Having dinner with the woman she met at the trade show in Madison was supposed to be a break from her misery. Instead, she'd ended up talking about Rod, mentioning him by name because she didn't think it would matter. Even now she wished she hadn't talked about any of it. She certainly didn't know the woman well enough. But misery needed company, and company was an outlet. Her shock came when the woman claimed to know Rod, describing him down to a tattoo and the necklace around his hips. She said she'd spent a single night with him years ago. While he was "a h.e.l.luva lover, no complaints there", she'd told Bethany with shocking candor, he'd had all the exits scoped out from the beginning.

What were the odds of it? Bethany couldn't believe the man every beautiful woman she ran into lately seemed to know was the same man she had spent almost a week with. While none of his former girlfriends could hate him, none of them remembered him fondly either.

In Madison, Bethany had made excuses for him. Maybe the women she kept getting warnings from had fallen in love with him, and that was the reason for their slandering. Maybe they'd gone into the affair with no expectations, but then accidentally fell in love with him. Then it wouldn't be Rod's fault. He'd been up-front with his intentions from the start.

Or maybe he had changed his playboy ways. . .because of her.

An unusual disgust for herself rose to the surface, and she tossed down her garment bag and suitcase, then kicked off her shoes the way a naughty child would. As she walked. . .stalked was more like it. . .through the living room to her bedroom, she threw her coat in an untidy heap on the sofa.

It was only seven o'clock, but she wanted to go to bed and sleep off her bad mood. Tomorrow she could consider the investor's offer of turning her into the mere manager of a chain beauty salon. For tonight, all she wanted to do was remember the best week of her life.

Putting on one of her silk nightgowns, she got under the covers with a sigh that seemed to come from the deepest, darkest region of her soul. Never in her life had she felt so lonely and empty.

Before Rod Summers, she'd genuinely liked her life, although she never stopped hoping she'd meet the man of her dreams. Well, she'd met him, only to let him slip through her fingers like sand. Oh, what she would do to turn back time! She would have called Rod's lawyer the minute she got to her hotel room and. . .

There was a banging sound from the front room, and she froze in the process of reaching for the lamp.

It couldn't be! Rod was in The Keys, with the topless native girls. G.o.d, please, let it be, she prayed, throwing the covers back without another thought.

By the time she yanked open the door, she was crying tears of frustration.

The little girl inside of her was being purged. Bethany Briggs was about to become a woman.

He was not going to be sympathetic.

Rod was mad as h.e.l.l, and it'd taken him a full five minutes to get himself under control after he saw Bethany get out of a cab in front of her apartment building.

Now that he'd seen for himself she was physically perfect, the only other explanation for her not calling was she wanted him out of her life.

He wasn't used to not getting what he wanted, especially something he wanted this bad. So, if she wanted out, she'd have to tell him why, to his face.

He sure as h.e.l.l wouldn't make it easy for her to do.

Sprinting up the stairs, he felt something that didn't coincide with his mood. She was home, she was within reach, and he was relieved. The loneliness had disappeared. G.o.d, his eyes wanted to see her again, his arms ached to hold her, his hands need to touch her tiny, sweet body.

How could he ever be mad at her? One look at her, and his heart would melt while his body went up in flames. The only way he could do it was to fake anger as long as it took to get her to change her mind and want him too.

He walked down the hall on her floor, trying to work up the determination to act mad.

Pounding on her door, he waited less than a minute before he went at it again. There, that was pretty convincing, he thought. He put his hands on both sides of the door frame to get the proper stance of indignation.

On the other side of the door, he heard the shuffling of bare feet on wood and could barely hold onto the att.i.tude he was trying to portray. So close. . .

She was so close.

The door flew open, and there she was. His baby, dressed in a soft blue wisp of silk and lace that matched the color of her beautiful eyes. Eyes that were overflowing with tears. She'd known exactly who'd come calling, that much was tacitly clear.

He moved inside, knowing he wouldn't be able to hold anything against her.

When he closed the door behind him, she came into his arms with uncharacteristic boldness. He could no more be mean than he could be unaffected by her nearly naked body.

"Why didn't you call?"

She clung to him tightly, unashamed of her closeness or her unrestrained emotions. "I didn't think you would wait for me."

"Wouldn't wait? Sweetness, I've been sitting by the phone day and night since you left. My lawyer's got a dartboard with my picture on it now."

Though he smiled to urge her to do the same, she didn't. "I thought it was over."

