She rose to stack dishes, but he put a hand over hers. “Let’s just go in there now, and you can show me what’s so wrong with my simple, minimalist approach.”

“After the dishes.”

“Uh-uh. Now.” He began to pull her out of the room, amused at the struggle on her face as she glanced back at the table. “They’ll still be there when we get back. Trust me. It’s not going to hurt to do them out of the logical order.”

“Yes, it does. A little. Five minutes, then. The condensed consultation. First, you did a good job with the walls. It’s a good-sized room, and the strong color’s a complement, which you could enhance with touches of other strong colors in curtains and . . . What’re you doing?” she demanded when he began unbuttoning her shirt.

“Getting you naked.”

“Excuse me.” She tapped his fingers away. “I charge extra for naked decorating consults.”

“Bill me.” He swept her off her feet.

“This was just a trick, wasn’t it? A ploy to get my clothes off and have your way with me.”

“Sure circled around nicely, didn’t it?” He dumped her on the couch and dived on top of her.

Chapter Nineteen

HE made her laugh as he nipped along her jawline, playfully wrestled her down when she tried to squirm away.

“You taste even better than meat loaf.”

“If that’s the best you can do, then you’re the one who’ll be washing dishes.”

“Your threats don’t scare me.” He walked his fingers up her ribs toward her breast. “There’s a dishwasher somewhere in that kitchen.”

“Yes, there is. And you had a bag of dog food stored in it.”

“Is that where that went to?” He nibbled at her earlobe.

“It’s now in the utility closet, where it belongs.” She turned her head slightly to give him easier access to her neck. “You’re obviously unaware that there are very practical, even attractive, containers manufactured to store items such as dog food.”

“No kidding? Looks like I’ve got my work cut out for me, getting these domestic worries out of your mind. But I like a challenge after a good meal. Let’s just get this off.”

He tugged at her shirt, then made a throaty sound as he smoothed a finger over the salmon-colored lace of her bra. “I like this. We’ll leave that on a while.”

“We could take this upstairs, you know. I cleaned under the cushions and learned just what this monster can swallow. We could be next.”

“I’ll protect you.”

He replaced his fingertips with his lips, skimmed them over lace and flesh.

The enormous cushions gave under their weight, cradled them together as he sampled her. She wiggled and squirmed in mock resistance, an erotic game that aroused them both.

Her mind began to fog as he scraped his teeth down her torso. “What do you think of Brazilians?”

Baffled, he lifted his head. “What? The people, or the nuts?”

She stared at him, amazed that she’d spoken out loud, delighted with his response. Laughter shook her, rolled straight up from her belly as she grabbed him and rained kisses over his face. “Nothing. Never mind. There.” She dragged his shirt over his head. “Now we’re even.”

She loved the feel of his skin under her hands, the sturdy shoulders, the play of muscles. She loved, oh, yes, the feel of his hands on her. Gentle or rough, rushed or patient.

And as the evening light slipped through the windows, as he roamed down her body, she closed her eyes and let sensation rule.

Flutters and tugs, heat and chills. Each was a separate thrill blending into a single, steady ache. His fingers danced over her belly, made it quiver, before he drew her pants down her hips and legs.

Then his tongue slid over her, down her, into her, and flashed her to peak.

She moaned his name when her body went bowstring taut under his. Sighed his name as she seemed to dissolve under his hands.

He wanted, as he’d wanted in that stunning moment in his kitchen, to give her anything. Everything she wanted, all she needed, more than she could imagine.

He’d never known what it was to be offered unconditional love, to know it waited for him. He’d never felt deprived of it because he’d never known it existed.

And now he held the woman who’d given it to him.

She was his miracle, his magic. His key.

He pressed his lips to her shoulder, her throat, rode on the punch of these huge new emotions when her arms came around him.

Words tumbled through his mind, but none of them were enough. He found her mouth with his, cupped her hips, and filled her.

WARM and loose and sleepy, she curled into him. She was more than willing to cocoon herself in this lovely sexual haze, to drift in it to the sound of her own skin humming. Chores could wait, forever if need be. As long as she could snuggle here, feeling Flynn’s heart pound against hers.

She wondered why they didn’t just drift off to sleep this way, warm, naked, and tangled with the bloom of lovemaking covering them both like soft, silky clouds.

She stretched luxuriously under his hand when he stroked her back. “Mmmm. Let’s just stay here all night, like a couple of bears in a cave.”

“You’re happy?”

She tipped her face up to smile at him. “Of course I am.” She snuggled back in. “So happy I’m pretending there aren’t dishes waiting to be washed or leftovers to put away.”

“You haven’t been happy the last few days.”

“No, I guess I haven’t.” She settled her head more comfortably on his shoulder. “I felt like I’d lost my direction, and everything around me was shifting and changing so fast I couldn’t keep up. Then it occurred to me that if I didn’t change, at least open myself to changing, the direction didn’t matter. Because I was going nowhere.”

“There are some things I want to tell you, if you can handle some more changes.”

Uneasy, as his tone was so serious, she braced herself. “All right.”

“About Lily.”

He felt her tense, an instant tightening of muscles, and could all but feel her will herself to relax again. “This may not be the best moment to tell me about another woman. Especially one you loved and planned to marry.”

“I think it is. We knew each other casually for several months, then intimately for the best part of a year. We clicked on a number of levels. Professionally, socially, sexually—”