"Okay. So?" She looked at him encouragingly, her eyes a bit wary. She briefly bit her luscious bottom lip.

"So," he repeated, just drinking in the sight of her. "I don't know where to start. So maybe I'll just start here." He leaned forward, put one hand on her cheek and kissed her, closing the small space between their bodies on the chaise. She couldn't move back, and he took her mouth in a long, hot kiss.

She was warm and delicious, sweet and tempting, and God, he'd missed her. He lifted his head to look at her, brushing his thumb across her full bottom lip.

She looked sweetly dazed, green eyes dark with emotion. "Uh, wow."

He smiled faintly. Then they were at each other, mouths hungry, hands greedy, touching each other, pulling at clothes, sucking, licking, eating at each other.

He filled his hands with those breasts, high, full and soft, nipples hard against his palms, kissing her over and over. She moaned, writhed beneath him, and they shifted their bodies without a word, fitting themselves to each other, stretching out on the chaise. He pressed a thigh between her legs, feeling the soft heat there, and she arched into him, crying out softly. With one hand, he turned her face to him again, ate at her lips, licked his way into her mouth, played with her soft tongue.

He tried to get under her T-shirt, desperately needing to feel skin, but damn, it was long, and he had to pull and tug and lift her hips to get it up around her waist. Then yes, his hands were on skin, silky and warm, and he shoved the T-shirt up the rest of the way and tugged her bra down. He buried his face between her breasts, inhaled her, that spicy scent that was hers alone, then nipped at the full curve of one breast, licked over the hard nipple, took it in his mouth.

She grabbed his hair and pulled hard, but his hair was short and her hands slid out.

"God, Trey! Someone could come in."

"Who cares?" he asked, blind, mindless, focused on her beautiful tits. "Ah!" He sucked the other nipple and this time her hands pulled his head to her, holding him at her breast, her head falling back, eyes closed.

"I need you, Marli," he murmured. He sat up and pulled her with him. "Lift your arms, sweetheart." She obeyed him, and he whisked the T-shirt over her head, then quickly dispensed with the sheer bra. He knelt to take off her jeans, tossed her shoes aside, then unbuttoned his fly. He looked at her, hesitating.

It was a little arrogant to come walking in here and five minutes later be doing her on the couch. He didn't want to screw this up. She'd said she loved him, but suddenly he was unsure, knowing he'd hurt her before he'd left.

She lay on the leopard chaise, her hair a bright contrast to the gold and brown print, her pale gold body long, lean and gorgeous. Her eyes watched him as he paused, hands at his fly. Then she lifted her graceful arms to him, inviting him, welcoming him, and he dropped his pants and fell onto her.

He couldn't get close enough, couldn't get enough of her, because it would never be enough...never, never. He kissed her mouth, the side of her neck, her soft shoulders. His hands moved over her, exulting in the feel of her, parting her legs, dipping into her sweet wetness. The scent of her arousal rose around them, making him pant and driving him wild with need. He touched her clit, a hard, swollen bud and she jerked beneath him, raising herself against hand. He moved his fingers, rubbed her there, and she came apart in his arms, trembling and whimpering.

As her tremors slowed, he pushed her legs farther apart and slid into her, hot, soft and lush. With a long, shaky moan, she welcomed him in, opened for him, clasped him to her body with her strong, slim arms.

"You feel so incredible." He kissed her breast. "So fucking good. God, Marli."

He thrust harder, deeper, then her hands clawed at his back, tugged at his shirt. "A condom," she whispered raggedly. "Trey..."

"No." He buried his face into her neck. "No...it's okay...don't need it." And with a long, strangled groan, he poured himself into her, his heart thudding, ears roaring. He came and came and came, in long waves of hot pleasure that left him weak, so weak he wasn't sure he could draw in another breath.

He shifted off her just slightly, still holding her, still with his face buried in the soft, fragrant skin of her neck, gasping for breath. He'd had the impression of flying, high and limitless, floating back slowly down onto the chaise in Marli's studio.

"Oh, Trey," she said, sounding a bit disturbed.

"What?" He could not lift his head. He put out his tongue and licked her, making her shiver.

"You didn't use a condom." She gave his back a little swat.

"It's okay. You said you were on the pill."