"I'll let you know when it's over between us," Rod a.s.sured her, pulling her hips tighter against him. "Don't expect to hear those words for at least fifty years or never."

Her glistening eyes didn't waver from his face even once, and then she cinched her arms tighter around his shoulders, standing on tiptoe to kiss him.

The surprise Rod felt was buried in the flare of his desires. He watched her eyes close as if the rest of the world had disappeared for her. G.o.d, to think he'd spent three torturing days believing the worst. He'd have to make sure she got the best of him from now on, so she wouldn't have any more doubts about his intentions.

The kiss was making him crazy. The slightest move of her body against his pushed him closer to the edge.

Bethany didn't seem to notice him lifting her into his arms, or maybe it was what she wanted too. Instead of coming to her senses when he had to break the kiss to navigate the way to her bedroom, she moved her mouth to his neck.

How many millions of times had a woman kissed him, bit him, licked him there? It'd never been a "G-spot" for him before. The feel of Bethany's incredibly soft, sweet lips on his body turned his legs to water.

He went down on the bed cross-wise with her beneath him after pushing his leather jacket off, and his self-control, if he'd ever had any coming here tonight, was at an all-time low.

Immersing himself in the taste of her mouth, he swept his hands down her body until he could raise the gown. When her bare legs were free, he took hold of her knees, easing them apart until he rested in the notch his body would soon fill.

Bethany looked up at him, her face astonishingly calm for the crying she'd been doing only minutes before. "There can't be anyone else," she said softly, and though he wasn't sure he understood her, he murmured, "I know. I missed you.

I wanna make you mine, sweetness."

"I already am."

Hearing those words, the ones he'd thought she might never utter, calmed his urgency for s.e.xual gratification. He needed the emotional more.

Rolling on his side, he brought her into his arms again. As her hands pressed flat against his bare chest, he said, "I wanna stay here tonight. Make love to you and sleep with you and wake up with you in my arms."

The honesty brought the shyness back to her, and she lowered her gaze. She wanted the same, but he knew she couldn't say it. The words didn't matter anyway, as much as that she feel them.

"Did I ever tell you my sister had a baby?" he asked, because it was the kind of sharing he couldn't do with other women.

Bethany looked up at him in mild surprise. "Your sister did? No. I didn't know. What happened to the baby?"

"She gave Jayme up for adoption." Lowering one of the spaghetti straps on her nightgown, he kissed her shoulder gently. "You should've seen her. She was the cutest baby in the world. She had these huge eyes and all these dimples. I wanted my own baby when I saw her." Kissing the hollow center of her collarbone, he asked, "How many babies do you wanna have?"

Her smile was so soft, he knew nothing could have pleased her more. "At least one boy and one girl."

"Yeah. That sounds right to me too." Even though Bethany was so pet.i.te, he could picture her pregnant with his babies. She'd have a round little belly with her slim legs and small b.r.e.a.s.t.s. She'd be radiant.

He knew Bethany didn't have a lot of nieces or nephews, or even young cousins, because she'd told him her only family was her brother. His mother had quite a few kids, each with a different man. Although he and Josie only shared the same mother, to Rod they were 100% flesh and blood. Josie was the only blood relative he cared to acknowledge. She, Jon, Blackie, Morris, Jerry and Lori were his family. There was no bitterness toward the others or his biological mother.

None even for the father he couldn't remember because he'd left before Rod was old enough to have memories. Life had just worked out the way it had, end of story. He saw his mother and the rest of her family about once every few years, since it was around that time his mother started feeling guilty. Josie never saw any of them anymore. As far as he knew, she never looked back.

"What made you want kids?" he asked Bethany.

"I've always wanted babies. The only ones I know are the children who come in for haircuts. I always take the children."

The look in Bethany's eyes was the depth of maternal instinct that he'd seen in his sister after she'd had Jayme.

"Their hair is so fine, and they have this smell. . .a baby smell, until they're about five years old. I could look at them and smell them forever."

Those feelings were familiar to him too. He remembered holding Jayme that first and last time, her tiny body never quite still, and watching her face while she slept. She'd smelled like shampoo, sweet milk. . .and baby. After holding Jayme, he'd never understood how JoJo could give her up.

"I played with dolls until I was seventeen. I wanted them to become real. .

.so I could take care of them for real."

Bethany lowered her gaze as if she realized most people would find her confession odd. Rod smiled, hugging her closer. "You're adorable." Moving his mouth to her shoulder again, he murmured against her fragrant skin, "So special."

