Kate didn't smile, but she took the ice cream. She started to eat. Jesse realized he was extremely pathetic if a twelve-year-old kid was the only person around here who could deal with situations. "I'll get a bowl."

Travis shook his head. "No bowl. For some reason, using a bowl doesn't help anyone feel better nearly

as well as eating straight from the carton."

Both males stood side by side, arms crossed, peering at her like she was some kind of exotic animal at the zoo as she ate bite after bite. After a while, Travis nodded his head in approval. "She's really eating now. A sure sign of recovery. I'm going back to bed."

Travis left them alone, and Jesse sat down next to her. He could see that indeed she was feeling better.

In fact her hazel eyes started firing with green. This, he could tell, was a sure sign something was up.

The spoon went still and she glanced over at him. Then she set it down with a decisive bang. This really couldn't be good.

She licked her lips, though it kind of looked like she was trying to be sexy. He realized yet again, and with the same astonishment, that she was a twenty-seven-year-old woman with very little experience. Hard to imagine in this day and age. But it pleased him more than it should have.

She pulled the clip out of her hair, and the long curls fell in a tumble.

"Katie," he asked carefully, "what are you doing?"

She bit her lower lip and looked at him through lowered lashes. "I was just thinking-"

"Maybe you shouldn't think after so much sugar."

She leaned close and smiled with the excitement of someone who had just come up with an ill-advised

plan. "Have sex with me."

Jesse's jaw dropped and his spine straightened.

"You're bad boy Jesse Chapman. You can't go all prim on me. You'll ruin your reputation."

"You're the one who made the no-sex rule."

"I take it back. In fact, why bother with rules? I feel wild. I feel crazy."

"You and I aren't having sex," he said, his tone warning.

"Why?"

"Because."

"Now there's a great answer."

"You want a better one?" he demanded. "How about this? I'm not interested in a commitment at this

point in my life. And despite your attempts to be modern and forward, you aren't interested in sex

without a commitment-which, by the way, were you planning on marrying Parker?"

He expected that to stick in her craw, make her get indignant and storm out of the room. Instead, she smiled at him. A real sexy smile, and he knew it wasn't a good sign.

This time when she leaned close, she kissed him. Heat raced along his senses. He wanted her.

He pulled away. It didn't matter what he wanted. She wasn't someone whom he could lose himself in for a mindless space of time. "No, Katie. I can't afford this," he whispered. "And neither can you."

"How can it possibly hurt?" She kissed him again, softly on the lips, and she could feel sensation

shudder through him.

"My reputation alone will hurt you."

"I don't care about your reputation, at least not now."

"Damn," he groaned.

But when he would have gotten up and left, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

"We're both damned, I suspect," she murmured. Then she kissed him. No sisterly peck. No awkward

nip.

"You make me crazy," he whispered one last desperate time, before he captured her mouth with his own.

His hands ran down her back. She could feel his barely held patience war with the hard-driving lust. He

showed her what he wanted, molding her mouth to his. She sighed softly. Her breath shivered through her and her mind reeled. The feel of his lips on hers was exquisite, warm and heated, gentle but demanding. Her eyes closed, and she exhaled like she had been waiting. Waiting to breathe, waiting for this-this deeply heavenly touch that made her body come alive in a way that she hardly understood. When his tongue grazed her lips, coaxing them to part, she stopped thinking. She thought she heard a soft mewling sound and refused to concede that it had come from her. Though that became difficult to do when the next sound she heard was his deep, rumbling growl of satisfaction. He ran the tips of his fingers along her skin, drifting low over her throat, then down farther to the scooped neck of her tank top. His gaze trailed low as well, and suddenly she remembered that she wasn't wearing a bra. The fire in his eyes flickered brighter, then his fingers ran along the edge of the thin cotton, back and forth, teasing, before he gently tugged the material up, exposing her breasts.

The expression on his face was sheer awe as he outlined the fullness with his hands, stopping just before he touched her nipple.

Her breath caught, and she felt a yearning pressure build between her legs. She wanted him to touch her there, cup her, spread her with his lips like she had dreamed, then fill her.

He circled one breast with his finger, avoiding the nipple, that heat inside her growing. She had the decidedly embarrassing desire to move her hips toward him. She wanted to feel the hardness of him between her thighs. Then finally he touched the taut aching peaks, and she moaned in ecstasy as he gently pinched.

Then his mouth came over hers and it was a tiny piece of heaven. She felt an amazing sense of power when he groaned. Their tongues twined, then he slowly impaled her mouth, over and over again, so intimately, showing her what sex would be like with him. Hot and wet, slow and sweet.

Relishing the feel, she curled her fingers into his cotton shirt. And passion exploded.

He pulled her into his lap, her bottom cradled between his thighs, as his mouth claimed her once again. The sensation was hot and enveloping, mind spinning and exhilarating. She felt herself melt into him, his strong arms capturing her against his massive chest.

When their tongues touched, fire burned through her, his lips brushing gently at first, then with demand, his strong thighs spreading just enough so that she could feel the unmistakable hardening of his body. Wrapping her close, he consumed her. He tasted dark and dangerous, like a slippery slope between sanity and decadence, making her want more. Making her want to give in, forget right from wrong, lose herself in the intensity of emotion.

"Kate? Jesse?"

The words came from just beyond the door. Mortified, Kate tried to jerk free. But Jesse held her secure, shielding her as he discreetly tugged down her shirt before he let her go.

"Jesse?" Travis came to stand in the doorway between the hall and kitchen, looking as serious as a nun. "Could I have a word with you?"

"Now?" Jesse asked.

"Well, ah, yes."

Jesse hesitated for a second before he pushed up, calming his raging desire. Feeling a tiny bit of what he was afraid might be fatherly concern, Jesse followed Travis out into the hallway. "What is it?"

The boy glanced back to make sure Kate couldn't hear. "I understand the whole wanting to kiss her thing."

Jesse choked.

"But I really don't think it's a good idea to give in and do it."

"What are you talking about?"

"She went out on a date and had a bad time. Then she comes home and starts kissing you on the rebound."

"I'm not a rebound," Jesse said indignantly. Though deep down he knew the kid was right. He had seen

it often enough and had steered clear of it. But tonight, with Katie, better sense fled. Her innocence made that jaded part inside him crack open and feel a lightness he hadn't known in years. Not since he was eleven.

"We both know that's what it is," Travis added all too insightfully. "I've seen it a thousand times with my-"

"Mother." Jesse hung his head.

"If you continue . . . doing what you're doing, she'll hate you in the morning. And while she pretty much hates you already, she'll hate herself, too. I was thinking that she's way too nice to start hating herself on top of all the work stuff she has going on."

Jesse stared at the boy long and hard. "Go to bed."

"Promise you won't take advantage of her."

"I am not going to take advantage of her," he replied tightly.

"Promise you won't kiss her again."

Jesse's narrow-eyed gaze must have made Travis think better of pushing him, because suddenly the boy

said, "Okay, okay, I'm going."

He disappeared down the hall.

With his body pulsing and his mind raging, Jesse returned to the kitchen. Whatever his sins were, he had

never taken advantage of a woman in his life.

"Is everything all right?" she asked.

"Yes," he stated coldly. Then he took a deep breath. "Yes, everything's fine. But it's late and we both

need to get some sleep."

"Sleep!"

Yes, sleep, at least for tonight. He wouldn't pursue this to the logical end that his body craved. If he

looked at her again, at the confusion and desire mixing on her delicate features, he was afraid his