Six

      When his mouth covered hers, her heart lurched. Wrapping both arms around his neck, she pressed tightly against him. His mouth was warm, insistent, and she kissed him eagerly. She clung to him, returning his kiss while the air heated and her heartbeat thundered. How could he melt her in seconds? Why did he weave such a spell with her? She didn’t care. All she wanted at the moment was to hold and kiss him. She felt as starved to make love as they had on the snowy weekend.

      “Emma, I want you,” he whispered.

      Each kiss was more volatile than the last. At the moment she didn’t care about caution and what was wise in dealing with him. All she wanted was to be in his arms and kissing him.

      Still kissing her, he picked her up and carried her through the house to the family room. He sat on the sofa, cradling her on his lap. Her hands drifted over him while her heart raced. She was glad they were together. Running his fingers in her hair, he kissed her. Why did this seem necessary? Why did his loving seem so right and special? The questions were dim, vague speculation that was blown away by passion.

      She combed her fingers through his thick curls and played her hand over his muscled chest.

      His hand slipped beneath her T-shirt. His fingers were warm, his hand calloused and faintly abrasive against her skin, a sensual, rough texture that heightened feeling. In seconds he had pushed away her bra to caress her. Pleasure streaked from his slightest touch, fanning sexual hunger to a bigger flame. Emma sat up, her thick red hair falling on both sides of her face as she tugged his T-shirt free and pulled it over his head. His eyes darkened and he had her shirt whisked away in a flash.

      Knowing she was pursuing a reckless course, but wanting him desperately, she sat astride him and leaned forward. They embraced each other to kiss, his sculpted, warm chest pressed against her with the mat of chest curls a tantalizing texture.

      Desire raged while she struggled to dredge up control. Dimly, she thought about her fears of how hurt she would be when the job ended and she told Zach goodbye. The hard knowledge that when that time came, he would be gone permanently from her life was a cooling effect. And it hurt. Was she falling in love with him? Was she already in love?

      She leaned away slightly to frame his face with her hands. “To my way of seeing, our continuing to make love is a road to disaster. I want to back up a little and think about what we’re doing.” As she talked, she shifted off Zach and stood in front of him. While he watched her, his fingers caressed her, dallying along her hip and down her thigh, causing her to pause. She inhaled sharply, closed her eyes and stood immobile while his hands created magic and made her want to go back to kisses and loving him.

      After seconds or minutes, she didn’t know, she grabbed his wrists and opened her eyes. “Zach, wait.”

      He stood, his arms wrapping around her. She ran her hands over his chest. “I want you, Emma. I want to make love to you all night.”

      “Part of me wants that. Part of me has enough sense to know that’s a reckless course to follow. Getting involved with you isn’t what I hired on to do. And that first day that’s what you agreed to avoid. I don’t want last weekend every night until this job is over. If we do, I’ll never want to leave.”

      “I just know what we both want right now. Kisses don’t have one thing to do with business or your job or mine. I wasn’t even going to keep you that first day, but you proved to be such a damn good secretary, I did. Emma, I’ve spent the past four days wanting you. I’ve been with you, watching you, aching to hold and kiss you.”

      His words echoed her feelings. Constantly through the holiday, she had glanced at him, wanting to go somewhere they could be alone to kiss and love and lose themselves as they had the weekend before. At the same time, she knew the hopelessness of getting more deeply entangled with him.

      “You and I are way too opposite to get closely involved. You might not care at all and that means nothing to you, but it means a lot to me. You saw my family. My lifestyle and background are totally different from yours. If we continue to make love now, it will mean certain things on an emotional level to me that lovemaking won’t to you. We’ll get more deeply involved with each other. I can’t separate that from my deepest feelings.”

      Standing, he reached out to take her into his arms again. “We’ll just kiss. You say when to stop.”

      “If we do this, Zach, you’ll have my heart.”

      “Maybe you’ll have mine,” he whispered, showering kisses on her temple to her cheek and then on her mouth. He kissed her insistently, holding her close against him, ending her arguments. She wanted him and her hunger overcame the logic, her caution, her arguments. She held him, kissing him with fervor that grew. The weekend had been another chain binding her heart. She held him tightly. She couldn’t stop now. Later, he picked her up, kissing her as he carried her to the closest bedroom to make love to her.

      Near dawn she stirred and rolled over to look at Zach who lay sleeping beside her. She rose up, brushing a curl off his forehead. A dark stubble covered his jaw. He was muscled and fit except for his injury that would heal. With their loving and Zach going home with her, he became more appealing each day. It didn’t matter. There was no way he could ever be the man for her. No matter what her heart wanted. They were far too opposite. Even if they both were wildly in love, there was no possibility she could ever accept his lifestyle. She had told him if they continued making love, it would mean more to her and it would hurt deeply when she had to break it off and leave. And should he want her to stay, or wanted to marry her, which was impossible with a man like Zach, she couldn’t accept. Not with his nomadic lifestyle.

      While he had been good about the weekend with her family, she suspected there was no likelihood he would ever settle. She hurt and the hurt would grow worse later, but they were mismatched and neither wanted change.

      He had met her family now and knew enough about her that he should understand what she told him. She suspected this job would end soon because he had a doctor’s appointment this week and she had noticed he was getting around far better each day.

      She studied him, with his shadowy long lashes on his cheeks. As he slept, she took her time. Looking at his firm lips, she thought about their kisses. Unable to resist, she leaned closer to kiss him lightly. His arm banded her waist and his eyes opened lazily. He pulled her close to kiss her to make love. She stopped thinking and gave herself to feeling.

      At nine o’clock, she sat up and reached across him to get his phone from a bedside table. “Zach, it’s after nine. We have to—”

      He kissed her and stopped her announcement. In minutes he raised his head. “We don’t really have to do anything except stay here in bed.”

      “Oh, yes, we do,” she said, stepping out of bed and tugging free the sheet to wrap around herself. “We need to get back to our business relationship. We’re already deep enough in a personal one. It’s time to slow this part down.” He placed his hands behind his head, smiling and watching her.

      “I’ll see you in the office,” she said, scurrying out of the room, praying she didn’t encounter Nigel before she got away from Zach and got her clothes back on.

      It was an hour before she had showered and dressed in fresh jeans, a blue cotton shirt and loafers. With an eagerness she couldn’t curb, she went downstairs to the office to find Zach sitting behind his desk.

      He smiled when she came in and stood to come around his desk. He looked sexy, more appealing than ever in fresh, tight jeans and a black sweater. The warmth in his eyes held her immobile, unable to look away, and her pulse drummed in her ear. Her breath caught as he closed the distance between them to take her into