Free Last Virgin In California (Mills & Boon Desire) by Maureen Child

inside her and Lilah wondered just what it was. More than passion. More than simple desire. This was something she’d never felt before. And rather than try to put a label on it, totry to understand it, she decided to simply nurture it.
    He stopped alongside the car and reached into his pocket for the keys. The instant his arm left her shoulders, the cold slipped into her and Lilah hugged the edges of her sodden sweater across her middle.
    Glancing at her, he opened the door and said, “Get in. Quick, before you freeze.”
    Lilah nodded and slid onto the seat. He closed the door after her and as he walked around the back of the car toward the driver’s side, she told herself that here was her chance. With this man. At this moment. She was finally going to lose her title as the Last Virgin in California.
    He climbed in, settled behind the wheel and turned the key in the ignition. Flipping a few dials, he had the blower going and the rush of air quickly shifting from cool, to warm, to positively toasty.
    With the engine purring, she turned toward him and found him staring at her. Those green eyes of his looked stormy, dark with a desire she recognized and shared.
    A muscle in his jaw clenched and released. He swallowed hard and said, “Get your seat belt on.”
    “In a minute,” she said, leaning closer.
    His gaze shifted from her eyes to her mouth and back again. He shook his head. “Don’t be starting this, Lilah. We both know it would be a mistake.” Hewas saying all the right things, but hunger colored his tone and boiled her blood.
    “And we both want it anyway.” She tilted her head and leaned in farther, closer to him. She could almost hear his heart pounding.
    He reached up, stroked her cheek with the tips of icy fingers and reaction shimmered up and down her spine. Then he speared his fingers into her hair and pulled her to him.
    His mouth came down on hers and stole the last of her breath. Her heart hammered in her chest, her stomach did a quick jig and when he released her, Lilah looked into his eyes and knew without a doubt that this was right.
    Even if it was wrong.

Chapter Seven
    O utside, the wind was cold and fierce. Trees along the highway twisted and danced in the ocean gusts, bending low, their leaves breaking free and pelting the passing cars like oversized raindrops. But inside the car, heat roared into life and had nothing to do with the blast of forced, warm air rushing from the heater.
    Lilah’s heartbeat quickstepped until breathing became a near Olympic sport. Her hands fisted in her lap, she kept her gaze locked on the view through the windshield and told herself she was being foolish. None of this made sense. She wasn’t the type to fall for a Marine, for pity’s sake. Hadn’t she proved that over the years with a succession of failed attempts?Hadn’t every Marine who’d ever crossed her path eventually run for the hills?
    Oh, this was a mistake.
    And any minute now, she’d say so.
    Or he would.
    She slanted a glance at him from the corner of her eye and felt her heart beat even faster. That strong jaw of his, those green eyes. The full curve of his mouth. She licked her lips in anticipation of another kiss and wondered when it had all come to this. When had she become so attached to this normally stoic, hard-lined Marine? Was it his seemingly unbendable nature combined with a smile that tugged at her insides and promised intimate secrets and shared laughter? Was it his generous heart contrasted with his love for rules?
    What was it about this one man that had allowed him to slip past her well-honed defenses to lay siege to a heart that hadn’t been touched in years?
    And what was she going to do now that he had?
    “Lilah?”
    She turned to face him and felt her breath catch in her throat. His gaze flicked to her briefly, then shifted back to the road in front of him.
    “What?” she asked, when she could get her voice to work.
    He opened his mouth, then shut it again, as if