She actually shivered, letting out a shaky sigh he loved for its unpretentiousness. Kissing down her throat, he smiled when she instinctively lifted her hands to cradle his head. It could have been an attempt to stop him, if she hadn't threaded her fingers into his hair gently, making this soft sound that resembled a whimper.

"You taste like jasmine," he whispered.

"I'm sorry. It's my bath oil." Her tone was suddenly conscientious.

Lifting his head, he a.s.sured her he loved the way she tasted before he kissed her lips again. It amazed him how spellbound she became in response to a kiss, and he wanted to give her the same. For the first time, maybe ever, he would not seduce, he would share. But he wasn't going to go into it with a single doubt she wanted the same things he did. If he did, she would regret it, sooner or later.

He kissed her, slowing the pace and savoring the fullness of her lips. She had a perfect shape, one that worked best with his mouth. Even when he backed away, he wanted to feel it and touched her bottom lip with his thumb. Her pa.s.sion was undeniable. When had a woman ever looked this satisfied under him before the lovemaking?

"I don't wanna do anything you're not ready for, sweetness. I need to know if you wanna make love with me."

His directness embarra.s.sed her to the extreme, he could tell. Pulling herself against him to hide her face, she whispered so low he barely heard her, "Yes."

"Are you sure, Bethany? I can wait. Not for long, but I can wait."

She shook her head against him, giving him a go-ahead he would never forget. Her innocence excited him more than any blatant move ever could. G.o.d, he wanted to see her laugh and cry, come apart in his arms and bring him into her soul.

He hugged her tightly, acknowledging that she wasn't the kind of woman who made this decision lightly.

She seemed to like being held as much as he liked holding her, and they lay that way until he lost count of her heartbeats.

"I'm sorry I didn't call you."

Her apology reminded him of how infuriated, albeit feigned, he'd been. .

.before. Pulling back to look at her face, he shook his head. "I can't be mad at you. I took one look at you, and it all went away."

The smile she gave him put pink in her cheeks. She was irresistible.

Cupping her face in his hands, he shifted over her and started kissing anywhere he could reach.

"I didn't know. I swear I didn't. I thought you were innocent, but. . .I don't know any virgins."

They lay together, wrapped in each others' arms under her blanket.

For some reason, the unexpected sharpness of pain had led to a total loss of inhibitions for Bethany. She had nothing left to hide. She was naked, he was naked, and she was more comfortable than she'd ever been alone and naked.

Rod was so sweet and loving. He'd actually had tears in his eyes when she managed to look at him again a half hour ago. That was all the proof she needed that she'd given her virginity to the right man.

"I thought you could tell," she said softly, cuddling closer to his body heat. "But it doesn't matter. I'm not sorry."

"I hurt you. I never meant to hurt you."

Cupping his cheek with one hand, she shook her head. "That's over. It won't change anything, because I love you. I want to be with you."

The words were the natural extension of her heart. They came without thought but plenty of honesty. It wasn't until she recognized the shock in his eyes that she was embarra.s.sed.

She looked away. "I'm sorry. You probably hear that all the time--" . . .

'when you don't want to' was what she'd been about to say when he suddenly flipped her on her back. His kiss was gentle for all its fierceness.

Bethany was only beginning to realize how much power he had over her body.

Every time he touched her, her body flowed toward him, seeking the pleasure only he could give her. While, at first, it had astonished her how willing she could be the truth was there was no choice, if she'd wanted one. Rod could easily become the master of a s.e.xuality she'd never been 100% sure she had until now.

"Do you hurt?" he asked, sweetly Wantonly, she shook her head, only feeling a little fear when he pressed against her again. Her body started to feel like a wisp of cloud. . .or a wind-up toy about to spin out of control.

All she could do was hold on because it was nothing like she'd ever imagined. It was as if they stepped into a place created for only the two of them, a place no one else could ever intrude on or become a part of. They were in their own private heaven. No words could ever describe the beauty of the love she felt, the love she received.

Whether it lasted five minutes or forever, she didn't notice. All she knew was that, even when it was over, it didn't end. While it wasn't as intense, she felt warm and soft and intimate, laying with the man she loved and had given herself to wholly.

She wanted to tell Rod she loved him again, even though he hadn't returned it last time, and would have if she hadn't heard something from the front room.

"Did you bring Cameron with you?" she asked, not remembering much of anything after he'd brought her into the bedroom.

At the same time Rod said "No", she heard a voice calling her name. The voice was familiar as her own.

She sat bolt upright. "It's my brother!"

Apparently she'd been wrong. Their private heaven could be intruded upon.