"Yes, but--"

"Don't worry," he murmured, then kissed and licked her again, sucked on her flesh tenderly. His heart was beating closer to normal speed and he could now hear over the blood rushing through his head. He felt her sigh.

"You'd better be here for a good reason," she said. "If you're here to break my heart again, I'm going to have to hurt you."

He lifted his head and looked her in the eye. "I love you, Marli."

She was silent. Then her lower lip trembled. "That's a pretty good reason," she said. "Oh, shit." She swiped at tears in her eyes. "I never used to cry," she told him fiercely. "I've cried more around you than I have since I was a baby."

"It's okay, sweetheart." He pulled her close. "You can cry in front of me any time you want."

"Good to know," she murmured. "Now tell me, what's going on? Am I having an affair with a married man?"

Direct, to the point... He loved that about her. "Are we having an affair?"

"I don't know. Are we? I don't have a hot clue what's going on here."

He laughed. "Okay, technically, yes, I'm still married, but the divorce is in the works. I saw my lawyer on Tuesday."

"Oh." He could feel her relief.

"And we're not having an affair."

"We're not?"

"No." He shook his head looked her steadily in the eye. "This is more than an affair."

"Oh."

"I also saw my doctor on Wednesday and got the test results Thursday. I'm clean, so nothing to worry about there."

Her smile was relieved. "So we were okay without a condom."

"Yeah. I went to see my parents, too. Let them know I'm okay. In fact, better than okay, thanks to you."

"You've been busy."

"And I went to see my boss at work."

"Oh."

"Yup. We had a good talk. Now I've got my shit together, I'm ready to go back to work. So I requested a transfer."

"Really? Hmmm." She put a finger to her lips, her eyes gleaming. "Let me guess. San Francisco, so you can work with Kent again? "

He laughed. "Wrong. I start in the LA office in two weeks. He agreed that starting fresh in a new office would be a good idea. I have to go back and clean up some stuff in San Diego, but I'll be moving here. Which leads to my next problem, which is, finding a place to live."

"Trey--"

"Wait." He held up a hand. "I'm not saying I want to move in with you. Not right away anyway. We really need time, I think. God, I'm not even divorced yet. I'm still no prize, that's for sure. I still have a lot of crap to deal with and I need to do that on my own."

"I can help you," she murmured.

"I know you can. I want you to. You've had a rough time lately, too. We can help each other. I need you, Marli. But I want to get established here, have a life, get to know you...take you on another date, maybe. And one day, when my divorce is final, we can see how things are going..."

"I can live with that."

"I'm here for the weekend, though," he said with a smile. "Maybe you can put me up just for a couple of days? I'd like to make love to you somewhere other than a hotel room."

"We just did," she pointed out.

He laughed. "Oh, yeah." Then he took a deep breath. "The other person I went to see this week was Lisa. And the baby."

"Oh, Trey." She sighed. "Was that hard?"

"Yeah, but not so much once I got there. We talked and got some stuff out in the open. But there still is one thing I need to tell you."

"What's that?"

"The fact that Lisa will still be in my life. I want to be up front with you because you're always up front with me. I told her if Travis ever reneges on his responsibilities to Aidan, if she ever needs anything, that she can call me. Because I don't want to see Aidan's whole life screwed up because the adults in his life can't get it together."

She gazed at him in silence.

"Is that a problem for you?" he asked, watching her, his insides knotting.

"You are so amazing," she said in a choked voice and kissed him adoringly. "God, I love you."

He kissed her back, relief and gratitude swelling in him. "Lisa and I were both responsible for our marriage falling apart," he said when they drew apart. "Once I admitted that, it was as if a huge load lifted off me. I still have to deal with their betrayal, but it somehow doesn't seem so bad."

"Yeah. I know what you mean. So, that's good."

"Lisa's going to have a rough time raising a kid on her own." He paused. "And," he continued, "the really good thing is that now I know I have feelings. I have feelings for you I've never felt before, so it's not all a tragedy."

She nodded.

"Being away from you put everything into perspective. What's important and what's not. Dwelling on the past and my own screw-ups is not important. I decided that's what forgiveness is--not dwelling on the negative. So I'm trying to stop beating myself up."