But he already knew that a couple more days with her would be too dangerous, too potent...and he didn’t want to break her heart. Not when he knew how sweet she was, how innocent.

He didn’t understand why she looked at him with such trust in her eyes, and such hope. Maybe it was because he was a novelty to her, because his clean-cut business persona was a change from all the famous people she surely hung out with most of the time. But given that things hadn’t worked out with Jill, who he’d thought wanted the same things out of life he did, there was no doubt in his mind that a relationship definitely wouldn’t work out with a young pop star who would quickly tire of him and want to get back to her normal glitzy life.

A smart man would get out before he got burned. And until Jill, Marcus had always prided himself on being smart, on making the right decisions, even if they weren’t easy ones.

Nicola watched him carefully as thoughts pinged around inside his head. He’d learned to read her well enough after two nights and two mornings together and he could see that she was nervous about his response. After all, yesterday when she’d asked him for another night, he hadn’t let temptation sway him. Not until he’d seen her again and realized that one hot night of sex with her was inevitable, as inevitable as the fact that it could never go beyond that.

Her phones all started ringing again and he knew it was time to say goodbye.

But instead of the words he planned on saying, the words he knew he should be saying to end it with her once and for all, somehow he found himself reaching out to put a hand on her lower back to drag her closer.

She released a long, pent-up breath as he slid his other hand through her soft hair to cup her skull. At last, he lowered his mouth to hers to take the kiss he’d wanted for hours as she’d slept so peacefully, sweetly spooned into him in her big bed. She wound her arms around his neck and sighed against his lips as the soft pressure of their lips quickly raged into an out-of-control dance of tongues and teeth and moans.

Yes, the end was inevitable, Marcus thought as he drank in Nicola’s passion, her innate sensuality. But everything that came before that end promised to be so incredible, so mind-blowing, that even though he shouldn’t let himself justify what they were doing as just a couple more days, he couldn’t turn away from it, couldn’t walk away from her.

Not yet.

He lifted his mouth from hers, but didn’t let go of her. “I’ve got to head back to Napa to take care of some things, but—” He had to stop to press a kiss to her forehead, which had begun to furrow the moment he’d said he was leaving. “—I’ll come back tonight.”

Her smile was brighter than the sun and just looking at all that happiness—happiness he was responsible for—suddenly made him feel like he could do anything, take on any challenge, if it meant making Nicola that happy.

Still, he knew he had to reiterate, “No strings.”

He thought her smile might have dimmed a little bit, but when she said, “I’m definitely not looking for a relationship,” he decided it must have been his imagination.

Even as he wondered why she wasn’t game for anything more serious, he gladly told her, “Good. I’ll keep your key and come straight here when I’m done taking care of business.” He pressed one more soft kiss to her lips before saying, “You’d better get ready to go shoot that video."

As she reluctantly left his arms, neither of them realized he was standing on the sheet until it slipped all the way off her body.

Obviously surprised by her sudden nudity, she instinctively tried to cover herself with her hands. Marcus knew they didn’t have time to fool around, that her video shoot was likely hemorrhaging money every minute she wasn’t there, but he wanted her to understand something.

“While we’re together, I want your body to be as much mine as it is yours."

She was already blushing, but at his words, the flush spread from her cheeks to her chest and over the swell of her br**sts. For a long moment, she stood just as she was, trying to hide her nakedness from him. And then, on a deep, brave breath, she slowly lowered her hands to her sides, and said, “I want that, too.”

Knowing he was teetering on the sharp edge of control, he said, “Go take your shower.”

For a moment, it looked as if she would try to argue with him. But even though every last cell in his body wanted to grab her, throw her on the bed, and take her, he respected her career enough to, instead, turn from her to reach for his shirt.

He heard her padding across the plush carpeting to the bathroom and forced himself to push away the taste of her sweet mouth still lingering on his lips.

“Marcus?"

He steeled himself to hold onto his control for a few more seconds before turning to look at her over his shoulder. She was impossibly beautiful, standing in the shower stall, her hand on the knob as she prepared to turn it on.

“I don’t know if I can wait for tonight.”

The water came on a moment later, and his brain was instantly reduced to speechless mush as he watched her tilt her head back so that the water poured over her.

Forget staying in control. He needed her one more time before he left.

Seconds later his clothes were off and he was putting on a condom and climbing into the shower stall with her. “Tease,” he growled.

She smiled as she wrapped her hands around his neck and lifted herself so that she could wrap her legs around his waist. “You love it.”

“I shouldn’t,” he admitted in a rough voice as he moved them so that her back was braced against the tiled wall and he could use his hands to cup her br**sts, swallowing her gasp of pleasure with his kiss, “but I do.”