“You mean so much to me,” she began in a soft voice as she twisted the napkin on her lap, “and last night was incredible.”

Her breakfast table was small enough that he could easily reach for her hand. “Being with you made it the best night of my life,” he told her, his voice gentle and sincere. “But that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten what you said about taking it one day, and one night, at a time. Or about keeping what’s between us just for us to know about.”

In her experience, men heard what they wanted to hear, regardless of what she actually said to them. She’d been pretty sure by now that Jack was different, but after what they’d just shared, what man wouldn’t have assumed she’d changed her mind about going slow and not mixing up business with pleasure if they could help it?

“I haven’t forgotten what you said, either, about wanting more than one night.” Even though he didn’t look at all angry with her, she felt terrible about taking what he’d offered when she herself had given him so little in return. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me, why I—”

“There’s nothing wrong with you.” He tugged her onto his lap and said, “You make me happy. Happier than I’ve ever been.”

His sweet acceptance of her just the way she was made her heartbeat settle and the knot in her stomach uncoil. Framing his face in her hands, she told him the one thing she knew for sure.

“You make me happy, too.”

Chapter Fourteen

The next few days followed in a blur of meetings and promotional activities, while the nights were a dazzling rush of sweet and sinful lovemaking. Somehow, Jack managed to keep his promise to Mary, not only about keeping their relationship a secret but by holding back the one small but very meaningful word that was burning a hole inside of him.

Love, his mother had once told him, might not always be easy, but whatever struggles or pain that might come with it, true love was always worth it.

Jack had seen the truth of that in his parents’ marriage. Now he understood that for all these years he’d been waiting for Mary. She was his destiny. And whether or not she was ready to accept it yet, he was hers.

But just because they were meant to be together, he knew better than to think he could simply sit back and let things take their natural course. He wanted to give her everything—not just pleasure but romance, too. Apart from that first evening in the diner, he’d never taken her out on a date. And though they’d been extremely busy working on the campaign, that was a poor excuse.

Tonight, no matter what, he’d give her not only flowers but memories of more than passion and heat, too.

When Mary let him in that evening, she was so beautiful and she tasted so good that he nearly forgot his plans for the evening. Her eyes widened at the red poinsettia plant in the green-painted pot that he was holding out to her.

“You bought me flowers,” she said, slightly stunned.

They’d shared the ultimate intimacy, yet he found he was nervous as he held out the flowers. “I was going to get you roses, but when I saw this, I immediately thought of you.”

She took the pot from him and admired the large flowers. “When I was a little girl, there were hundreds of these plants all over town at Christmastime.” She lifted her gaze to his again, wonder in them as she asked, “How do you always know me so well?”

He prayed that she already knew the answer…even if he’d promised not to speak those words of love aloud until she was ready to hear them.

“I should find a good spot for this,” she said. But instead of moving into the living room, she simply put the pot down on the floor, then pulled him toward her and pushed the door closed behind him. Her lips found his, and then she was raining kisses from his mouth to his jaw, before nipping seductively at his earlobe. “I missed you today,” she told him between kisses. “So much.”

He’d made plans to give her romance, and Jack Sullivan always followed through on his plans…but how could he possibly keep his hands from roving down her curves?

“I don’t just want you for your body,” he told her as he tried to keep hold of the reins long enough to take her out for some long-overdue wooing. “I want to give you a romantic evening tonight.”

Her eyes flared with surprise and obvious pleasure at his intention, but when she lifted one leg and wrapped it around his thighs and kissed him again, Jack realized that for the next few minutes he had no choice but to completely give up the tenuous control he had over himself.

His hands dove into her hair as he crushed her mouth beneath his. Together they moved just far enough inside to sink down onto the soft rug in front of her Christmas tree. She pulled off his sweater and he untied the sash around the waist of her dress. His belt buckle opened at the same time silk slid from her shoulders. He got the clasp of her bra to come free just as she gave up on the final buttons of his shirt and yanked it open.

They rolled together on the rug with Mary on top, straddling his hips as she pressed hot kisses all across his chest. But moments later he was the one moving over her, his hands stroking her body so that she was crying out with pleasure. There was no rhythm to their lovemaking tonight, no plan, no goal as both of them followed their wild—and loving—instincts.

* * *

They were lying side by side on the rug, her hand in his, when he told her again, “I had plans for us tonight.” He was still trying to catch the breath she’d stolen from him.

Post-climax, her eyes were hazy but still filled with wickedness as she informed him, “So did I.”

He grinned back at her. “Clearly.” But when he was helping her back onto her feet, he couldn’t stop his eyebrows from going up in shock. “Ruining your dress wasn’t in my plans. Forgive me?”

