Page 11 of Just One More Night

Back in the alley, his first thought had beenangel. His second thought had been bohemian—in the sense of a certain beach culture style popular with both Californians and those who aspired to look like Californians. Not in the sense of the Bohemian region where they currently sat that had nothing at all to do with Californian anything.

When she’d spoken, he had not been surprised to hear that she was an American, though he hadn’t known how to feel about that. And then he hadn’t cared, because it made his path clear.

He had practically been able to see the white picket fences of her people stamped all over her.

“Those kinds of clubs are always in terrible neighborhoods,” she was saying, almost dismissively. As if he was being...silly. Something Stefan had never been in his life. “I never got into trouble before.”

Stefan leaned forward. He rested his elbows on his knees and got his face close to hers.

She was even more perfect than he’d recalled. Flawless, really. That pretty face of hers, eyes like chocolate and that sweet and dirty mouth. She looked soft and breakable, but he knew better, didn’t he? His Indiana was wild, and a little crazy, and her pussy was voracious.

God, she was perfect.

Even if, right at this very moment, he was pissed at what could have happened to her if he hadn’t been thesituationshe’d stumbled into.

“Do you know how much trouble you were in?” he asked quietly. “Do you really know?”

Her melted chocolate gaze glittered. “I think the gun to my head was a clue.”

Stefan reached over and slid his palm over her jaw, her cheek. Not sure if he was holding her there...or assuring himself that she was real.

That he had not simply lost it in that alley two years ago, as many had claimed since. That there had been a reason and it was her.

That she washere.

“The man who held a gun to your head no longer exists,” he told her, making no attempt to keep the darkness from his voice. “But he was a very bad man, Indiana. You should have been terrified of him. Why weren’t you?”

She smiled and pressed her cheek deeper into his palm. “I don’t know.”

“I gave you that key and an address. You could have come here any time you liked, but you didn’t. You could have forgotten all about one strange night in Hungary, but you didn’t. You waited two years. You came to Prague. You showed up tonight at precisely the right time and now look at you, down on your knees with your skin already flushed with arousal.” He shook his head, his gaze all over her. “Why?”

“I trusted you.” When his scowl deepened, her smile widened. “And it didn’t occur to me to come here any sooner. I guess I could have come straight to Prague after Budapest, but I went to New York instead. And by the time it occurred to me, much later, that I had the key and could come over here and see if it fit in anytime, I was too busy... Recovering.”

He searched her face intently, something in him going still. “You were hurt?”

She shook her head. “No. But it was...”

Stefan nodded. Because he knew. “A beautiful catastrophe.”

Indy’s eyes glowed. “Yes. And then I thought I might as well wait. You had been so certain about the time period. Why was it two years? Why not two months? Or five years?”

He could have told her. That he had always had an exit strategy, because longevity was not a feature of the life he’d chosen after he’d left the army. He’d been planning his escape almost from the day he’d started. Meeting her had simply expedited those plans.

Instead of sharing any of that, he lifted a shoulder. “There were things I had to do.”

It was her turn to study him for a moment. “Like... A divorce?”

Stefan had not been expecting that. He laughed. “A divorce? What makes you think such a thing?”

Indy let out a small sigh, once again nestling her cheek a bit deeper into his palm. “It seemed like the kind of thing you might have had to get out of your way. I’ve never slept with a married man, to my knowledge, but then we didn’t do much talking.”

“I have never been married.” The very idea was ludicrous. “Have you?”

“Never.”

“And no unpleasant diseases,” he said, finding his thumb moving over her cheekbone. “Or I would have known soon enough.”

“Right back at you. And yes, I’m on the pill.”