Free The Taming of the Bachelor by Jane Porter

involved. He wasn’t good for her. He’d never be good for her, or her kids. They needed a father. He didn’t want to be a father. So simple. All of this was so simple.
    Except when his mouth was on hers and his lips were parting hers, tasting her, and nothing felt more right, or natural, than her, in his arms.

    T he kiss was hot, so hot, that Paige’s head spun. She wrapped her arms around Dillon’s neck, her fingers curling into his crisp black hair.
    He backed her up against the kitchen wall, his hands on either side of her head, his chest pressed to hers, her body on fire. He felt good, so good, and it was impossible to think about anything but him, and his chest and hips, and his mouth taking hers, claiming her.
    The desire that had been simmering between them all night had ignited and blazed now between them.
    Paige could feel Dillon’s hunger. He wasn’t trying to hide it. She was glad, too, because she wanted to feel it. The hour of talking and pretending that they weren’t attracted to each other had just made the attraction stronger, bigger. Suppressing it had failed. Suppressing it had wound her up, stretching her nerves, turning her on.
    She wasn’t a little girl, wasn’t a virgin. She wanted to feel like a woman.
    He lifted his head, breathing heavily. “What are we doing?”
    She reached up to touch his face, her fingers rubbing at the bristles on his jaw. “Saying hello, and then goodbye.”
    “It’s not easy saying goodbye to you.”
    “So let’s not say goodbye yet.” She loved the feel of his bristles and the dusky glow in his cheeks. He was gorgeous and fierce and passionate, and for now, hers. “Come home with me.”
    “Drive you home?”
    “Yes.” Her eyes met his and held. “And then come in with me. I want you. I want to be with you. But not like this, not here.”
    “Making love to you will just make it harder when I go.”
    “But at least I would have the night with you.”
    “You’ll regret it tomorrow.”
    She appreciated how he was determined to be rational, practical, and she liked him all the more for it. “Why would I?”
    His mouth opened, then closed. Frowning, he reached up and tugged on a strand of her hair. “It just seems wrong to make love to you and then leave.”
    “Are you telling me you’ve never had a one night stand?”
    He cleared his throat, embarrassed. “You know I have.”
    “So what’s the big deal?” Standing on tiptoe she kissed him gently, and then shuddered as he caught her hips in his hands, and brought her hard against him, letting her feel him. He was aroused and she liked it. He felt amazing against her, and she loved that he wanted her. “I won’t regret it,” she insisted, breasts aching, belly clenching. “I’ll be glad I had one night with you. Glad you’ll be my first since Lewis.”
    “You’re killing me,” he answered huskily, his hands rising, sweeping up her waist, lightly stroking the outside of her breasts and then up to her collarbones. “I can’t hurt you.”
    “You won’t hurt me. I promise.”
    “You don’t know that.”
    “I do.” She smiled into his eyes to reassure him even as her heart pounded wildly fast. Truthfully, she didn’t know how she’d feel later...after he left...but the desire was so strong, and her feelings were so intense, she couldn’t bear for things to end now. She wanted him. Wanted to be taken by him and loved by him. And she knew he could make her feel wonderful. He could make her feel alive. It’d been so long since she felt fully alive. “So don’t treat me like a little girl. Let me think for myself, make decisions for myself. Please?”
    “You are definitely all woman,” he murmured, head dropping to kiss her, his mouth parting hers, his tongue teasing her lips then stroking her mouth, in and out, making her whimper and arch against him.
    He kissed her until she was boneless, breathless, her head spinning and she had to lean against him for support.
    “You’re