Prickly, yes. Quite likely always would be.

But enough gentling, and his cactus would bloom with the force of his loving.

For now, he was famished, and if he yielded to the temptation she presented, they’d be in that bed for hours yet, only to be found sometime later, victims of starvation.

A shower, then. Keep your hands off her, boy. Let the woman sleep a bit.

Will sighed and headed for the bathroom.

SUNLIGHT FILTERED INTO the loft, a soft whistling barely audible over the sound of the shower. Jordan frowned, then smiled and burrowed deeper under the covers as she remembered the night before. She missed the warmth of him, even as she groaned. Yes, Will was a morning person, apparently cheerful from the moment he awoke. She always had been, and always would be, a creature of the night.

Night. Oh, such a night. Jordan stretched in delight, recalling the hours just passed, the wonder of making love with Will.

I love you, he’d said. And not just once.

She sat up straight. No, it was too soon. Too… Oh, Will. You think you love me, but…

In the mirror across from her bed, the ruby at her throat winked in the sunlight. For a second, Jordan let herself feel how much she wanted all of this to be real.

Even though she knew her limitations in a way she wished Will would never have to.

Oh, give it a rest. It’s Christmas. The day she normally barely endured suddenly glowed with fresh promise. They could take one day and indulge in the fantasy, couldn’t they? After all, wasn’t everyone else living in a dream world today?

Jordan sniffed the air as the rich scent of coffee drifted toward her. There could be real advantages to life with a morning person. Left up to her, coffee often had to wait until she got to the office.

Will’s whistle stopped, replaced by song. Jordan stretched again, then smiled. Wide. With an unaccustomed energy, she leapt from the bed and padded toward the bathroom. Moments later, she pulled back the shower curtain.

Will started at the intrusion of cold air, followed by her undoubtedly cold skin against his back.

She snuggled closer, warming herself against him.

“And good morning to you, darlin’ Jordan.” Rinsing the soap from his face, Will turned to her, broad smile and dimples her reward. “Merry Christmas.”

Jordan wrapped her arms around his neck. “Top of the mornin’ to you, Tweety Bird.”

He grinned, and she plastered her body against his.

His response was instantaneous. Strong arms wrapped around her and lifted her up for a long, heated kiss, his body’s reaction to her as powerful as it had been the night before.

Jordan’s own hunger answered his. She wove fingers into his hair and twined one leg around his muscular thigh. As though she weighed nothing, Will pulled her higher, wrapping her legs around his waist. Pressing her back against the wall of the shower, he thrust inside her in one powerful stroke.

“Damn, I love you,” he gasped, then stopped any protest with his mouth as he took her once more to the refuge only Will had ever shown her.

Jordan’s ability to think incinerated in the heat of her response to his hands, his lips, the feel of him inside her. Bliss roared through her veins and snuffed out all rational thought.

In the aftermath, Will held her tightly, his heaving breath against her throat triggering tiny aftershocks that sent goose bumps over her body. He was an assault on her senses, giving her both thrilling release and a sense of safety she’d never known. Jordan tried to remember why she was bad for him, but she could only feel the sweep of delight through her body.

Will pulled back and grinned, his eyes still dark with passion but sparkling with good humor. “You have a way with a shower, Ms. Parrish. I don’t believe I’ve ever had my back scrubbed with fingernails before.”

Jordan was surprised to feel heat rush to her cheeks. She pulled away slightly.

“Don’t,” he admonished, refusing to let her go. “Don’t ever be embarrassed with me, Jordan. There’s nothing forbidden to us, and it makes me feel grand to have you lose yourself so completely.”

His good humor was infectious. “As if your monumental ego needs any stroking,” she complained.

Crooking one finger under her chin, he pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. “Ah, but you make a strong man weak, love.”

Her mouth opened to put him on notice to protect himself, but before she could, he sidetracked her with one more quick, hard kiss.

