Summer Desserts

pull away, but her body refused the command.
    “And a distraction?”
    He took his mouth on a slow journey to hers, but only nibbled. There was no pressure but the slight grip he kept on the base of her neck with fingers moving slowly, rhythmically over her skin. Summer didn’t move away, though she told herself she still could. She’d never permitted herself to be seduced, and tonight was no different.
    Just a sample, she thought. She knew how to taste and judge, then step away from even the most tempting of flavors. Just as she knew how to absorb every drop of pleasure from that one tiny test.
    “Yes,” she murmured and let her eyes flutter closed. She needed no visual image now, but only the sensations. Warm, soft, moist—his mouth against hers. Firm, strong, persuasive—the fingers against her skin. Subtle, male, intriguing—the scent that clung to him. When he spoke her name, his voice flowed over her like a breeze, one that carried a trace of heat and the hint of a storm.
    “How simple do you want it to be, Summer?” It was happening again, he realized. That total involvement he neither looked for nor wanted—the total involvement he couldn’t resist. “There’s only you and me.”
    “There’s nothing simple about that.” Even as she disagreed, her arms were going around him, her mouth was seeking his again.
    It was only a kiss. She told herself that as his lips slanted lightly over hers. She could still end it, she was still in control. But first, she wanted just one more taste. Without thinking, she touched the tip of his tongue with hers, to fully explore theflavor. Her own moan sounded softly in her ears as she drew him closer. Body against body, firm and somehow right. This new thought drifted to her even as the sensation concentrated on the play of mouth to mouth.
    Why had kisses seemed so basic, so simplistic before this? There were hundreds of pulse points in her body she’d remained unaware of until this moment. There were pleasures deeper, richer than she’d ever imagined that could be drawn out and exploited by the most elemental gesture between a man and a woman. She’d thought she’d known the limits of her own needs, the depth of her own passions…until now. Barely touching her, Blake was tearing something from her that wasn’t calm, ordered and disciplined. And when it was totally free, what then?
    She found herself at the verge of something she’d never come to before—where emotions commanded her mind completely. A step further and he would have all of her. Not just her body, not just her thoughts, but that most private, most well guarded possession, her heart.
    She felt a greed for him and pulled away from it. If she were greedy, if she took, then he would too. He still held her, lightly enough for her to draw back, firmly enough to keep her close. She was breathless, moved. As she struggled to think clearly, Summer decided it would be foolish to try to deny either.
    “I think I proved my point,” she managed.
    “Yours?” Blake countered as he ran a hand up her back. “Or mine?”
    She took a deep breath, expelling it slowly. That one small show of emotion had desire clawing at him again. “I’ve mixedenough ingredients to know that business affairs and personal affairs aren’t palatable. On Monday, I go to work for Cocharan. I intend to give you your money’s worth. There can’t be anything else.”
    “There’s quite a bit else already.” He cupped her chin in his hand so that their eyes held steady. Inside he was a mass of aching needs and confusion. With that kiss, that long, slow kiss, he’d all but forgotten his strictest rule. Keep the emotions harnessed, both in business and in pleasure. Otherwise, you make mistakes that aren’t easily rectified. He needed time, and he realized he needed distance. “We know each other better now,” he said after a moment. “When we make love, we’ll understand each other.”
    Summer remained seated when he rose. She wasn’t completely sure she could stand. “On Monday,” she said in a firmer voice, “we’ll be working together. That’s all there is between us from this point on.”
    “When you deal with as many contracts as I do, Summer, you learn that paper is just that: paper. It’s not going to make any difference.”
    He walked to the door thinking he needed some fresh air to clear his head, a drink to settle his nerves. And distance, a great deal of distance, before he forgot everything except the