When he finally pulled his lips away from her, he stared into her eyes. They seemed to plead. “What?”

“I really have to go.”

Romero laughed. “Oh yeah.” They walked the rest of the way and split up. Like the first few times they’d gone in, he was out before she was. He stood outside the restrooms, watching the game. The Padres were down by two but had two men on and their big hitter at bat. He ripped one out of the park and the place went wild. Even Romero put his fingers to his mouth and whistled. He was still clapping when he turned around to see if Isabel had come out yet. She had, and she was walking toward him. Damn she looked good. She smiled, asking, “What did I miss?”

“Home run,” he said, pulling her to him. “Padres scored three, so we’re up now.”

Isabel pouted. “I can’t believe I missed it.”

He kissed her again. He’d never felt such an urge to kiss a girl. Sexual urges were one thing. That, he understood, but this was just kissing and he couldn’t get enough. Through the years he’d had his share of good kissers. Hell, he’d been praised about it plenty of times, but with Isabel it wasn’t even about that. She was a good enough kisser but it was more about her taste, her mouth. Her. With every kiss, gentle as it may be his body wanted more.

Everyone applauded, drunks and rowdy fans hollered and whistled as the inning ended. Romero and Isabel made their way back to their seats. Just as they sat, her phone rang and she answered. Romero slipped his hand in her free one. “Hey, Art.”

Romero turned to see her smiling face.

“I’m at a Padres game right now. Yeah, of course they’re winning.” She glanced at Romero with an even bigger smile.

He didn’t smile back—he couldn’t. He stared at her so hard, she glanced away.

“Tomorrow? Yeah, I’d love that. I know I miss you so much, too.”

Romero dropped her hand and she glanced at him again. A heat, different from any he’d ever felt, flooded his insides. She brought her hand to her ear as the crowd started cheering again. “I can’t hear you, Art. I’ll call you when I get home.” She hung up.

“Who’s Art?”

“My brother.” Romero literally felt the heat drain away. “He lives in Los Angeles and I haven’t seen him in a while, but he’s coming down tomorrow. We’re gonna do brunch.”

He’d hardly listened to anything after the first two words, instead he slipped his hand back in hers and leaned in to kiss her. “That’s f**king great.” He smiled, against her lips.

***

Before the evening even started, Isabel had prepared herself mentally that this was going to be different. Romero was different. But in no way was she prepared for his kisses. She’d never been kissed like that. Not in all the time she’d been with Jacob in high school, not any of the guys she dated in college.

From the moment she’d met him at the wedding shower, she got that he didn’t hold anything back. He said whatever was on his mind, no holds barred. He’d certainly reconfirmed that last night and tonight. That’s what made her wonder if he was like this with every girl he went out with. Was this just a date or was this the beginning of something? Did she even want it to be something? How could it possibly work between them? They were completely different.

“Something wrong?”

She didn’t even realize she’d been spaced out on the ride home. She turned away from the window and faced Romero. “No.”

“You got real quiet all of sudden.”

“I just have a busy day tomorrow.”

The light turned green and Romero continued driving. “What else are you doing besides seeing your brother?”

“I have all those papers to grade. Then I was going to go to the show in the evening but I don’t think that’s gonna happen now.” Even though she’d stopped seeing Lawrence a while back, they remained friends and still got together to see a movie every now and then. He shared her love for reading, and they often swapped books.

“The show, huh? With Valerie?”

She nodded—no need to get into details. “But like I said, I highly doubt that’s gonna happen now. It’s okay though, I can go another time. I haven’t seen Art in too long. I’m really looking forward to seeing him.”

“Is he anything like your sister?”

Isabel noticed the way his features hardened when he asked that. She was really beginning to regret ever mentioning her sister’s attitude about the guys she dated, especially after the way things had gone tonight. “No, not at all. He rarely even asks about my personal life.”

When they got to her apartment building, he got out and came around the car to meet her, kissing her as soon as he was close enough. Not once the entire night had he asked her how she felt about him kissing her. He just did it, and not once had she protested. It was so unlike her to let things move this fast but she was powerless to stop it. She didn’t want to stop it.

He paused for a moment, leaning his forehead against hers, his breathing labored, but said nothing. Isabel brought her hand up to his hard chest, as if to bring the moment to an end, but when her eyes met his, she moved her hand further up around his neck and he kissed her again, pushing her gently against the car. His tongue was like magic and feeling his big hard body against her worked her into a frenzy. Insanity. How could a kiss make her so crazy? She finally pulled her lips away from him, catching her breath.