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as he came around
to help me out of my chair and lead me to the car. He drove, which was just as
well since I couldn’t keep my eyes off him. Tension mounted the whole drive
home.
    The house was quiet when we walked through the door, though
Chuck had clearly left the front light on for us. Chad led me upstairs to the
closed door of the master suite.
    “Close your eyes.” He pressed kisses to my eyelashes to make
me comply.
    I stepped into the room with nothing but the warm press of
his arm around my waist to guide me. Then he disappeared for a moment, and a slow,
sexy blues song filled the room. His arm returned, this time embracing me from
behind and cradling me against his chest.
    “All right. Now open them.”
    My breath escaped me on a sigh when I did. The room had been
completely transformed. Pearly satin sheets now covered the big bed, which was
already turned down. Candles of different heights glowed around the room. When
I inhaled, the lulling aroma of sandalwood washed through me.
    “How did you do this?” Romantic cliché or not, the setting
was perfect.
    I felt Chad shrug behind me. “I know a guy.”
    “You do, huh?”
    He swept my hair aside to plant a kiss on the sensitive
curve of my neck. The caress felt so good I tilted my head to give him better
access and moaned when I felt him lower the zipper at the back of my dress.
    “Yes, I do,” he whispered against my skin. “And right now,
that guy is busy watching a boxing match. He’ll be occupied for hours.”
    I’d wondered where Chuck was. Chad had obviously thought of
everything.
    The kisses he planted down my neck and across my shoulder
distracted me. I didn’t notice he’d pushed aside the straps of my dress until
the garment suddenly dropped and left my breasts bare for his hands to clasp.
    Chad moaned behind me. “I love your body. Your skin is
softer than the finest silk. Your firm, ripe breasts fill my palms to
perfection.”
    I’d always thought I was a little lacking in that area, but
his praise—and the passion-rich tone in which he delivered it—made me feel like
a well-endowed siren.
    “And the curve of your waist.” He slipped his right hand
from my breast and stroked my side all the way down to my hip. “Like the dip of
the shoreline where she meets the touch of her lover, the ocean.”
    “Yes.” The word escaped me without thought.
    If anyone else, even one of my other husbands, had spoken
like this, I probably would have found it cheesy. But Chad was too real, too
genuine for that. Though aimed to seduce, his words weren’t just a gimmick. He
was a true romantic.
    So I embraced the dream and responded the way I wanted to.
“Take me to bed.”
    He pressed his lips to my ear. “With pleasure.”
    The way he scooped me up in his arms startled a laugh out of
me. Beneath his shirt, those muscles he worked so hard to hone barely flexed as
he took my weight and carried me to the bed. He laid me down in the center of
those satin sheets, and I sighed as the smooth fabric brushed my bare shoulders
and the backs of my legs.
    Still fully dressed, he stretched out beside me. “ Embrasse-moi .”
    I did kiss him—a French kiss, no less. Lightly fisting his
curls, I brought his head down to mine and devoured him. I dipped my tongue
into his mouth and drank the intoxicating flavor of one of my favorite wines
and the virile man behind it. His skillful lips softened beneath the pressure
before giving back tenfold, taking me on a floating descent into pure desire.
    There was no rush; time had no meaning. We stretched that
perfect kiss into forever before the yearning for more had us surfacing for
air.
    His smile was so full of carnal promise it set off a tiny
spasm high between my legs. I couldn’t wait for him to fill me.
    When he sat up, I reached for him, but I dropped my arms
once I saw what he was doing. He unbuttoned his shirt without looking away from
me and shrugged it off. Beneath the fabric, his chest was all smooth skin,