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last nail in his coffin, so to speak.
    He started to turn away and she dug out her keycard from her
purse.
    But then he stopped and backed her against the wall in a
quick move. She dropped her purse and he didn’t give her any space to pick it
back up.
    He took his glasses off and slipped them into his jacket
pocket while holding her startled gaze.
    “I’m going to take a chance, Gwen,” he said and put his
hands flat on the wall on either side of her head.
    He stared at her intently and seemed to be waiting
for…something. But she didn’t know what he wanted her to say.
    But then she didn’t have to say anything because his lips
came down on hers. At first he just brushed them back and forth and she could
feel the heat. She wanted more.
    She stood on her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck.
She would wonder later if that was what he had been waiting for.
    He gripped her hips and pulled her close while sinking his
tongue deep inside her mouth. The sudden intensity of it caught her off guard
and she moaned quietly.
    His tongue swirled and demanded an answer and she was more
than willing to give it to him. Her hands tangled in his hair and he stuck one
of his legs between hers.
    The kiss went on and she wondered if she could come from
kissing.
    He pulled back abruptly, both of them breathing heavy.
    “Can I see you tomorrow?” he asked as he trailed his fingers
down her face.
    “I’d like that.”
    He smiled and she watched him walk away, thinking that he
had a very nice ass.

Chapter Three
     
    She thought about him a lot that night as she lay in the
hotel room bed. Could he be the one who she needed? He certainly wasn’t what
she expected. He was straitlaced on the outside but there was something in his
gaze that told her a dark side of him was waiting to be unleashed.
    But she had her doubts. She had been wrong before.
    However, the glasses and straight-cut jacket were quite a
change from the half-naked man she had met in the pool.
    Before she finally fell asleep she decided that he was sexy
enough to take the chance.
     
    Steve showed up at breakfast the next morning as she was
sitting on the hotel’s outdoor patio, drinking juice.
    He smiled at her from across the patio and made his way to
her. It gave her a few seconds to look him over. He was dressed for the pool
again this morning, wearing nothing but dark-blue shorts, a tight white t-shirt
and sandals. His glasses were gone and his sandy hair was in disarray, as if he
had been running his fingers through it. His dark-chocolate eyes caught her
violet ones as he neared her table.
    “Good morning,” he said to her.
    “Morning,” she replied as she pushed a chair out with her
bare foot so he could join her.
    He watched the movement of her foot intently before he took
his seat. She didn’t know what that was all about but it had been more than
just a glance.
    “Did you sleep well?” he asked.
    She stared at him and suddenly thought that all of this
small talk was silly. She knew what she wanted and there was only one way to
find out if that was what he wanted too.
    She had to be brave and just ask him. It was something that
she never would do at home but here, with the warm, salty ocean air blowing
around her, she felt as if she could do it.
    “I slept all right. Even if I was a bit lonely,” Gwen told
him and watched his face carefully. Even though she was reclined and looked
relaxed she felt the zing of excitement race along her nerves.
    His eyes widened slightly and he leaned back in his chair to
look at her.
    “A woman as beautiful as you should never be lonely,” he
finally replied.
    She smiled at him. It wasn’t the line she had been hoping
for but it was a start.
    “Thanks for the compliment.”
    “I only state the truth,” he said with a smirk and a wink.
    She smiled back at him and put her bare feet up on the
opposite chair. Her pink-painted toenails stuck out slightly from under the
tablecloth but she wasn’t worried about