LITMIR.BIZ

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God. It had worked. However, it had also worked to convince him that Maggie deserved someone more like Dan—and less like Matt.

      “You should go back to bed,” he said, his back to her, praying that she wouldn’t say anything else. “Please? I really don’t want to talk right now.”

      We don’t have to talk, Maggie wanted to say, but the words stuck in her throat.

      “Please,” he said again. It was little more than a breath, an exhale, but it held all the emotion of a cry of pain. “Go.”

      And there she went. Running away. Too scared to speak out, to speak up.

      Matt didn’t turn around as she left the room.

      Maggie lay in the darkness, looking up at the shadowy canopy that was draped above her bed, calling herself names.

      Chicken. Coward. Scaredy-cat. Baby. Wimp. Only a wimp would have run away like that.

      The digital numbers of her alarm clock switched from 1:59 to 2:00.

      Maggie swore softly. Sleeplessness had never been a problem for her before. Of course, she’d never loved anyone the way she loved Matthew.

      And she did love him.

      So why was she lying up here all alone?

      Because she didn’t want to ruin their friendship? It was no longer a good excuse, because, face it, their friendship was already affected. She wasn’t going to pretend to herself that she didn’t feel anything for him, because damn it, she did. And she wasn’t going to hang back anymore, careful to stay his buddy. She wouldn’t be able to bear watching him find some other woman to spend time with.

      So where did that leave her?

      She knew that if she went to him and openly asked him to spend the night with her, he wouldn’t refuse her.

      But how would she feel in the morning?

      That was a question that only the morning light could bring the answer to. The question facing her right now was, how did she feel tonight?

      Maggie shivered, remembering the sensation of his lips on hers, of his body against hers. She wanted him, and she knew he wanted her. She’d seen the way he’d looked at her when she’d walked into the bathroom. She’d seen hunger in his eyes.

      She stood up and crossed to the door. Taking a deep breath, she put her hand on the knob and turned it, swinging the door open.

      And oh, dear Lord, Matt stood there, his hair down around his shoulders, his handsome face unsmiling. Even though the night had turned cool, he wore only his running shorts, and she could see the taut muscles in his chest rise and fall with each breath he took

      Gazing up into his beautiful eyes, Maggie knew that the desire she saw there mirrored that in her own eyes. She wondered if he could hear her heart pounding from where he stood.

      She wasn’t sure who moved first, but he reached for her as she fell into his arms.

      Matt kissed her, desperately, ferociously. And she clung to him, her mouth demanding, her arms wound tightly around his neck as he pulled her closer to him. Her tongue was in his mouth, and his hands swept the length of her body, and he knew that he shouldn’t be doing this, but he couldn’t make himself stop.

      Their legs intertwined, and she rubbed herself against him. And still he couldn’t stop himself from reaching down to lift her up so that her legs encircled him.

      He pulled back then to look into her face.

      She gazed back at him, her cheeks flushed from the heat they’d created, and he felt giddy. He buried his face in her neck, breathing in her scent. She smelled like Maggie—clean and sweet. How many times in his life had he stood close enough to inhale her fragrance, close enough to drive himself mad with wanting her?

      She pulled his face up and kissed him.

      But again he pulled back. “It’s not too late to stop,” he said, his voice sounding breathless to his own ears. He prayed that she wouldn’t agree.

      “Says who?” she countered, tightening the grip of her legs around him, then laughing at the expression on his face.

      Another kiss propelled them across the room and they tumbled together onto Maggie’s bed, Matt kissing her again and again in an explosion of need and desire.

      “I came up here to talk,” he tried to tell her.

      “I can’t talk right now,” she said, kissing his cheeks, his eyes, his lips. “I’m busy.”

      He laughed. She kissed his neck, and he closed his eyes, his laughter turning to a sigh of pleasure as he touched her, as he filled his hands with her breasts, as he stroked the smoothness of her soft skin.

      “It’s important,” he breathed.

      “I’m listening.” She trailed kisses down his chest to his stomach.

      Matt felt her tugging at the waistband of his shorts, and he grabbed her wrist. He spun her over and pinned her to the bed with his body, his hands holding her arms above her head.

      “Now I’m really listening.” She smiled up at him.

      Unable to resist, he brought his mouth down to hers and kissed her slowly, sweetly, deeply. When he pulled back, she was trembling.

      And he was, too.

      “I really tried to stay away from you,” he confessed. “I know this is selfish, but I couldn’t help myself because…” He took a deep breath and said it. “I love you, Mags.”

      “You don’t have to say that,” Maggie said quietly.

      “But I do,” he told her. “I’m crazy in love with you. I have been for years. It’s important to me that you know that.”

      She looked searchingly into his eyes, her expression dubious. “Matt, I’m not one of those women who have to think that you’re in love with them before they’ll—”

      “No. Mags, I know that,” Matt said. “This isn’t a line. I love you. You have to believe me. God, I’ve never been more sincere in my entire life.”

      She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter—”

      “It does to me. Damn it, I love you! You better believe me.”

      Maggie stared up at Matt. His eyes held a glint of determination she’d only seen since he’d begun improving the business, and suddenly, she realized that he was serious.

      He was serious.

      He loved her.

      It was a good thing she was lying down, or she’d fall over. “I believe you,” she whispered.

      Relief and satisfaction flared in his eyes before he leaned forward to kiss her again. His mouth caressed hers, gently at first, then with greater need. He was on top of her, and she wrapped her legs around him, pulling him even closer to her.

      She was on fire. Everywhere he touched her, she burned. He stopped kissing her, and she pulled her arms free, reaching up around his neck to bring his mouth back to hers.

      But he resisted. “Maggie…” His face was so serious.

      She pressed one finger to his lips. “Matt, I love you, too,” she told him with a tremulous smile. “Make love to me.”

      But he didn’t smile back. In fact, he looked even more troubled. “There’s more I have to tell you.”

      Maggie pushed him off of her. “No.”

      Well, that surprised him.

      “Not now.” She crossed to the dresser and dug through her purse. Matt sat up slightly, leaning back on one elbow, watching her. “You just told me that you love me.” She found what she was searching for and crossed back to him, picking up his free hand and slapping

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