down her torso, stopping for a tug at her belly ring before he laid his warm palm across her stomach.
    There was something deliciously possessive in the feel of his hand on her. Her body tightened and loosened in dizzying waves, and she knew she couldn’t say no to him.
    He was right. They needed to get this out of their systems.
    “Okay.”
    He breathed in sharply. “Really?”
    She nodded, and then gasped as his hands slid around to her backside, fitting her securely against his hardening body.
    “I should warn you, I’m going to be sneaking into your bedroom at all hours of the night. My vacation officially ends today. As of six a.m. tomorrow I’ll be on call for emergencies, and on Monday I’m back at the hospital. I’m going to cut my schedule back so I can spend more time with Claire, but there’s no way that can happen in the next two weeks. So I won’t be around much to bother you.” His hands tightened on her hips. “But whenever I’m home, I won’t be able to stay away from you. You should probably give me a key to your house, because otherwise I’ll break the door down to get to you.”
    She reached for his shirt and tugged it over his head. “You can have a key. And you can slip into my bed anytime, day or night. For the next two weeks I’m yours.”
    His eyes heated. “I still have one night of vacation left. Can I spend it here?”
    “Right here?” she murmured, running her hands down his bare chest.
    “Well...maybe upstairs. Your bed would be more comfortable for what I have in mind. What would you think about making love for the next twelve hours?”
    She pretended to think about it. “Hmm. What about meals?”
    “We’ll eat in. Chinese. Pizza. Whatever you want.”
    She grinned, suddenly exhilarated. “Sold.”
    He managed to stand up with her in his arms, and she grabbed on to his shoulders as he carried her towards the stairs.
    A little voice whispered inside her that she was making a mistake. That their plan would backfire. That two weeks of this, of him, would only make her want more.
    He tossed her naked onto her bed, and paused only to shuck off his jeans and boxers before joining her there.
    It would be all right, she reassured herself. They’d