“Now, my Delilah, let us get washed up. You have not one decent morsel in this place, and I need my strength.” He paused to waggle his brows at her. “As will you.” His grin killed her, just demolished her. “We’ll adjourn to my place, since there are no stores open. One of us, at least, has the sense to stock up on more than yogurt.”

“I wasn’t planning on company.”

“But you had it, anyway, now, didn’t you? Enjoyed it, too, eh?” His smile was smug.

“Some people just can’t take no for an answer,” she grumbled.

Will turned her under the cascading water and began to soap her up. “Someone wakes up grouchy, does she? As I’ve not yet done enough, apparently, to remedy that, let us see what tricks I might have up my sleeve.”

“You don’t have any sleeves. You’re na**d.”

“And isn’t that the handiest thing?” Will’s hands slicked over her body, teasing and taunting.

Jordan laughed and set her own fingers to work.

CHAPTER NINE

“IS THERE ANYTHING you don’t do well?” Jordan asked, prostrate on Will’s sofa after devouring a trucker-sized breakfast.

“Let me think on that, darlin’.” A quick, slashing grin. “But doing so might take a while, I’m warning you.”

She burst out laughing. “Careful you don’t scrape that monstrous ego on the ceiling.”

“Ah, but ’tis not bragging if it’s true, now, is it?” He lifted her feet and sat down, then resettled them on his lap and began rubbing.

Jordan was pretty sure her eyes rolled back in her head.

“There was the one time when my sister Brigid asked me to help her fix a dye job on her hair without Mum finding out what she’d done to herself.”

Jordan smiled. “And how were you as a hair-dresser?”

He shrugged. “Was it my fault that I chose to be, shall we say, creative with the mixing?” His eyes twinkled. “Brigid wound up with purple hair.”

“You did that on purpose.”

“So she accused. Me, I’d merely claim it as her just deserts after all the times I’d been forced to play silly girl games with her when I wanted to be out with the other lads.”

“I’d bet you played those games with her because you were a good boy.”

“I’m thinking you’ve just insulted me. I am not a tame rabbit.” Then he chuckled. “Anyway, I’d like you to be telling my mum that. She’d be of a different opinion. I was a hooligan, and that’s a fact.”

His eyes caught hers, and warmth spread through her, a sense of contentment she’d never before experienced.

It should scare the living daylights out of her.

In some ways, it did.

“What are you thinking, love?” Love. I love you, he’d said in the heat of their joining.

Oh, Will, don’t do that to yourself. I won’t be good for you.

“Nothing.”

“Somehow I doubt that.” He lifted one foot and slowly peeled down her sock like a striptease. “But whatever is putting that frown on your face, let’s see if we can change it.” Never taking his eyes off her, he placed a slow kiss on her arch.

Jordan’s nostrils flared. She couldn’t help squirming in delight.

“That’s more like it,” he said smugly.

“You think you have me right where you want me.”

He waggled his eyebrows, then turned and began to prowl his way up her body. “And do I not?”

Jordan closed her eyes. Drank in the feel of him popping the snap on her jeans, lowering the zipper, micron by micron. “You’re killing me,” she said.

He bent his head, nipped at the curve of her hip. “Now, why would I want to do that, love?”

Love. “Will…” She had to warn him. “This is just…we’re only…”

His jaw tightened. “Your protests grow tiresome, Jordan. You care, I know that. I feel it. I see it in your eyes.”

But I don’t want to. Can’t afford to. “But…” she began.

He hushed her with a kiss.

Just then, his phone rang.

“Bugger that,” he muttered and melted her bones with another kiss.

The phone soon stopped. He slid his fingers into her panties, and Jordan moaned.

The phone rang again.

Will dropped his head. “’Twill be my family.” Blue eyes apologized. “I must take it.”

She found a smile. “I’ll be right where you left me.”

His eyes were serious. “Will you?”

She made her smile bright. “Are you kidding? I’m not done with you, lover boy.”

