“You can tell I’m uncomfortable?”

“Extremely.”

“I don’t want it to happen again.” Shit. She’d come right out and said it.

“I can’t promise unexpected people won’t show up on my doorstep, but since I removed my spare key I can assure you no one will enter my home again unless we extend an invitation.”

“We?”

“Did you honestly think I’d send you gifts and bring you here if I didn’t intend to have you at my home as often as possible?”

If the chair she was seated in hadn’t been holding her ass in place, she was fairly certain she would have swooned and tottered to the floor. He smiled and reclined in his chair as the server returned with their wine, filled their glasses and left again.

“Tell me about you, Lacey.”

The request was so surreal. He’d seen her posed in the most intimate ways, yet she had only told him bits and pieces about her life. “What do you want to know?”

“Start at the beginning.”

“The beginning?” She laughed and reached for her glass. “I was born, I grew and here I am.”

“What about your parents?”

“What about them?” She took a sip of the wine and rolled the bittersweet liquid in her mouth.

He took her teasing good-naturedly. “How do they feel about their daughter moving miles from home to live in a rural town?”

“They didn’t mind. I was away at college for several years and they’d already retired and started traveling the world. They drop postcards in the mail and call once a week.”

“You went to Berkeley, right?”

She was impressed. Michael had obviously done his homework. “Yes. It’s where I met Candy.”

“It’s hard to imagine you two becoming friends.” When she frowned he explained, “You’re nothing alike.”

She jumped to her friend’s defense, feeling her temper come to life. “Candy isn’t the same woman she was in college.”

“None of us are.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Invisible scars.” Michael’s deadpan statement agitated her. “Easy to spot if you’re looking.”

“What would you know about it?”

“Enough.” He placed his forearm on the table. “I knew Candice when she was just a teenager, before she decided to hold a grudge against the world.”

“That’s not fair.”

“I’m not insulting her, Lacey,” Michael clarified, and she realized he was taking cues from her body language—namely the fisted fingers wrapped around the stem of her glass.

She allowed her fingers to go limp and took a deep breath. “It doesn’t sound that way.”

“Listen,” Michael sat up, his expression no longer matter-of-fact but tender, “I was merely stating a fact. I never would have thought the two of you were friends.”

She attempted steer the conversation to a safe place. “How about you? Did you go to college?”

“I got my associate degree in business before I decided I wanted to work for my father. It didn’t take long for me to figure out I was more comfortable in jeans and grease than I was sitting behind a desk.”

She brought the glass to her lips and asked, “So your father started the company?”

He nodded. “He opened Mike’s Wrecker shortly after I was born. He must have known or hoped I’d take over, since he started the business while I was only in diapers.”

“What about your mom?”

“She was an RN.”

“Was? What does she do now?”

Michael’s eyes darkened, becoming reflective. “She passed away several years ago.”

“I’m sorry.” She returned her glass to the table before he could see her hand shaking.

Open mouth, insert foot.

“It’s okay.” He lifted his glass. “Both of my parents are deceased, actually. I’ve had time to come to grips with it.”

“Both of them?”

“My mother had an aneurysm. It was unexpected and devastating. My father had a difficult time letting her go, so he started drinking. One night he had one too many and he lost control of his car. He crashed down a ravine not far from home and died on impact.”

“Oh God, Michael.” She ached to reach over the unbearable distance created by the table and smooth the lines around his mouth.

“They always said they couldn’t exist without each other. I learned the hard way that they weren’t lying.” He shrugged and put down his drink. “It was a long time ago.”

“Is that what you want?” Her heart lodged in her throat and she wanted to slap herself as the question flew from her mouth. She felt the telling heat of embarrassment staining her cheeks as a loud roar engulfed her ears. He was talking about his dead parents and she wasn’t filtering anything she said.

“To find a commitment like that, I mean.” She rushed to clarify. “Not dying after the loss of another person.”

