Free Prince Charming Can Wait (Ever After) by Stephanie Rowe

night on the earth." He winked at her, no doubt trying to diffuse the tension. "Show a soldier a little love, yes?"
    She shoved her hands into her pockets. "You're incorrigible. Was that all this was? An attempt to get into my pants?" No man had gotten into her pants in a long time, and she'd had no interest in it either. But with the way Harlan was looking at her, she was thinking of things she hadn't thought about in a long time.
    "No. I'd still marry you if you'd be up for it. Getting you naked is completely different." His eyes were dark. "You do something to me, Emma Larson. You always have."
    Heat pulsed through her at his confession. All those times she'd been craving his touch, he'd been experiencing the same reaction? She quickly shook her head, trying to chase away tempting thoughts that were far too dangerous. "Stop it. I don't have sex anymore."
    "Why not?"
    "Because I don't want to."
    "No?" He moved closer. "I think you're a liar."
    Her heart started to pound. "I'm not a liar. I'm terrified," she whispered.
    His eyes darkened. "Of sex?"
    "Of men. Of making myself vulnerable. Of failing."
    "Failing at sex?"
    She nodded.
    He cupped her jaw, moving in closer. "Emma, babe, your ex-husband should be shot."
    Then he kissed her.

Chapter Five
    Emma froze when Harlan's lips descended upon hers. The kiss was electrifying and terrifying, flooding her with a torrent of emotions so powerful they seemed to chase all sanity and self-preservation from her mind. He tasted like vanilla, with a hint of freshly brewed coffee—all natural, all man, and pure heat.
    She couldn't have said no, even if she wanted to...but she didn't want to stop him. For the first time in so long, so excruciatingly long, the sensation of a man's mouth on hers didn't feel like an assault trying to destroy her. It was a sensual caress of delicate seduction, a decadent temptation of pure desire.
    Unbidden, her hands drifted to his shoulders, to the mass of rock-hard strength beneath her palms. Heat seemed to burn through her skin where she gripped his shoulders. She felt his steel muscles shift as he raised his hand and wrapped it around the back of her neck, steadying her under his onslaught of seduction.
    For a split second, she tensed, grabbing his wrist in self-defense.
    He stopped the kiss immediately. "He trapped you by your hair, didn't he?"
    Tears sprang to her eyes, but she still couldn't relax her grip on his wrist, or quell her need to pull his hand away from her hair. "How do you know that?"
    "Because it scared you when I did that." He released her hair and ran his hand down her arm, his face still resting against hers. "I know how to scare people, but I didn't mean to scare you."
    "It's okay." She realized she was trembling now. "It's not you. It's me. I have issues."
    He laughed softly and pulled back, but his eyes were dark and impenetrable. "We all have issues, Emma. If you didn't, I'd think you were dull and delusional."
    She laughed then, relieved that he didn't expect her to be some ray of sparkling sunshine. "Well, you don't need to worry about that. I'm fully loaded." She didn't even know why she was telling him. She worked hard to be normal, to function in society, to hide all the damage she still battled from her marriage. She didn't want to be seen as the woman who couldn't move on, as the woman who was too weak to reclaim her life.
    But for some reason, Harlan made her feel like it was okay to admit it. Maybe it was because he would leave in the morning, and she'd never see him again. Any secrets he took with him would disappear from her life forever.
    At the thought of never seeing him again, an unfamiliar sadness seemed to take root deep in her chest. It made no sense. She barely knew him. He was nothing more than a shadow that had flitted in and out of the periphery of her existence for the last two years, a man who wasn't hers, and who had never even drifted within reach of her fingers. So, why did it matter if she never saw