“This is how girls do it.”

“I’m not a girl.”

I laughed. “But I am.”

With a smile, he slowly took the hem of my shirt and drew it up and over my head. Then his eyes fixed on the knotted nipples evident through the thin material of my bra.

This was happening. This was so happening.

Without any further hints from me, William’s hands returned to my breasts, cupping them over my bra. I pulled his head down to kiss me with one hand while caressing his very lickable chest with my other hand. Wow…who’d have thunk that a modern-day blacksmith-turned-warrior knight could be so hot and sexy?

“Jenna,” he muttered against my lips when we finally came up for air. He spoke in halting syllables, so I knew he was trying to slow things down—which signaled to me that it was time to stomp on the accelerator.

I lowered my mouth to his chest, kissing my way down to one of his nipples and rolling my tongue over it. He tasted salty and sweet, like saltwater taffy.

His breath hissed through his lips and his fingers threaded through my hair.

“That feels so good,” he whispered shakily.

I moved over to lick and suck the other nipple. He let out a satisfying groan, which I felt clear down to my toes. Every nerve and muscle in my body was now crying out for release.

“Wil, I want you,” I said, kissing my way back up to his neck.

“I want you, too.”

I reached back and unhooked my bra with one hand—a skill I’d mastered with some practice—and let it slide down my arms. His hands were on my breasts seconds after freeing them from my bra, and the rough and callused touch felt exquisite on my sensitive skin.

I rose up to kiss him. His kisses grew fiercer, his tongue plunging into my mouth, forcing mine into submission with the ferocity of his ardor. When we broke contact, I was breathing hard and so was he. His handsome face was flushed, his eyes dark with desire. I could tell he was about to lose control.

My plan to seduce the hot hunk of man-virgin? So far, so good.

Slowly, William lowered his head and enveloped my nipple with his hot mouth. “Yes,” I breathed, urging him on, having already learned that subtlety was completely lost on him. “I like that a lot. I—”

My words died in my throat. There were no words. No thoughts even, only the piercing, intense pleasure of his mouth sucking my nipple. I think I might have even forgotten to breathe because, damn, it was overwhelming. Desire arced through me like lightning.

I grabbed William’s head, threading my fingers through his thick hair to hold him where he was. Had I not done that, I may have collapsed into a helpless puddle of sexual heat on the floor. Holy shit. It wasn’t just his kisses. It was his touch. It was everything. It was electric—and I was hooked.

“Oh, Wil, I want it. So. Damn. Bad.”

His mouth froze for a moment, then he pulled away—mere millimeters, but it was enough to make my breath lurch with the deprivation. “What is it?”

“What?”

“You said you want ‘it.’ What is it?”

There I went again, assuming the obvious was clear to him. “This…us. I want to be together.”

“We’re together.”

“No, I mean…together as in…as in having sex.”

Another pause. His breath curled across the surface of my tender nipple, and I throbbed with the loss of his touch. I smoothed my fingers through his hair, then rubbed my thumb across his cheek.

“It’s okay to want it, Wil.”

He drew back and I noticed his face was flushed. Staring at my throat, he said, “Tell me you’re staying and not traveling with the Ren Faire.”

My head spun. “I—what?”

“I told you already that we are not going to have sex so I can just watch you leave. If we do this, I want your promise that you’ll stay.”

His voice was flat and cold, and it brought all my sexually-charged hopes crashing down. I fell back on my legs and looked at him. He turned, snatched up his shirt and slipped it over his head, but it was inside out. With a mild curse, he realized his mistake, and I was treated to another nice view of his chest while he straightened himself out.

I refused to call this an impasse. I knew he wanted it. I knew he was like any other red-blooded man in his mid-twenties. And he was clearly turned on… How resolute could he actually be?

I leaned back on my arms and pushed my breasts out at an attractive angle. I was rewarded when William fixed his eyes on my chest, then I watched the struggle cross his handsome features. Finally, he closed his eyes and sat back.

“Put your clothes on,” he said.

I ignored his request. “Why don’t you want to—?”

“I never said I didn’t want to.” And judging from the still obvious erection in his jeans, he could hardly deny it.

“Then—”

“But we aren’t going to. Not until I have that promise. And if not, then we won’t.”

I’d change his mind—sooner or later. No man, no matter how stubborn, was that strong. Besides, he didn’t realize the favor I was doing him by not committing. Bad things tended to happen to people who loved me…

I swallowed and shoved that thought aside.

“This isn’t the Middle Ages, Wil. You aren’t responsible or committed to someone just because you sleep with them.”

He tensed. “If you think that’s the reason, then you’ve completely misunderstood me.”

I raised my brow, the challenge in his voice rankling me.

Reaching over, I grabbed my shirt and bra and put them on my lap. After a long moment, he opened his eyes, probably thinking that I’d dressed. When he saw that I hadn’t, he didn’t close his eyes again.

“So even though we could be enjoying ourselves…”

“It’s not about enjoying. It’s about you running away afterward.”

There it was again. It had riled me up when he’d leveled that at me earlier today at the park, and now it just pissed me off.

“You don’t know anything about me or my history, so it’s rude to say I’m running away.”

He shook his head. “People are always calling my honest statements rude. I didn’t mean to be rude to you. But what is it, then, when you have people here who care about you, like Alex and Mia…like me. And you’re just going to go away with no plan to ever come back?”