He pressed both hands against the door, caging her with his body. “My father has no business interfering in my personal life. Kissing you that night was inappropriate. You were still far too vulnerable. We’ve both had time to evaluate our feelings and, unless you tell me you have no interest in me, I fully intend to explore this attraction.”

“Chad…” She closed her eyes and sighed.

“You gave up a promising career for Jonathan and started your own business soon after he died. I suspect your social life hasn’t been a priority for a very long time.”

“I’m not going to sleep with you.” She met his gaze, hoping her expression was calm and sincere.

“Why not?” Challenge arched his brow. “Are you involved with someone?”

“It doesn’t matter. We can’t—”

Cupping her chin with one hand, he covered her mouth with his. For a long moment they stood there, mouths touching without really kissing. She was a curiosity to him, the lure of forbidden desire, nothing more. She couldn’t forget the insignificance of his actions. This was not some grand romance.

His hands stroked her arms and his chest pressed her against the door. Hot, hard, aggressive, male, he was everything she’d longed for in a lover, everything she’d sacrificed when she’d married Jonathan. Her lips parted and she tilted her head to the side, fitting their mouths more closely together.

Chad teased her lips with his tongue as his cock hardened against her belly. She groaned, wanting to touch him, to caress every ridge and plane of his muscular form.

Images flashed through her mind. Chad’s handsome face flushed with desire and Lorcan’s glower as he stood in the doorway.

She tore her mouth away and ducked under Chad’s arm. “We can’t do this.”