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       Chapter 1

      HOT BREATH created a steamy dampness on her neck, challenging the summer heat for dominance…Her nipples awakened to tingling life under the attention of his roaming hands…She tightened her thighs, trapping his hips, a moan building in her throat…

      Heidi Joblowski arched her back against the cool sheets and slid her hands down to cup Jesse’s bottom, holding him close.

       Chapter Oh, yes…

      He instantly stiffened against her, his body quaking.

       Chapter Oh, no.

       Chapter Not again. Not yet.

      Heidi bit her bottom lip, praying that this wasn’t it. That Jesse wasn’t finished.

      He collapsed against her.

      The moan turned into a groan.

      “Mmm,” he hummed, kissing her neck several times and then kissing her mouth. “That was good.You were good.”

      Apparently she was too good. He’d reached climax before she was even halfway up the ladder, leaving her hanging from the rungs with no hope of his helping her over. Because she knew that no matter what she said, what she did, he was done.

      And she wasn’t even close.

      “What?” he said when she kissed him back with moderate enthusiasm. “Oh, no. Did I do it again?”

      Heidi took a deep breath, trying to unwind her coiled muscles. “When I said ‘quickie,’ I didn’t mean it in a literal sense. I meant ‘no foreplay necessary.’ But an orgasm would have been nice.”

      He chuckled into her hair. “I’m sorry, Heidi.”

      She stretched her neck, figuring she could see to herself in the shower. After all, it was three o’clock on a busy Saturday afternoon in June and she certainly hadn’t expected more. Had hoped for more, especially since they’d spoken several times lately about Jesse’s habit of not waiting for her before diving over the orgasmic edge.

      Of course, all it usually took for Jesse was a gentle blow in his ear and a squeeze of her thighs and he was a goner.

      Therein lay the problem.

      “It’s the place, I think,” he said, smoothing her hair back from her face. “It’s strange having sex in Professor Tanner’s place.”

      “It’s not his place, it’s mine. At least for the summer while I’m renting it from him.”

      Well, she was actually house-sitting, as well. Watering Tanner’s plants, taking care of his garden, forwarding his mail to him while he was in Belgium for the next couple of months. A perfect set-up, really. She got the type of privacy with Jesse that she wanted and that they couldn’t have at the apartment he shared with two friends, and all she had to do was take care of the house as if it were her own. Perfect.

      Only it wasn’t working as well as she’d hoped.

      Jesse turned on his dazzling megawatt grin. “Do you want to try again?”

      Heidi quickly reached for another condom on the nightstand.

      A knock at the front door thwarted her intentions.

      Jesse kissed her. “I’ll make it up to you, Hi. I promise.”

      She languidly snaked her arms around his neck and tunneled her fingers into his thick, dark hair. “At this rate, you’ll oweme well into the next century,” she whispered.

      His chuckle made her smile. “So be it.” He kissed her deeply again before pushing off to jump into his jeans sans underwear. “I can come up with worse debts.”

      So could she.

      Heidi propped herself up on her elbows, watching Jesse Gilbred’s fine male form as he got dressed. His tousled hair dipped low over his brow. His slender, whipcord-taut muscles moved and rippled with his actions. His green eyes twinkled at her mischievously.

      It was a sight of which she’d never tire. She’d met Jesse when they’d been little more than kids in high school and had remained smitten with him ever since. He’d been the captain of the football team, she’d been the quiet, studious girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Even when he’d left Fantasy, Michigan, to attend college in the east, they’d maintained a long-distance relationship, with Jesse returning at least one weekend a month to see her. It had been a long two years, but when he’d graduated and come home for good to work in a managerial capacity at his father’s construction company, she’d been there for him, just as she had for the past eight years.

      He had been her first. And she intended that he be her last. He was the one she’d built all of her plans around. Well, all but the little detail they encountered every now and again, as they had just now. But they could definitely work on that.

      He left the room and Heidi pulled a pillow over her head and gave a muffled moan.

      “Hey, how’s it hanging, man?” she heard Jesse’s voice as he greeted their