With Just One Kiss (Seriously Sweet St Louis #4) - Cindy Kirk Page 0,1

she wasn’t going to marry any man until she knew he was the one she would be with forever.

No wonder her subconscious had brought up David Warner. At one time she’d been convinced he was her “forever love.” When he’d asked for his ring back right before high school graduation, she’d thought her heart would crack in two. But their breakup was the best thing that could have happened. They’d been totally wrong for each other. She realized that now.

She shook her head. Thank goodness she’d outgrown that youthful foolishness. Wisdom now tempered her actions, and consequently her life ran like clockwork. Staying over an extra day in Las Vegas had been an impulsive move, but after six months on the road she thought she’d earned a break.

Today she’d be back on schedule. She’d check out of the hotel, grab a plane back to Chicago and be in her apartment in Lincoln Park before dinner. Though she didn’t have to present her ideas regarding the next series of seminars to her manager for a couple of weeks, Christy wanted to get a jump start. Order brought calm to her life. She didn’t like being late and she didn’t like rushing. That’s why she’d be at the airport well ahead of her ten-o’clock flight.

Rolling to her side, she glanced at her travel clock. She took a second look. Nine-thirty?

Christy bolted upright and the bedcovers dropped to her waist. The moment they did Christy became conscious of cold air hitting her bare skin.

Bare skin?

Christy dropped her gaze. Her eyes widened. Where were her cotton pajamas? Though many people slept in the nude, she never had.

“Christy?”

Her head jerked up and her mouth dropped open.

David Warner stood in the bathroom doorway wearing only a towel wrapped around his waist. Still damp, his hair spiked up, while the dark strands on his chest glistened with drops of water.

She blinked once.

He didn’t disappear.

She blinked again.

He shifted from one foot to the other and stared, a strange look in his eyes. Her heart pounded in her chest. He was real. Standing in her hotel room. Looking even more incredible at twenty-eight than he had at eighteen.

Christy gasped, suddenly realizing where his gaze was focused. With one swift yank she pulled the bedspread up to her neck, wishing with all her heart that she could pull it over her head.

Instead, she lifted her chin and ignored the rapid beating of her heart and the heat burning her cheeks. “What are you doing in my room?”

If he’d noticed the curtness in her tone, it didn’t show. His gaze searched hers. “I think you know the answer to that.”

A shiver traveled up her spine and her sense of unease skyrocketed.

It couldn’t be true. It was just part of the nightmare.

“We met in the lobby?” he prompted, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. “You said you were in Vegas because of some seminar. I was here because of my grandfather’s birthday.”

It had been part of the dream, the chance meeting by the front desk, the decision to stop in the lounge for a drink to catch up on old times.

“You were supposed to go to the Johnny Kilgore show at Caesars Palace,” she said slowly, keeping her gaze focused on his face and trying to ignore his broad shoulders and muscular chest.

He nodded, his expression inscrutable. “But we got to talking and one thing led to another.”

One thing led to another.

Christy tried to still her rising panic. She’d been tired and hadn’t had much to eat for dinner but still, she couldn’t have had more than a drink or two. Besides, there wasn’t enough alcohol in the world to make her abandon her moral values and go to bed with a man she hadn’t seen in ten years. Still, the evidence seemed overwhelming.

“You spent the night,” she said, surprised she could sound so calm. “You and I made love.”

She said it as a statement of fact, hoping he’d tell her no. Instead he nodded.

“You do remember.” He studied her face with his enigmatic gaze for an extra beat.

Her chest tightened and it was all Christy could do not to break down and cry. How could she have gotten so off course? This man she barely knew had held her, kissed her, caressed her. And not only had she let him, she had the feeling she’d encouraged him.

She took a deep breath. “I always vowed that the only man I’d ever sleep with would be my husband.”

David’s tense expression