Free Extreme Exposure by Pamela Clare Page B

have called up an emotional response. She was grateful when the waiter interrupted them with one dish of tiramisu, two small glasses of wine, and two spoons.
    Reece watched Kara swallow her emotions and decided to let the subject drop. He’d been about to ask her whether she, like her mother, felt no need for a man in her life. After all, she, like her mother, was raising a child alone. But he knew instinctively that would be going too far.

    He snatched up her spoon before she could reach it, scooped a small bite of their dessert, and deliberately lowered his voice. “I want your first taste of paradise to come from me.”
    She looked at him, her eyes wide, a sexy flush stealing into her cheeks. “You must be joking. You’re going to feed me?”
    He’d surprised her, caught her off guard. Good. She’d kept herself too tightly reined in all evening, asking him questions from behind the safety of her journalist’s mask, seeming to him more like the serious, controlled woman whose photo ran in the newspaper than the passionate pleasure-seeker he suspected she was.
    “That’s right. Now taste.” He slipped the spoon between her parted lips, felt the tug of her mouth against the spoon.
    Her eyes closed, and she moaned.
    Christ! Blood rushed to his cock and made him painfully hard.
    Had he really promised her that all they would do tonight was talk? Well, yes, in not so many words. And she’d made it clear she wanted nothing more from him—yet.
    You should know that I’m not like that.
    Try as she might to deny her nature, he wasn’t buying it. Tequila—and now the tiramisu—simply released a part of her she kept hidden. But no woman who owned a large purple jiggle stick could suppress her own sensuality forever. And despite his raging hard-on, he could be a patient man—when the reward promised to be sweet.
    “It’s delicious!”
    He took another spoonful and held it to her lips.
    This time she took it eagerly. Again she moaned. “I’ve never tasted anything like this.”
    He fed her another bite and imagined kissing that mouth, feeling those lips around his throbbing erection. “Their tiramisu is a full-blown culinary orgasm.”
    As soon as he said the word orgasm , her gaze locked with his, and he saw a response in her eyes that had nothing to do with her taste buds.

CHAPTER 6
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    R EECE PULLED into her driveway and turned off the engine. She’d been silent since they left the highway and entered the city. She was pulling back, walling herself off from him. Did she think he was going to try to make her pay for the meal with sex? Had their conversation gotten too personal? What was she afraid of?
    He hadn’t imagined that a woman as sexy, smart, and successful as Kara McMillan would feel nervous around men. Then again, he hadn’t known she’d been abandoned by her father. What did that do to a little girl, to a woman?
    “Thanks, Reece. I had a good time.” She said it as if she hadn’t believed it was possible.
    “Don’t sound so surprised. Besides, the pleasure was entirely mine.” He reached over and took her hand. Her fingers were cold. “In case you’re wondering, I’m planning on walking you to your door and giving you a good-night kiss. I hope you don’t object.”
    “That might not be a good idea.”
    “Just a kiss, Kara. Nothing more. Don’t tell me the woman who brought city hall to its knees is afraid of a kiss.”
    Even in the dark he could see the flash of fire in her eyes. “Of course I’m not afraid of a kiss! But you’re assuming I want to be kissed.”
    He leaned across the seat and brushed her lips with his. “Don’t you?”

    He heard her quick intake of breath, saw the heat in her eyes, and knew he had his answer.
    He pulled her closer, tasted first her upper lip, then her lower, forcing himself to go slowly. He wanted to get past her reserved exterior, to awaken that part of her she tried to hide, to force her to admit, at least to herself, that she felt some