He shrugged. “It never hurts to try again, though in this case it did no good. The key is a dud. At least it’s not a grenade. Well, unless the grenade lands at your feet.”

“That happened to you?” she asked, delving into the very personal territory she’d sworn not to with this man over andover, but did it anyway.

“Oh yeah,” he said. “Fun times, let me tell you. And I checked on a charter. It all depends on how bad the storm is tomorrow. If the weather allows it and the airlines are backed up, it’s an option.” He grabbed the handle of her bag. “Why don’t you call downstairs from my room, and have someone bring you up another key?” He didn’t wait for her reply, rolling her bag, with her purse still on top, towards his room.

Julie stood frozen, her eyes fixed on his powerful shoulders and back. If she followed him she was not coming out of that room without touching him.

Desire flared and pressed her to act, countered only by the worries that fluttered through her mind. His brother was marrying her best friend. There was no fling to this. They were headed to a place she’d never let herself go with a man. A place she’d sworn never to go. This was relationship territory.

He stopped at his door, and eyed her over one of those truly magnificent shoulders, a challenge in his watchful gaze. “You gonna stay in the hall or what?”

She wanted him. Part of her even felt as if she needed him. She shouldn’t do this, but…. She shut her eyes a moment. Who was she kidding? Walking away from Luke wasn’t possible. That meant she had to find a way to deal with him. Maybe she simply hadn’t had time for the sex in their past to get old. Maybe they were only drawn to each other because he’d left before they worked each other out of their systems, and she’d turned this thing with him into more than it had to be. Right. She could take control again. She’d get this back where it belonged. In the bedroom and out of her head and heart. Heart. Damn. Where did that come from? Head. She’d meant head.

Her lashes lifted and she met his gaze. “Or what?” And she followed him into his hotel room.

Chapter Three

Luke was aware of Julie on every possible level, in every inch of his body, all too conscious of just how much willpower this night was going to require. He wanted her. He wanted her like he’d never wanted another woman, and that was exactly why he couldn’t touch her. Not now. Not yet. But soon, and he knew it was going to feel like forever in the meantime.

The door slammed behind him and he settled her bag in a corner by the closet, easing into the doorway to watch her sit on his king-sized bed, her long blond hair caressing her shoulders. Shoulders he knew were creamy white, skin he knew was soft and silky, and addictive. She reached for the phone. He leaned on the wall, his blood boiling just thinking about how easily they could end up under the sheets, or on top of them, or anywhere in this room, gloriously naked. The mattress separated them, yet he could smell the faint scent of jasmine and vanilla, a perfume so uniquely Julie.

Oh yeah, he was staying on this side of the mattress, and on the opposite side of the room from Julie. He’d given this thing between the two of them one heck of a lot of consideration and was certain that sex was her barrier, the only thing she gave of herself, the wall that hid her from truly connecting. Only he’d gotten past that wall, he’d seen it in her eyes in the past. He saw it there now: the fear, and the knowledge that he was the man who’d seen the real her.

“Yes,” she said into the phone and even her voice radiated along his nerve endings and threatened to unravel his control. “My key won’t work. Can someone bring a new one up to me by chance? I’m in my neighbor’s room. Room-” She glanced at the phone. “813.” She paused and listened, and then sounding disappointed, asked, “That long? Really? Okay. Hmm. Yes. Fine. I’ll be down.” She hung up the phone and stood up, turning to face him. “They’re too busy to come up anytime soon so I have to go down.”

“They said that about room service when I tried to order,” he commented. “I should have assumed the same for this.”

“I guess that means I have to go downstairs now.” She ran her hands down her h*ps and looked nervous rather than her normal sexy confident self. Nervous was good. Nervous meant she was feeling something unfamiliar. It meant she was aware of what was on the line, and it had nothing to do with pleasure. Well, maybe a little to do with pleasure.

Neither of them moved or spoke, the air thick, the bed the size of a Texas summer sun, threatening to burn them right into high noon. He needed out of this tiny room with her and now.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m starving,” he said, pushing off the wall. “Why don’t we head down and get something to eat while the front desk calms down a bit.”

She studied him a long moment, as if his invitation to leave the room surprised her far more than the one to join him here.

“I seem to remember you having a big appetite,” he pressed softly, reminding her of their time together, of just how well they’d gotten to know each other. Of late night pizzas and walks to the corner deli, and a diner near her house that they’d had many a breakfast at. She wasn’t hiding from any of that. She wasn’t hiding from him.

Her lashes lowered, and her hair fell forward, shadowing her face. “Yes,” she said, drawing out the response before casting him a surprisingly shy look. “I probably like to eat a little too much.”