Story’s head thrashed back and forth on the pillow. “I’m ready. I’m ready. Please.”

“Please, who?”

“Daniel,” she shuddered out. “Please, Daniel.”

He reached into his back pocket and froze. Confused and frustrated, she gripped his hips and arched underneath him, begging him to move. Yet he remained frustratingly still.

“What is it?” She finally asked, breathless.

“Please tell me you have a condom.”

It took her a moment to grasp his meaning. “What? No. I don’t usually travel with condoms.” When his head dropped forward with a curse, her eyes widened on him. “You don’t have one with you? You?”

Sitting back on his heels, he stabbed shaky fingers through his hair. “No. Shit. I didn’t think I would see you tonight and I wasn’t exactly prowling around for someone else, despite what you think of me. Christ, this is fucking embarrassing.” His eyes narrowed on her. “What the hell are you smiling about?”

Had she been smiling? She ran her fingers across her mouth. Yes, apparently. Maybe it was naive and ridiculous, but Daniel admitting he’d gone out without the intention of getting laid made her feel giddily happy. Which made her wonder if she’d recently hit her head and forgotten doing it.

“I don’t know. Nothing.” Don’t say anything else! “So it was either me or no one?”

He nodded somberly, scrutinizing her expression. “That’s right.”

Story rose onto her knees, grasped the hem of her dress, and pulled it over her head, before letting it drop on the floor.

His hands clenched on the bedspread as he watched her reveal her mostly naked body. “What are you doing? Sunshine, we can’t. Not if I can’t protect you.”

She unhooked her bra from behind and let it fall down her arms, uncovering her breasts. Daniel’s breath shuddered in and out, his gaze devouring her, burning everything in their path. With a low growl, his hand dropped to the fly of his jeans to massage his straining erection.

“Are you trying to kill me?”

Letting her fingers trail up her sides, she pinched her nipples playfully. “Go downstairs to the deli and get something. I’ll be waiting right here for you when you get back.”

He nodded, but didn’t move, seemingly hypnotized by her hands on her breasts. Then an idea registered on his face. Jerking a thumb toward the hallway, he said roughly, “You don’t think there’s one…?”

Her hands dropped as his meaning sunk in. He actually thought to borrow a condom from Jack. Her father. “Don’t even finish that thought. Seriously. I’ll never recover from it.”

“All right. I’m going.” He leaned forward and kissed her, thrusting his tongue deep before pulling away. “Do not move.”

Story smiled as he strode briskly down the hallway, grabbed her keys off the entry table, and slammed the door behind him. She flopped back onto the bed and closed her eyes with the intention of resting them until he returned.

Within one minute, she’d fallen fast asleep.

Chapter Nine

Three minutes. He’d been gone three goddamn minutes.

Daniel dropped the paper bag he held on the bedside table and buried his head in his hands, groaning miserably into the silent room. What exactly had he done to deserve this particular brand of torture?

He paid his taxes. He rescued people for a living and always tipped more than he should. He recycled like nobody’s business. So why, why the universe had decided to fuck with him, he hadn’t a clue. But it had. Big time.

His weary eyes ran over Story’s practically naked form sprawled out on the bed, his body responding swiftly and painfully. He ached to run his hand over the curve of her hip, the pouty tips of her breasts. To lick the hollow of her stomach before moving lower to kiss the sweetest part of her. Even knowing it wouldn’t be right to touch her while she slept, he moved forward as if magnetized, consuming her with his eyes.

He’d never once, since turning sixteen, left the house without protection. Then the one time it counted, he’d been left unprepared like the world’s worst Boy Scout. Even now, he could be moving inside her, listening to her desperate cries of pleasure in his ear. Feeling her tighten around him, preparing for release, while her nails scored his back.

Instead, he’d been cast into permanent boner-oblivion for the rest of the night. Awesome.

As he dropped onto the bed next to her, he couldn’t resist trailing his fingers over her stomach and around her belly button, biting his lip in satisfaction as the skin quivered under his hand. The barest hint of a creamy-white tan line peeked out at her hip bone. His mouth practically watered with the need to taste her there. Follow the path with his tongue.

“Gorgeous.”

A thought occurred to Daniel, then. She had tan lines below, why not above? A growl formed in his throat at the image of her topless on the beach, being ogled by overly tanned surfers. They would be having a serious discussion tomorrow about her sunbathing habits. Which led to the realization that she would be going back to California soon and he would have zero say in anything she did or how she chose to dress. Hell, he barely had a say now.

Okay, none.

Feeling restless, Daniel dragged his T-shirt over his head and unbuckled his jeans before kicking them aside. He gently rolled Story onto her side and stretched out behind her. It felt like the most natural thing in the world to slide an arm around her waist and tuck her sleeping form against his chest. He’d never slept with a woman without sex happening beforehand, and never for the whole night, but he’d be damned if he’d let the opportunity to hold her pass without taking advantage.

Isn’t that exactly what you’re doing? Taking advantage of her?

Until a few days ago, she’d been engaged to be married. Moving past something as traumatic as a broken engagement didn’t happen overnight, bringing him to his next dark thought. It was much more likely that she was the one taking advantage of him. Enjoying his attention and the promise of casual sex as a way of moving on from her heartache. It wouldn’t be the first time a woman used him as a rebound, but it would be the first time he gave a damn.

Since learning about her ex-fiancé from Jack, he’d been plagued with thoughts of the bastard. About him and Story together, as a couple. Was she still in love with him? Even now, as she lay in his arms, were thoughts of their time together running through her mind? The very idea made him crazy. Made him want to do something impulsive, like hop a flight to California and show up on the guy’s doorstep. Demand he never speak her name again.

He had no right thinking these possessive thoughts. She didn’t belong to him. With his wretched past, he deserved her even less than that bastard Fisher. That harsh reality did little to stem his irrational thoughts. Here he was, obsessing over one man from her past, when the last decade of his life had been filled with an endless parade of women. Most of whose names and faces he couldn’t even recall. If Story knew the depths of his debauchery, she would turn away from him in disgust.

Not under any circumstances should he be sharing the same bed with her. He wasn’t worthy of her time or the pleasure of her body. So if his fears proved true and her interest in him was solely to distract her from a broken heart, he would take it like a man. Tonight had proven how difficult it would be to stay away from her completely.

Had it really been merely a day since they’d met in front of the vending machine? He’d blinked his eyes and suddenly she’d become an inevitability in his life. Only she wasn’t. Her stay in New York would only be temporary. Daniel knew too well what temporary meant. He should be distancing himself now. But he wouldn’t. Couldn’t.

He pulled Story closer. She wiggled her ass against his lap, settling into her new position, and he had to clench his teeth until she stopped moving. Breathing through his nose, he somehow regained his composure and focused on the feel of her in his arms.

Burying his nose in her hair, Daniel inhaled deeply, committing her sunshine scent to memory, and fell asleep

shortly after.

…

Deep in his subconscious, Daniel knew he was dreaming. He also knew from experience that he wouldn’t be able to wake himself up until the dream completed itself.

The dream started the same as it always did. Daniel coming home from baseball practice, tossing his mitt onto the dining room table next to his backpack. Noticing the unusual quiet permeating the house. Walking up the creaking stairs, hand sliding along the banister as he called out to ask if anyone else was at home and getting no answer.