She tipped her chin to look at him. For the life of her, she couldn’t come up with a retort.

He smelled fresh as a sea breeze. His skin was shaved close, his hair neatly trimmed and his gray eyes flecked with silver. His softened lips captured her undivided attention.

“What are you doing?” she managed to rasp. She ordered her legs to move, to leave, to flee, but they didn’t obey.

“I wish I knew.”

His index finger touched the bottom of her chin. His breath puffed, soft and sweet, as his head tilted sideways.

“We can’t,” she murmured.

There was absolutely no doubting his intentions. But she found herself subconsciously stretching up. Her skin flushed hot. Her eyes fluttered closed. Then his lips brushed hers.

His arm snaked around the small of her back, tugging her to him, pulling her flat against his chest.

He swooped down and kissed her deeply. Her body instantly responded. Her arms wound around his neck. Her head tipped sideways. Her lips parted, tongue tangling.

An eternity later, as the blood pounded through her brain and arousal peaked across every inch of her body, Lucas suddenly broke the kiss. His breathing was loud, and she could swear she heard his heartbeat matching her own.

“Turns out,” he gasped, clasping her upper arms firmly and putting some space between them, “we can.”

Embarrassment washed over her.

She bit down on the heat of her lower lip and finger-combed her short hair back into submission, mortified that she let him kiss her, that she’d kissed him back, enthusiastically.

It would have been bad enough if she hadn’t liked it. But oh, dear, she had really, really liked it. She struggled to bring her hormones back into submission.

Like she had while they were jogging, she was completely off her pace, out of control. Her world was spinning wildly around her, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.