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leaning forward, bringing his face close to hers.
    Morgan stilled as she suddenly realized that their faces were inches apart. With the sun beginning to set and the two of them standing in the courtyard, it immediately reminded her of the last time that they had been here and her poor reaction to his attempted kiss.
    "Listen…" Morgan said.
    Patrick cut her off.
    "I'm going to kiss you," he said, meeting her eyes and giving her ample warning.
    Plenty of time to say no.
    Feeling almost hypnotized under his gaze, she nodded slowly.
    Patrick leaned forward and she lost herself for a moment in his gray eyes, noticing the tiny flecks of green now that they were so close. Her eyes drifted closed just as he brushed his lips across hers.
    A zing of heat shot through her and unable to help herself, she moaned softly as he deepened the kiss, sliding his lips across hers, nipping a bit at her full bottom lip. Morgan was lost in a sea of emotions, like all of her nerve endings had fired up at once.
    This was her first kiss.
    She wasn't sure why she had waited so long if it was as pleasurable as this. Patrick's hands cupped her face, tilting it so that he could continue to kiss her deeply, coaxing her to open her lips so he could slip his tongue in to tease hers.
    Her eyes shot open as something bumped her arm.
    A cold rush of panic shot through her as she realized that her glass and the ice bucket were hovering near her arm. Slamming her eyes closed, she poured herself into the kiss while desperately trying to concentrate on lowering the items carefully back to the table.
    "Shit!" Morgan screeched as cold liquid splashed over her leg.
    Patrick broke off and looked at her knocked-over glass in confusion.
    "How did that happen?"
    "I, um, must have bumped it," Morgan said, heat creeping up her cheeks. She wanted to bury her face in her hands. Chalk it up to another reason not to date, she thought. If this happened every time someone kissed her, she could only imagine what would happen if she took a man to bed with her. She'd have to bolt all of her furniture down.
    Her eyes met Patrick's as he handed her a napkin to mop up the spilled cider.
    "Sorry about that. It was really good cider," Morgan said weakly.
    "No matter, I'm just sorry that you got wet," Patrick said. Morgan's eyes shot to Patrick's and her face felt like it was on fire.
    Patrick let out a hearty laugh and then bent over, laughing even harder as he pounded his hand on the table.
    "I didn't mean that to sound, um, dirty," he huffed out, struggling to breathe.
    Morgan found herself laughing at him, surprised that she could relax around him after their kiss.
    Patrick leaned back over the table, his face serious again.
    "I liked kissing you. I like you. It's no secret that I'm very interested in you," he said softly, capturing her hand with his.
    Morgan quickly pulled her hand away and continued to dab the napkin at the wet stain on her pants.
    "Um, yes, I suppose that I know you're interested."
    "So, can I take you to dinner?" Patrick asked.
    "Um, well, it's just that, you see…I don't date," Morgan said, continuing to wipe her pants, refusing to meet his eyes.
    "Ever?" Patrick's voice rose up on a high note at the end of his words.
    "Well, um, no, I guess not," Morgan said sheepishly and finally met his eyes.
    "And you're not willing to try?" Patrick asked, surprise etched on his face.
    "I just…I don't know if I'm ready," Morgan said lamely, her hands flopping around in front of her.
    "Why? What happened to you?" Patrick said fiercely and Morgan immediately felt her walls go up. She took a deep breath before answering, remembering Baird's advice to try to form bonds with people. She reached out with her mind and scanned Patrick's, finding nothing but concern and genuine interest there.
    Still, she found that she wasn't quite ready to talk about her past.
    "I'm just not looking to date right now. I really want to focus on my new job," Morgan said, side-stepping the