“My parents were the ultimate example of what I wanted for myself. I’ve never seen two people more devoted to each other. Even as they got older, they behaved like teenagers, sneaking kisses when they thought I wouldn’t see or rushing upstairs for time alone when I was visiting. If I didn’t know any better I’d say that each time I drove over for Sunday dinner they used it as an excuse to turn back the clock and pretend they were newlyweds who had to sneak moments together since they had a rambunctious toddler underfoot.”

Unsure of how to respond, Lacey was grateful when the server arrived with the entrees. She was too wired to eat, so after forcing a few bites down she shuffled the food around her plate. When she glanced across the table, she noticed Michael was doing the same. The silenced stretched, becoming miserable, until he placed his fork on his plate and gave her his undivided attention.

“My parents taught me a lot about who and what I am. My father was a Dom and my mother was a submissive.” When her eyes went wide and her lips parted in shock, he laughed. “I suppose that’s where it comes from. I wasn’t fully aware of their kink until I was a teenager and started to notice certain things and decided to break into what I was always told was my parents’ private office.”

“A playroom?” She was grateful her voice didn’t crack.

He smiled and gave a humored nod. “My mother doted on my father and he treated her like a queen. If I was given the choice of what I wanted in a partnership, it would be to have what they did.”

He didn’t look away when he went quiet, studying her. Then he said softly, “It’s something I want to share with you, Lacey.”

“How is that even possible?” She struggled with the questions in her mind. “Can you have a family and that kind of a relationship?”

“I asked Dad about it when I graduated high school and discovered I had a lot more fun holding girls down than I did chasing them around. He was a straight shooter about everything and didn’t try to hide or keep anything from me. It is tricky, especially when children are involved, which is why I believe they decided I was more than enough. Finding sitters so they could have time wasn’t easy, especially when they worked and their schedules kept them apart.”

“You want children?” The question hovered in the air, as did the sexual tension that had crept upon them.

“Yes.” His deep and husky voice caused her panties to become drenched. She’d forgotten how potent one word could be when it came from Michael.

“So all of the things you said,” she gulped, struggling to control the erratic beating of her heart, “all of the talk of marriage, kids, the white picket fence, a dog…it was all true?”

“What did you think it was, angel?” His eyes darkened, becoming liquid sapphire as he bestowed the endearment.

“I didn’t know. Everything was so confusing when Aly showed up. Everything you said, everything I believed.” Shaking her head, she glanced at her plate, incapable of finding the right words.

When she gazed up at him, she attempted to convey what she felt through her eyes. “What do you want from me?”

“Everything,” he responded, waiting until the significance of what he said soaked in before he continued. “This moment, right now, is our second chance.” He took the napkin from the table and tossed it over his half-eaten plate. “I can’t change what happened. I regret it, even though it wasn’t my fault. You have to know by now that it wasn’t something I wanted to happen. You’re going to have to make a decision. Leave the past behind—here and now—or I’ll take you home and we can end things before someone gets hurt.”

“How long do I have to decide?”

“You’ve had your time. If you don’t know what you want by now, you’re never going to.” His lips curved wryly. “You don’t strike me as a woman who is indecisive, and since you’re wearing the necklace I have a pretty good idea on where we stand.”

“So it is more than a gift.” A flush swept from her head to her toes, hardening her nipples into aching points and venturing lower to heat and moisten the apex of her thighs.

“Much more.” His sexy grin put her temperature to a hot simmer. “Have I told you how much I love that color? When you blush, I imagine pink blossoming all over your body.”

“You’re trying to embarrass me.” She ducked her head because she felt her face growing warmer.

“Can’t have that, can we?” She glanced up and he leaned over his plate, closing the distance between them. “I have an invitation to a party tonight. It’s a private gathering, which means that you don’t have to worry about indiscretion. All you have to do is a little something for me, so that I know you want this as much as I do.”

“What do you want me to do?” Her chest constricted, making it difficult to breathe. She recognized the look in his eye and her body started to tremble when he sat back and his expression changed.