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walked up the steps. “When I left her a message that I wouldn’t be home for dinner, she probably fixed him a meal, or else they went out to the diner. I think it’s sweet.”
    “I think it’s convenient.” He pulled her through the door and into his arms. “Come here, you.”
    Her pulse leaped as her body made contact with his solid warmth. Ah, he felt good. “Shouldn’t we get upstairs while the getting’s good?”
    “If you’re right about where my dad’s hanging out, and you probably are, then I have time to kiss you first.” He pulled her in tight, allowing her to feel his erection. “And I’ve waited years for the chance.”
    “Years?” Heart pounding, she wound both arms around his neck and breathed in the remembered aroma of his shaving lotion. Now it was mixed with the scent of arousal, both his and hers. Her voice quivered slightly. “Come to think of it, I’ve waited years, too.”
    Combing her hair back and cupping her cheek in one hand, he tilted her mouth up to meet his. “Then I’d better make this good.” He leaned down, but then he drew back to gaze at her. “You’re not closing your eyes.”
    “After all the anticipation, I don’t want to miss anything.”
    His mouth tilted at the corners. “There’s more to a kiss than what you see.”
    “I know, but—”
    “Trina, don’t mess me up here. Close your eyes.” He kissed her forehead, and as his warm breath tickled her lashes, she lowered them.
    “Thank you. Don’t want you staring up my nostrils.”
    She started to giggle.
    “Oh, hell, don’t do that. This is supposed to be serious stuff.” He pressed his mouth gently against each eyelid.
    She swallowed a bubble of laughter. “Okay.”
    “Don’t get me wrong.” He kissed his way down to her cheek. “I love your laugh. It’s one of the sweetest sounds in the world to me.”
    Wow.
    “I just don’t want you to laugh right now.” He kissed her other cheek and moved to her jaw.
    Any thoughts of doing that drifted away the longer he held her close. She stood very still and absorbed the amazing sensation of his lips feathering her skin. Hutch’s lips. The moment had a dreamlike quality, especially because he moved with such careful reverence, as if he, too, cherished every second and didn’t want to miss a single square inch of her face before he finally touched her mouth.
    If this turned out to be a dream, she was going to be pissed.
    Then he made contact with her mouth, and she knew it was real, so real that she gasped at the raw power of it. With a moan, he thrust with his tongue, and she was lost, carried away on a tide of passion so strong that she lost track of where she was.
    Nothing mattered but his hot, demanding mouth. He held her with a surety and strength that allowed her to let go of all control. When he swept her up in his arms, she accepted that as inevitable, even though no man had ever carried her up a flight of stairs in her life. But this was Hutch, and with him, anything was possible.
    As instructed, she kept her eyes closed. She heard him kick his bedroom door closed and felt the mattress under her back as he laid her on it. He put his mouth against her ear. “Let me lock the door, for good measure.”
    Then he was gone, and she opened her eyes at last. Outside his curtained bedroom window, twilight had descended and transformed her surroundings from color to shades of gray. But she could still make out the trappings of a room that had once belonged to a teenager. Sports pennants and posters lined the walls, and the furniture was sturdy and plain.
    He walked back to the double bed, unsnapping his shirt as he approached. “You look so right in my bed.”
    “Your dad could come home any minute, right?”
    “Yep.” He pulled off his boots and tossed them aside. “So we’re going to be very…” Leaning down, he nibbled on her mouth. “Very, very, very…quiet.”
    Reaching up, she buried her fingers in his luxurious dark hair and pulled him