“I came by your house the night you left.”

Samantha turned around to find Ethan much too close. “You came by my house?”

He nodded. “I wanted to say goodbye.”

“But we’d said goodbye earlier that day.”

He swallowed hard, and she watched his Adam’s apple slide up and down his tanned throat. “Not the way I wanted to.”

Her stomach did a crazy, little quivery thing that had nothing to do with her soaked sweatshirt. “And what way was that, Ethan?”

Heartbeats ticked off what seemed like a year’s time before he lifted his hand and stroked a trail of heat down the chilled skin of her cheek. Using just one callused finger, he traced over her lips, pressing the bottom one down gently before letting it spring back up. She sucked in a breath and tried to steady her suddenly tipsy world, but then those long, golden-tipped lashes lifted, and she was lost all over again in the deep green of his eyes.

“Did you miss me, Sam?” His words came out rough and hushed. “Did you miss me as much as I missed you?” He dipped his head and replaced his finger with his lips. He was hesitant at first, taking small sweet sips that had Sam swaying on her boot heels. His large hand cradled her chin as his other dropped from the railing and settled on her hip to steady her.

“You’re soaked,” he whispered against her mouth. “Lift your arms.”

She obeyed without the slightest hesitation. Numerous questions nibbled at the edges of her mind. But for now, she was exactly where she’d always wanted to be: in Ethan’s arms. Although, once he pulled the hoodie over her head, she couldn’t help but feel a slight twinge of embarrassment. Especially when his gaze settled on her simple white bra. She couldn’t see his eyes beneath the thick fringe of his lashes, but it wasn’t hard to figure out what he was thinking when his nostrils flared and his hands tightened in fists on her wet sweatshirt.

Only seconds later, the sweatshirt was tossed aside, and she found herself in the heated embrace of a man who was through with sweet kisses. His lips settled over hers in a hot, hungry assault that held not a trace of shy farm boy. While his tongue brushed against hers, his large hands encircled her waist just above the low rise of her jeans and tugged her closer to the heat of his wide chest. The kiss seemed to last for hours, yet ended much too soon.

He pulled back and rested his forehead against hers as their heartbeats echoed each other’s. “Now, that was fun.”