She was a heartbeat away from throwing the covers off and running into the bathroom to take the world’s quickest shower when she realized the large hand on her thigh wasn’t a dream.

As the final vestiges of sleep cleared and everything came flooding back to her, she found her heart beating hard for a reason that had nothing to do with being late for work.

She reached for the sheet and pulled it up over her naked body. She knew it didn’t really make sense for her to do that after last night. Maybe it was how flustered she felt waking up so abruptly. Maybe it was that Marcus looked impossibly gorgeous, his skin tanned and dark against the snowy white sheets.

Or maybe it was simply that she wasn’t used to waking up in bed with a man at all.

“I’m really late for my video shoot. I can’t believe I forgot to set the alarm."

She’d made it a point to be early for everything, especially since the debacle with Kenny when her reputation as a wild party girl had blown up around her.

At her blurted words, Marcus’s hand slid from her skin and she immediately missed the warmth of his touch. He shifted on the bed to sit up as well, only he wasn’t at all concerned about his nudity.

He was big and hard and for a moment her brain forgot all about business. All she could think was how good it would feel to make love with him again.

And she probably would have done just that, had he not said, “It’s my fault. I kept you up too late last night, even though I knew you needed to work today.”

God, why did their mornings always have to be so awkward? It didn’t help that her phones wouldn’t stop ringing.

“I’m sorry,” she said, “I need to get that real quick just to let them know I’m on my way.”

She grabbed the phone closest to her and said, “Hi. Sorry.” She had her face in her hands as she said, “I overslept. I’ll be there really soon." She hung up. “That was Lori. She sounds really worried about—”

Her words fell away as she noticed that Marcus wasn’t in the bed anymore, that he was standing on the opposite side of the room and had already put on his pants. She was the one who should have been dressed already and heading out the door, but from the look on his face, he was clearly planning to beat her to it. She could also clearly see from his stiff body language to the regret on his face that he wanted nothing more than to walk away from her, from the incredible night they’d spent together.

Of course, right then, she had to remember what she’d asked him before falling asleep in his arms: “How about two nights instead of one?”

Nicola’s first reaction was to cringe, to feel like a pathetic idiot for having asked for more time with him. She pulled the sheet off the bed to cover herself as she stood to face the man who had brought her more pleasure than she’d even known was possible.

Only, instead of letting him leave before she embarrassed herself any further, she quickly reminded herself that everything she’d ever wanted, she’d gone for.

Despite how hard it was, how potentially mortifying, despite the huge potential hit to her pride, she knew deep inside that she and Marcus had shared something special. Not just the sex, but those sweet moments of connection, too.

She wasn’t willing just to let it all end. She wasn’t willing to let herself be pleasured and left like this.

Which was why she refused to let the nervous pace of her heartbeat keep her from moving across the room to him. His eyes darkened as she came closer, the muscles in his rigid jaw jumping as the sheet slipped further down on her chest.

She knew she could drop the sheet and get what she wanted, that his reaction to her naked curves was almost guaranteed. And it was tempting, so tempting, to be consumed by his flames of desire all over again that she almost did just that.

Only, something held her back—that voice in her head that said she wanted his decision to spend another night with her to be more than just the fact that he wanted her body beneath his again.

Not, of course, that she could see any possible future beyond the next few days with Marcus. He was all wrong for her—a businessman who was surely in the market for a wife and kids in the very near future. And she was all wrong for him—a pop star who was on a plane more days than she wasn’t.

And yet, there was emotion there between them. Even in the club that first night, something special had pulsed between them amidst the loud music and strangers. Good or bad, the artist in her simply couldn’t help but want to uncover more of it, just as she dove into the emotions of every song she’d ever written.

When she was standing barely a foot from him, she said, “I loved last night.” She made herself hold his dark, incredibly intense gaze. “I loved everything about being with you.”

Nicola moved closer before he could respond and reached up to feather her fingertips over the very sexy stubble that covered his jaw. Just that small touch had her feeling as if electricity was coursing through her veins.

“I’m going to be in town for a couple more nights for the video shoot today and a concert on Saturday night."

She wanted to press herself against him, wanted to put her lips on his. But she needed to finish what she’d started first, needed to make sure that she got more than just a couple more stolen kisses out of Marcus.

Reminding herself that direct had always been her best option, whether in business or songwriting—and hoping that it would be the same now, with the most beautiful man she’d ever known standing before her—she said, “While I’m here, I’d like to spend more time with you, Marcus. No strings for either of us. Just more of this."

She went up on her toes and softly pressed her lips to his, knowing she’d done everything she could, that she’d been completely honest with him.

Now all she could do was wait for him either to agree...or say goodbye.

* * *

Marcus’s mind was made up.

This thing he was doing with Nicola—hell, it wasn’t even a one-night stand anymore, since technically they’d spanned it out over two nights already—couldn’t go anywhere.

