CHAPTER 1

          Darwin caught her upper arms, not tightly, gently, letting his thumbs brush over the soft cotton of her robe, feeling her arms tense beneath. He deepened the kiss, opening to her tongue, meeting her with his, tasting the sweetness of her and memorizing it as best he could.

          They backed together toward his bed, and he shivered. It had been a long time since he’d been able to take his time with her. Tonight, Darwin intended to do just that. He broke the kiss and backed up, looking at Sonya in the dim light of his dying fire.

          Sonya smiled, just the slightest expression, and Darwin was lost. He was hers, heart and soul. He never wanted to be anyone else’s. But he squashed that thought and instead reached out to untie Sonya’s robe.

          When he parted the fabric, he gasped. She was naked beneath. Utterly, beautifully and completely naked.

“Sonya? Darling…” he groaned.

          She smiled again.

“If I found the courage to knock on your door, I couldn’t leave without having you. I knew I couldn’t. If you refused, this was to be my ammunition.”

“I can’t refuse you,” Darwin whispered as he leaned in to brush his lips along the column of her throat. “You should know that by now. Even when I should, I can’t.”

          Sonya shuddered when Darwin pushed her robe away, but as soon as her arms were free, she lifted them around his neck, leaning into him with a shuddering sigh. Surrender was in her body, on her lips, in her taste, and Darwin took it gladly.

“Won’t Florence notice you’re gone?” he asked.

          Smiling, she shook her head.

“She’s asleep. I can’t talk about her now. Later, later we must. But right now, I want you, Darwin. You and only you. I want you to make the rest go away.”

          His eyebrow wrinkled, for there was a soft desperation to her words, her tone, her expression. And it mimicked his own. Like Sonya, he wanted to forget everything else, all the decisions he had to make. She was the only one capable of such a thing.

          So, Darwin shut down his mind, shut down his arguments, and kissed her once more. Everything else was silent. Silent as he tasted her, molding her to him by gliding both his hands to the curve of her naked backside.

          Silent when he somehow forced a space between them to unbutton his shirt.

          Silent when she shed that same shirt and stared at his bare chest.

“The first time I saw you like this,” Sonya whispered, staring at the plane of muscles, “I wondered if you were real. I wondered what I had done to deserve you wanting me.”

          Darwin laughed softly.

“You deserved it by being extraordinary and undeniable. By being Sonya Redwood.”

          Sonya lifted her gaze to his face.

“I want to give you pleasure, Darwin. I want that so much…”

“You already have, my love,” he assured her, reaching up to touch her face with the back of his hand. “Every time I look at you, touch you or taste you, it is pleasure beyond imagining.”

“No… Not like that,” she said, her cheeks flaming. “A different kind of pleasure.”

          His eyes widened.

“Sonya, are you saying you want to…”

          She nodded even as she made a strangled sound.

“I want to taste you too...”

          He swallowed hard. Most ladies did not wish such a thing. But this was no average lady. This was sweet and passionate Sonya, who, as Florence had said, led with her heart in all things. Gave of herself completely... And he selfishly wanted to take. To let everything good about her bleed into his empty spaces until he was somehow whole again.

          Darwin let his trembling hands drop to his trouser waist and unfastened the rough fabric. She slid her hands beneath, her hands warm on his flesh. He hissed out pleasure as she shoved the trousers away and left him as naked as she was.

                                                 *****

          Sighing, Starlight closed the book and stared blankly into space for a few seconds. Then, she shook her head.

“Oh, God… I’m such a masochist…Why in the hell do I keep reading these stories? There are no such men in this day and age… There are no… ‘Darwin’ types out there… only men who take selfishly, without giving… or men with little penises…”

          Starlight sighed and put the book aside, on the table, and saw her blue bra on the armrest.

“And this…?”

          She couldn’t even remember taking it off. At this point, going around the house braless was as close to rebellious as Starlight had been in almost a decade…

          And so was reading her fourth extra passion romance novel in a row, barely emerging from the nest of quilts she’d dragged to the comfy rocking chair in front of the now-dying fire.

          No makeup, no expectations, no worries…

          Her first day as Starlight Maxwell all over again… ‘Starlight Maxwell 2.0.’

          And the first day of her new life was pretty damn good.

          When she was done reading, she could dig through her suitcase for ‘Great Scott’, her faithful vibrator, and some quality ‘me time’. Or she could stay up reading ravaging steamy love novels all night long.

          For the first time in her life, there was no one to stop her from doing whatever the hell she wanted. And knowing that was absolutely... awesome.

          She glanced at the old clock over the mantel. Right now, her ex-husband, Daniel, and the new Mrs. Evans, Georgina, were probably sipping umbrella drinks on some beach somewhere in Bermuda… That if he’d actually taken a vacation. But knowing Georgina, she wouldn’t have given him a choice.

