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“Well, it’s perfect. More than perfect. And before you tell me to, I’ll promise to take good care of her. How long do I have to wait to take her out?”

He glanced back at the painting. “Several months.”

She laughed, shook her head. “Really?”

“Because I’ve already started on her. If you didn’t want her, someone would.”

“You already started on her,” Cleo murmured. “I want her. Nobody else captainsThe Siren.”

He had to smile. “Named her already?”

“No other name would do.”

“Good name.” He walked to her, held out a hand. “Deal.”

“Deal,” she agreed. “But let’s be real. This exchange deserves more than a hearty handshake.”

She moved right in on him, laid her hands on his shoulders. The look in her eyes told him she intended the kiss to be light and playful.

He had other ideas.

So when she brushed her lips to his, he gave her a little jerk forward and turned on the heat.

It had been simmering for a while, and if it hadn’t simmered in her, too, he figured she’d let him know real quick.

He felt her surprise, but no resistance. Then the hand on his shoulder slid up until her fingers threaded through his hair.

She turned up the heat a few more notches.

He had a way, and that wasn’t a surprise to her. Good strong hands gripped her hips, and his mouth was confident and experienced on hers.

She let herself fall into the moment, rode the storm of it that tossed testing and teasing aside and embraced unapologetic lust.

And in that moment what happened inside her body wasn’t a stirring but an eruption. She not only accepted it, but clung to it, grateful.

From her pocket, Marvin Gaye suggested “Let’s Get It On.”

Not yet, not quite yet, Cleo told herself.

And in the next moment, they stood, bodies still molded together, faces close, eyes open and watchful.

“Time to step back,” she decided.

“Seriously?”

“Seriously. And regretfully. We’ll just…” She put a hand to his cheek, then eased back. “Put this aside for a while.”

“A while.”

“We’re grown-up people, so we both know the next step, if we take it, is sex. I have rules about that.”

“Hey, me, too. What are yours?”

“First, no sex with married men, or men in serious relationships. Even those in casual relationships get a pass. First round can be a one-off, no harm, no foul. But no second round or beyond unless it’s exclusive on both sides. Any who want to sleep with other women, go right ahead, but I won’t be one of them.”

“Is that it?”

“Oh, the list goes on and covers things like respect and honesty and so forth, but those are the broad, essential terms. Yours?”