I stared at him, suddenly wondering what all those reasons were, when a moment ago, it had been self-evident to me why we’d never kissed. We’d never been into each other that way. But he’d said it wouldn’t be a problem now, as though he knew the filthy thoughts I’d been having about his mouth. I gulped.

He leaned towards me and I bent away instinctively. Thoughts flickering dangerously in his eyes, he blinked, and the next thing I knew, his hand was clamped around the back of my neck and he was holding me where I was – and sending shots of adrenaline down my spine.

As he brought his face close, I caught the scent of him, not the cheap deodorant he used to use but something spicy and a little bit older man that did something crazy to my hormones. His breath gusted over my cheek and, after one more pensive glance, his eyes drifted closed. Unable to stand the proximity, my eyes did the same, but it only set off all my other senses, especially the way the tiny hairs on my skin detected his nearness.

My mouth dropped open on a gasp.

Excerpt 2
He got back to work on the chain holding his bodice closed. ‘I’m sure I… knew how to do this properly, last time I wore this,’ he said, his voice high.

‘Here, you’ve got it…’ With halting hands, I unwound the chain from his finger and worked it through the hook on one side. ‘You’re a bit… tangled.’

Abandoning my attempt to escape my own faux-leather wardrobe malfunction, I helped him untie his bonds, gradually loosening the bodice as each hook came free. The ribbon was next and, when I’d unwound that from all of the fastenings, I peered at the hook-and-eye closing the top of the bodice.

My fingers brushed the skin of his chest, just above the blouse. The scent of him tickled my nostrils – and my belly, somehow. I made the mistake of glancing up and noticed how close he was, his gaze fixed on me. 

I cleared my thick throat. ‘Do you still use Dark Temptation?’ I teased, giving him a sniff for show. I knew he didn’t. The scent of the cheap deodorant would probably allow me to literally travel back in time, I’d used it myself on so many occasions after a night out.

‘No,’ he said with an inarticulate cough. ‘Are you finished?’

‘Nearly,’ I said with a nod. Back to the task at hand. I managed the hook-and-eye and dragged the zip down, trying not to stare at his bare stomach, but wow, the ridges and hollows and that flat bit that made me think about what came next. 

He shrugged out of the bodice with some difficulty because… those shoulders. The band tattooed on his forearm caught my eye and I stared at the little clench of muscle there, even though I’d sat with him when he got that first tattoo, screaming like a baby, and seen it a million times since.

It was an out-of-body experience, like he wasn’t Max, but he clearly was Max, even though I was so turned on, I was probably wasting electricity.

He whipped the cropped blouse over his head, flashing me armpits and a belly button and a normal person would have been completely turned off by that. I was obviously not normal.

‘Turn around,’ he said and I whirled without questioning him.