She seemed stunned when she looked down at the state of her outfit. The bodice of her elegant silk dress was down around her waist, and the delicate fabric was badly wrinkled from where he’d grabbed it in his fist to drag it up by the hem as he’d moved between her legs to take her. One stocking was still in place around her thigh, but the other was a couple of feet away, tossed onto a corner of the rug in the midst of their passion. But Mary seemed most stunned by what she’d done to his button-down shirt—one sleeve ripped, half of the buttons strewn across the rug.

“I did that?” Alongside the surprise on her face was a hint of sensual pride that heated him up all over again.

“I’ll bet that’s how you open Christmas presents, isn’t it?” he teased.

“I would if I ever had a Christmas present as good as you,” she teased back.

They were already behind schedule, but if he couldn’t tell her he loved her, he needed to say it with a kiss instead. Her lips were still heated from his earlier kisses and sensitive now from their wild lovemaking. Quickly, the kiss began to spiral into something more, but Jack carefully drew back from her.

His voice gruff with emotion—and desire that grew from moment to moment—he said, “Go put some new clothes on so I can take you out for a special date.”

“Jack, it’s really sweet that you want to do something romantic for me tonight, but don’t you know you’ve been wooing and romancing me every single second since I’ve known you?”

“Pie and ice cream isn’t wooing. Dinner with my family isn’t romance.”

Her blue eyes were clear and full of emotion as she told him, “It is when I’m with you.”

My God, he loved her. So damned much the word was right there on the tip of his tongue.

“Hurry, or we’re going to be too late.”

He thought he saw disappointment in her eyes before she turned away and moved down the hall to her bedroom to change. It was almost as if she’d secretly hoped he’d break his promise and confess his love for her.

* * *

Mary didn’t recognize the address Jack gave the taxi driver, but she knew his romantic surprise would be amazing. Just as she’d told him earlier, he really did know her.

And yet, instead of being able to completely enjoy it, she felt twisted up inside.

She’d never had a secret relationship before. As a teenager she’d been a good girl, too focused on her dreams to waste time on the local boys at school. She knew some people found having a secret affair exciting, but Mary hated not being able to put her hand in Jack’s in the back of the taxi without worrying that the driver would see them, then recognize her and end up telling someone.

Why, she asked herself for the millionth time, was she still being so careful, so wary? What would it hurt if people knew that she and Jack were falling for each other? Heck, if being careful was her main goal in life, she’d still be in her childhood town, with babies and children playing at her feet while she helped her mother sew wedding dresses for the other women.

But Mary knew that worrying about other people’s reactions wasn’t the main reason she wasn’t ready to give up the secrecy. The real reason was much more complicated.

Jack was wonderful…so wonderful that a part of her was absolutely terrified.

What if he realized one day soon that he’d had his fill of her and decided to move on?

Or what if the product launch ended up going badly and he couldn’t separate the success of his business from her role in it?

Or what if she screwed up and made a rash decision that he couldn’t forgive her for…just as her mother once had?

The happier Mary was every moment they were together, the more she worried when they were apart, simply because Jack mattered to her—more than any other man ever had.

As the secrecy continued to eat away at her, she had to wonder if never publicly acknowledging their relationship would make losing him any easier.

The taxi pulled up to the curb, and when she looked out the window, she realized they were in front of a beautiful old movie theater. The words in lights on the marquee made her heart skip a beat.

“They’re playing Singin’ in the Rain?” She turned to Jack in surprise. “How did you find this?”

“Some things,” Jack said softly, “are meant to be.”

He extended his hand to help her out of the cab, holding it a few moments longer than a friend would have but not long enough that strangers would wonder…unless they happened to notice the way the two of them were looking at each other and noticed the flush of heat spreading across Mary’s cheeks.

The fog off the Bay was thick tonight, and she pulled her coat closer around her as she looked at the long line of couples waiting to get their tickets. But just as people began turning to take a second glance to see if she was who they thought she was, Jack gently propelled her toward the entrance and handed their tickets to the young man at the door.

“Follow the stairs to the left all the way up and you’ll find your seats.”

Instead of heading for the stairs, Jack led her over to the concession counter. “I hope you like your popcorn dripping with butter.”

“Only if it’s doused with salt, too,” she told him with a smile she couldn’t possibly contain. Mary hadn’t been on many movie-and-popcorn dates in the past thirteen years. She felt, for a moment, like any girl out on a long-awaited date with the boy she couldn’t stop daydreaming about.

A few minutes later, when their arms were laden with candy and soda and an absolutely enormous tub of popcorn, they climbed up the narrow stairs to the balcony. Mary stopped at the top of the stairs in surprise.

“There are only two seats up here.”

Jack looked incredibly pleased with himself. “I know.”

She hadn’t needed romance or wooing to fall for Jack Sullivan. But now that he was giving them to her on a silver platter filled with popcorn and malted milk balls and ice-cold Coke, Mary wasn’t sure how she could ever have thought she’d be able to resist him.