Yes, physically they were perfect together. He wasn’t going to lie to himself and say that he’d ever had as powerful a physical connection with any other woman in twenty years. What had happened last night with Nicola went so far beyond any response he’d ever had to a woman that he was still reeling from it.

It was nearly impossible to try and force his brain—and body—beyond that physical perfection, especially when she was standing there in front of him, sunlight streaming in through the sheer curtains to outline her curves beneath the sheet she had loosely wrapped around her naked body.

But he already knew that a couple more days with her would be too dangerous, too potent...and he didn’t want to break her heart. Not when he knew how sweet she was, how innocent.

He didn’t understand why she looked at him with such trust in her eyes, and such hope. Maybe it was because he was a novelty to her, because his clean-cut business persona was a change from all the famous people she surely hung out with most of the time. But given that things hadn’t worked out with Jill, who he’d thought wanted the same things out of life he did, there was no doubt in his mind that a relationship definitely wouldn’t work out with a young pop star who would quickly tire of him and want to get back to her normal glitzy life.

A smart man would get out before he got burned. And until Jill, Marcus had always prided himself on being smart, on making the right decisions, even if they weren’t easy ones.

Nicola watched him carefully as thoughts pinged around inside his head. He’d learned to read her well enough after two nights and two mornings together and he could see that she was nervous about his response. After all, yesterday when she’d asked him for another night, he hadn’t let temptation sway him. Not until he’d seen her again and realized that one hot night of sex with her was inevitable, as inevitable as the fact that it could never go beyond that.

Her phones all started ringing again and he knew it was time to say goodbye.

But instead of the words he planned on saying, the words he knew he should be saying to end it with her once and for all, somehow he found himself reaching out to put a hand on her lower back to drag her closer.

She released a long, pent-up breath as he slid his other hand through her soft hair to cup her skull. At last, he lowered his mouth to hers to take the kiss he’d wanted for hours as she’d slept so peacefully, sweetly spooned into him in her big bed. She wound her arms around his neck and sighed against his lips as the soft pressure of their lips quickly raged into an out-of-control dance of tongues and teeth and moans.

Yes, the end was inevitable, Marcus thought as he drank in Nicola’s passion, her innate sensuality. But everything that came before that end promised to be so incredible, so mind-blowing, that even though he shouldn’t let himself justify what they were doing as just a couple more days, he couldn’t turn away from it, couldn’t walk away from her.

Not yet.

He lifted his mouth from hers, but didn’t let go of her. “I’ve got to head back to Napa to take care of some things, but—” He had to stop to press a kiss to her forehead, which had begun to furrow the moment he’d said he was leaving. “—I’ll come back tonight.”

Her smile was brighter than the sun and just looking at all that happiness—happiness he was responsible for—suddenly made him feel like he could do anything, take on any challenge, if it meant making Nicola that happy.

Still, he knew he had to reiterate, “No strings.”

He thought her smile might have dimmed a little bit, but when she said, “I’m definitely not looking for a relationship,” he decided it must have been his imagination.

Even as he wondered why she wasn’t game for anything more serious, he gladly told her, “Good. I’ll keep your key and come straight here when I’m done taking care of business.” He pressed one more soft kiss to her lips before saying, “You’d better get ready to go shoot that video."

As she reluctantly left his arms, neither of them realized he was standing on the sheet until it slipped all the way off her body.

Obviously surprised by her sudden nudity, she instinctively tried to cover herself with her hands. Marcus knew they didn’t have time to fool around, that her video shoot was likely hemorrhaging money every minute she wasn’t there, but he wanted her to understand something.

“While we’re together, I want your body to be as much mine as it is yours."

She was already blushing, but at his words, the flush spread from her cheeks to her chest and over the swell of her breasts. For a long moment, she stood just as she was, trying to hide her nakedness from him. And then, on a deep, brave breath, she slowly lowered her hands to her sides, and said, “I want that, too.”

Knowing he was teetering on the sharp edge of control, he said, “Go take your shower.”

For a moment, it looked as if she would try to argue with him. But even though every last cell in his body wanted to grab her, throw her on the bed, and take her, he respected her career enough to, instead, turn from her to reach for his shirt.

He heard her padding across the plush carpeting to the bathroom and forced himself to push away the taste of her sweet mouth still lingering on his lips.

“Marcus?"

He steeled himself to hold onto his control for a few more seconds before turning to look at her over his shoulder. She was impossibly beautiful, standing in the shower stall, her hand on the knob as she prepared to turn it on.

“I don’t know if I can wait for tonight.”

The water came on a moment later, and his brain was instantly reduced to speechless mush as he watched her tilt her head back so that the water poured over her.

Forget staying in control. He needed her one more time before he left.

Seconds later his clothes were off and he was putting on a condom and climbing into the shower stall with her. “Tease,” he growled.