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and stayed as still as possible he wouldn’t immediately spot her in the gloom. Pulling herself tall, she pressed flat against the trunk, closed her eyes tight, strained to hear, and waited.
    Nothing. Except for the wind whispering faintly through the trees and her own blood roaring in her ears, there was only silence.
    She held her breath.
    Her heart lub-dubbed
    Had he gone? Given up already?
    Oh, no. Please don’t let that be so.
    She wanted to look, to move, to breathe, but hated to end the suspense. Not just yet.
    Sweat popped out on her brow despite the chill.
    An uneasy minute passed.
    Still nothing.
    Finally, unable to hold her breath any longer, she let out a soft whoosh of air and inhaled deeply.
    She waited, breathing hard.
    That’s when his viselike arms clamped around her waist.
    Meggie let out a shriek, the sound reverberating throughout the forest, and dropped her clutch purse. But he did not let her go. In fact, those ropy, muscled arms wrapped more tightly around her.
    “You are mine now, slippery minx.” His lyrical Spanish accent stroked her ears, transporting her deeper into the magical dream.
    He was standing behind her, securely holding her bottom pressed flush against his groin. She could feel the heat and hardness of his throbbing erection through the inconsequential restriction of his leather pants. His hand came perilously close to her womanhood, cloaked so thinly by the satiny tap pants. Her flesh felt seared, achy, desperate.
    She wanted to see his face. To read the expression of the eyes beneath that mask. As if intercepting her thoughts, he spun her around, clasping her wrists in his hands, and held her restrained.
    “You make my blood race,” he said.
    God, she loved the way he’d been masterfully setting the tone from the moment he’d approached her at the buffet table. He seemed to know exactly what she needed to hear.
    Two could play this game. Meggie swallowed hard, valiantly tilted her chin and met his gaze. “You make my body ache.”
    “And you bring me to my knees.”
    She saw sexual hunger in his eyes, yes, but tenderness as well. He caressed her with his gaze, as if he knew precisely where to touch and how to torment her with sweet, exquisite pleasure.
    “You’re feeding into my most taboo fantasies,” she told him.
    “I know.”
    “I want to feed yours as well. What are your most wicked desires, Don Juan?” Meggie thrilled to her own bravery. “How can I captivate you?”
    He pulled her flush against his strong, solid chest and she inhaled the arousing scent of a man in his prime. They generated so much body heat, pressed together, that Meggie could almost feel the steam rising from their contact.
    “Can’t you guess? I like to play games.”
    Anonymity had all sorts of benefits, she decided, nuzzling his neck. She was catching the early morning flight to Seattle. The whole population of Bear Creek was inside the community center. No one would ever know she had slipped into the forest with Don Juan. It was just their little secret.
    “But we must make sure neither of us does anything to truly scare the other,” he said. “Agreed? Nothing too freaky.”
    “So you’re kinky, but not freaky.”
    “Exactly.”
    “No S and M.”
    “No.”
    “Bondage?”
    “Not unless you want it.”
    Meggie licked her lips. “Maybe just a little.”
    He chuckled. “We need a word. Or a sign. In case things go too far.”
    “You’re right.”
    “How about something simple, like ‘enough’?”
    “All right. Things get out of hand and if either one of us cries ‘enough,’ the other backs off.”
    “Agreed.”
    “Okay, the ground rules are set. What next?”
    What next indeed?
    His lips were so near, his warm wafting across her mouth.
    She wanted to ask him what he was going to do next, but the words would not come. If her very life had been threatened she could not have spoken. She could do nothing but wait in suspended animation for the abracadabra magic that would