He examined her closely, too closely, then shook his head. “I’ll be back. Stay right there.”

Then he was gone.

Jordan felt too exposed, lying there half-dressed. Quickly she pulled up her jeans, refastened them.

Her sock, though, she clasped in one hand as if she could feel the warmth of him.

And maybe transfer it into her heart.

“Yes, Mum,” she heard Will say from the kitchen. “It’s only midmorning here, you know. I’ve not yet had Christmas dinner, but I will.”

A silence. “No, I’m not alone. As a matter of fact…”

No. Jordan tensed. Don’t do it.

“There’s someone special,” he finished. “You’ll like her.”

Will, you can’t…

Bits and pieces drifted in.

“She’s a lawyer.”

“No, Mum. She’s not Catholic. I don’t think.”

“I doubt she wants to live in Ireland. It’s too soon to ask that.” Exasperation. “Mum, you’ll meet her when she’s ready, not before.”

Will, don’t do this to yourself. To me.

A sigh. “I love her. That’s all you need to know.”

Jordan jumped to her feet. Slipped on her shoes. Looked around for her purse, so she could get her keys and—

Will had driven her here in his truck.

She could walk. Or call a cab. Surely they operated on Christmas Day. But she hadn’t brought her phone. She’d been so sated on sex she hadn’t even noticed.

With mounting horror, she listened as Will exchanged greetings with others in his family, and she heard the homesickness in his voice. Cringed when she heard herself mentioned.

She had to make him stop. Right now, before—

“Yes, Da,” she heard. “There’s someone special now.”

A chuckle. “Not exactly. She’s…maybe not the type of girl you expected me to marry, but Da, she’s exactly what I want.” Another pause. “No, she doesn’t—I don’t know. I’m working on it.”

Jordan chided herself for listening in, but someone had to look out for him. His family, who obviously adored him, was too far away. They couldn’t prevent him from making this mistake.

This huge mistake.

She had to break things off immediately, before he got more involved.

Because she couldn’t bear to disappoint him, and she would. Not intentionally, no. If anyone had ever tempted her to give love a try, to forget all she knew about how it could go wrong, how unrealistic the notion was…

Will was that person.

But it would come to no good end, and that big heart of his would suffer.

She was hardly an angel, and most times she didn’t really care about the fallout of her actions, but—

This was Will. She had to be better, for his sake.

Jordan watched him pace the kitchen, sometimes laughing, sometimes with the saddest expression on his face.

She wanted to run, without a word. But if she did, she was positive he would chase after her, the thick-headed fool. He brought new meaning to the word stubborn.

She would have to break his heart a little now so that later, she wouldn’t break it more by not measuring up to his cockeyed vision of her.

She knew who she was.

But Will—stubborn, blind Will—refused to see it.

So she stood her ground and waited for him to get off the phone.

WILL HUNG UP AND LOOKED out the kitchen window for a moment, picturing them all there together, one big, messy crowd. The kitchen would be full of women and wonderful smells. On the stoop would be his da and grandda smoking the smelly pipes that weren’t allowed inside. Outside there would be children running around, dogs barking…

What he wouldn’t give to be there in the thick of it.

And how horrified would the woman in the other room be if she could see it?

A wry smile curved his lips. It would be good for her, though. Jordan Parrish was the loneliest person he’d ever met.

He glanced at the clock. He’d been invited to the Prestons and knew she had, too. Though a part of him wanted her all to himself, they were her friends, and truth be told, being there would make up for some of what he was missing back home.

He turned and walked toward the living room. “We’d best be on our way if we’re to make it to—”

Jordan was not on the sofa where he’d left her. Where she’d promised to remain.

She stood near the front door, stiff and waiting. “I need to go.”

It didn’t take a genius to know what had happened. “Eavesdropping?” He cursed himself for speaking his heart to his family. Hadn’t he known she was far from ready?