Shiver

tonight?”
    “It’s tempting.” Sam looked at him meditatively. “Okay, I give you my word,” she said, and wasn’t even sure whether she was lying or not.
    His expression was impossible to read. But all he said was, “Good.” Then he handed her cash and knife back to her. Just like that.
    “Thank you,” she said, trying not to sound surprised as she thrust them down into her front pocket.
    There was something there in the depths of his eyes as he watched her that made her heart speed up again.
    “Don’t ever play poker, Sam,” he said softly. Then as she frowned at him, trying to work that out, he slid a hand under her chin, leaned forward, and kissed her.

CHAPTER TWENTY
     

     
    I t had nothing to do with the damned pain pills. Tonight he was the opposite of high as a kite, and the sexual voltage between them was still off the charts. That was the unwelcome knowledge that tore like a bullet through Danny’s brain at the first surprised flutter of Sam’s lips beneath his. Rampant desire so hot it would have put a flamethrower to shame raised his temperature by about a thousand degrees as soon as he yielded to the damned stupid impulse of a moment and kissed her. Then she made a tiny sound and her lips parted to let him in, and his gut clenched and he went instantly hard and for a minute there he wasn’t thinking at all.
    Her mouth was warm and wet, sweet and seductive. Her tongue welcomed his with an eagerness that sent his libido into turbocharge mode. He kissed her hungrily, fiercely, until he felt the cool silk of her hands start to slide up around his neck.
    Then he had a second, just a second, of clarity.
    But it was enough.
    Opening his eyes, he forced his mind to function, steeled his will.
    Catching her arms before they could lock around his neck, he freed his mouth from hers, lifted his head. And found himself looking down at rosy, full lips damp with his kiss, delicate nose, fringes of flirty black lashes lying against pale, smooth cheeks. With sooty tendrils of hair framing the fine-featured oval of her face, she was so beautiful she made his breath stop.
    He’d started getting turned on when he had frisked her, which was why he had stopped with the job only half done. Having succumbed to the urge to kiss her just now simply because she’d looked so damned guilty and vulnerable and sweet, he was paying the price: he wanted her so badly he hurt with it.
    You fucking idiot.
    “Sam.”
    Her eyes had opened when he had caught her arms. Danny found himself drowning in pools of intense blue. The passion he saw in them made him burn. The promise of hot, intense, mind-blowing sex crackled in the air. It would be so easy, so damned easy, to give her what she so clearly wanted, to reward himself with what he was dying to have, to take her to bed and rock her world and see if he couldn’t make his own world a little brighter, too.
    For a moment, as they stared at each other, the issue hung in the balance. He was so aroused that despite every resolution he had made to the contrary he wasn’t sure he had the iron control that he was going to need to step away.
    Then her brows snapped together in a frown.
    “Forget about it, Marco.” Her voice was a little husky, her breathing a little fast, but the determination in her tone was unmistakable. He felt the quick rise and fall of her breasts against his chest. The warmth of her, the softness of her, the sweet scent of her, all combined to make him burn. She pulled her arms from his hold, took a step back. He let her go.
    By calling him Marco, she had opened a tiny little window that allowed a few beams of sanity to reach his brain. The danger hadn’t gone away. He still needed to be clearheaded. He still couldn’t afford the distraction.
    But he wanted her. Jesus, he wanted her.
    She said, “I’m not doing this. No way.”
    Thank the Lord she had the sense to call a halt, because right at that moment he was having trouble getting there. He was practically clenching his teeth to keep from reaching for her again.
    She said, “I’m going to bed. Good night.”
    He said nothing as she turned and left him, padding barefoot down the hall with her head held high. Tall and willowy, her tank top clinging in a way that showed off her narrow rib cage and small waist, her jeans hugging her absolutely world-class ass and long slim legs, with the kind of sway to her walk that would make a eunuch pant, she took his breath away. If he hadn’t been in so