          Starlight burrowed into her quilts and placed the book on the table, near a huge pile of other books to read. Her evening would be far more satisfying than a night with Daniel and his tiny little… ‘pee-pee’.

          Penis size aside, Daniel had no stamina and had never taken an active interest in giving her pleasure. She had always waited for him to head to the shower before finishing things off right with her wonderful, magical, black love machine… she called so fondly ‘Great Scott’...

          For as long as she was married, Daniel and ‘Great Scott’ had never crossed paths. Daniel had no idea ‘Great Scott’ even existed. And what a relief that was. No judgments, no ‘How could you do this? Am I not enough for you?’ speeches…

          She drained hot chocolate from her large ‘Rudolf the Reindeer’ mug and stood, padding across the wooden floor in her socks and slippers to restart the Frank Sinatra album.

          Maybe it was wrong that she was in such a good mood, newly divorced and absolutely alone on Christmas… but she was. She wanted to be happy. And right now, Mr. Sinatra, stimulating romance novels, and copious amounts of hot chocolate were all she needed to be happy. And, maybe later, Mr. ‘Great Scott’.

          Starlight picked up ‘Love Me Forever’, the fourth romance book she was just reading, and glanced at the back blurb and its tantalizing promise of ‘Hot! Hot! Hot! Eroticism on every page!’ with a sigh.

“Well… If this is what it takes to set the right mood for my encounter with Great Scott…”

          But a slight movement from out the large picture window caught her eye. Starlight froze, a prick of fear running down her spine.

          A man stood on her front porch railing…

          A big man…

          So tall she couldn’t see his head or shoulders as he reached for something on the roof.

          She edged closer to the fireplace and the brass poker resting against the wall. She might be alone, but she wasn’t helpless. Starlight gripped the poker and made her way closer to the window.

          Well, the man wasn’t armed, he had no weapon... He had a large coil of Christmas lights hanging around his shoulder. A thief hanging Christmas lights? She didn’t drop the poker, but her hit-first-ask questions-later instinct wavered.

          Something about a man hanging Christmas lights brought the threat level down. Starlight lowered her weapon, watching as the man moved along the porch railing with ease, threading the heavy strand of lights on unseen hooks.

          Man, he was fast…

          But why was he there, working so hard to decorate her house? He must run one of those decorating services. Maybe he was at the wrong house? She should stop him before he got too far.

          Starlight wrapped a throw around her shoulders and pushed through the front door, still holding her brass poker. A blast of cold air cut through her sweats and the thermal underwear beneath.

          Shit, shit, and, once again, shit!

          She’d forgotten how damn cold Montana could get this time of the year. She hurried across the porch but stopped a few feet from the man on the railing. His leather jacket rode up as he worked. And his stomach...

          ‘Darwin…?’ she thought, thinking of the male character of the love novel she was reading. ‘Oh, Star, get a hold of yourself!’

          She swallowed hard.

          ‘Dear Lord, what a fantastic view…’

          The man stretched, exposing more actual flesh than she’d seen in oh-so-long. And it was amazing. The kind of amazing even the best romance novels would have a hard time capturing.

          Cut… Hard… All man.

          Every cleft and ridge of his six-pack was on display. His jeans hung low enough to reveal the edge of his hips. Just looking at him made her light-headed.

          Stunned… Excited… Achy in all the right places.

          ‘This man could put Great Scott to sleep forever…’

          Something deep inside her turned molten and fluid. Her fingers twisted in the throw around her shoulders as her gaze followed the impressively dark happy trail that disappeared beneath the waistband of his jeans.

          What sort of surprises would be found underneath the skintight, faded jeans that clung to this man’s hips?

          Starlight swallowed, her imagination offering up all sorts of possibilities. She was oh so tempted to touch that stomach. Which was wrong… And completely unexpected. She’d never ever do something so irrational but...

          Oh, man… all that muscle and strength, the dark lines of a tattoo peeking wickedly from under the edge of his shirt, had her utterly captivated.

          What would it be like to touch a man like this?

          Better yet, what would it be like to have him touch her?

          A shiver racked her body. Daniel had very specific preferences in bed… namely, her lying still beneath him, quiet, aching for something more. Wanting something... more.

          More... like this.

           She pressed her hand against her stomach and the delicious flare of liquid heat that coiled inside her. Maybe all that reading was getting to her. This man wasn’t supposed to be here… He might even get in trouble for being here if he was hired to decorate another house.

          Starlight stepped closer, surprised to hear him humming ‘Tis the Season to be Jolly’. The sound was deep and rough, an undeniable turn-on.

“Sir… Excuse me?” she said. “I think there’s been a mistake. You are decorating the wrong house.”