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  The ability to become emotionally detached, to stay in control, was how she’d known being an anesthesiologist was her calling. She went into surgery knowing some patients wouldn’t make it through. Although she assured the patient of her skill in putting them to sleep, she never promised they would pull through. That decision was out of her hands. Some of the surgeons had lost patients and, in a way, she felt she’d lost them, as well. But no matter what, she remained in control.

  Drawing in a deep breath, she eyed Rico. “You might have a problem with control, but I don’t. I admit I find you desirable, but I can regulate my emotions. I can turn them on and off when I need to, Rico. Don’t worry that I’ll lose control one day and jump your bones, because it won’t happen. There’s not that much desire in the world.”

  Rico shook his head. “You honestly believe that, don’t you?”

  She placed her coffee cup on the counter. “Honestly believe what?”

  “That you can control a desire as intense as ours.”

  “Yes, why wouldn’t I?”

  “I agree that certain desires can be controlled, Megan. But I’m trying to tell you, what you refuse to acknowledge or accept—desire as intense as ours can’t always be controlled. What we have isn’t normal.”

  She bunched her forehead. “Not normal? That’s preposterous.”

  Rico knew then that she really didn’t have a clue. This was no act. He could stand here until he was blue in the face and she still wouldn’t understand. “What I’m trying to say, Megan,” he said slowly, trying not to let frustration get the best of him, “is that I feel a degree of desire for you that I’ve never felt for any woman before.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. “Should I get excited or feel flattered about it?”

  He gritted his teeth. “Look, Megan…”

  “No, you look, Rico,” she said, crossing the room to stand in front of him. “I don’t know what to tell you. Honestly, I don’t. I admitted that I’m attracted to you, as well. Okay, I’ll admit it again. But on that same note, I’m also telling you I won’t lose control over it. For crying out loud, there’re more important things in life than sexual attraction, desire and passion. It’s not about all of that.”

  “Isn’t it?” He paused a moment, trying to keep his vexation in check. And it wasn’t helping matters that she was there, standing right in front of him, with a stubborn expression on her face and looking as beautiful as any woman could. And he picked up her scent, which made him fight to keep a grip on his lust. The woman was driving him mad in so many ways.

  “Let me ask you something, Megan,” he said in a voice he was fighting to keep calm. “When was the last time you were with a man you desired?”

  Rico’s question surprised Megan, and she didn’t say anything. Hell, she’d never been with a man she truly desired because she’d never been with a man period. She had dated guys in high school, college, and even doctors at the hospital. Unfortunately, they’d all had one thing in common. They had reminded her too much of her player-card-toting brothers and cousins, even hitting on her using some of the same lines she’d heard her family use. And a few bold ones had even had the nerve to issue ultimatums. She had retaliated by dropping those men like hot potatoes, just to show she really didn’t give a royal damn. They said she was cold and couldn’t be thawed and that’s when they’d started calling her Iceberg Megan. Didn’t bother her any because none of those men had gotten beyond the first boring kiss. She was who she was and no man—coming or going—would change it.

  “I’m waiting on an answer,” Rico said, interrupting her thoughts.

  She gazed up at him and frowned. “Wait on. I don’t intend to give you an answer because it’s none of your business.”

  He nodded. “All right. You claim you can control the passion between us, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then I want to see how you control this.”

  The next thing Megan knew, Rico had reached out, pulled her into his embrace and swooped his mouth down onto hers.

  * * *

  Desire that had been lingering on the edges was now producing talons that were digging deep into Megan’s skin and sending heated lust all through her veins—and making her act totally out of control. He parted her lips with his tongue and instead of immediately going after her tongue, he rolled the tip around, as if on a tasting expedition. Then he gradually tasted more of it until he had captured it all. And when she became greedy, he pulled back and gave her just the tip again. Then they played the tongue game over and over again.

  She felt something stir within her that had never stirred before while kissing a man. But then no man had ever kissed her like this. Or played mouth games with her this way.

  He was electrifying her cells, muddling her brain as even more desire skittered up her spine. She tried steadying her emotions, regaining control when she felt heat flooding between her thighs, but she couldn’t help but release a staggering moan.

  Instead of unlocking their mouths, he intensified the kiss, as his tongue, holding hers in a dominant grip, began exploring every part of her mouth with strokes so sensual her stomach began doing somersaults. She felt her senses tossed in a number of wild spins, and surprised herself when she wrapped her arms around his neck and began running her fingers through the softness of his hair, absently curling a strand around her finger.

  She could taste the hunger in his kiss, the passion and the desire. Her emotions were smoldering, and blocking every single thought from her already chaotic mind. The man was lapping up her mouth, and each stroke was getting hotter and hotter, filling her with emotions she had pushed aside for years. Was he ever going to let go of her mouth? Apparently no time soon.

  This kiss was making her want to do things she’d never done before. Touch a man, run her hands all over him, check out that huge erection pressing against her belly.

  She felt his hands rest on her backside, urging her closer to his front. And she shifted her hips to accommodate what he wanted. She felt the nipples of her breasts harden and knew her robe was no barrier against the heat coming from his body.

  No telling how long they would have stood in the middle of her kitchen engaged in one hell of a feverish kiss if his cell phone hadn’t gone off. They broke apart, and she drew in a much needed breath and watched him get his phone out of the back pocket of his jeans.

  She took note of the angry look on his face while he talked and heard him say to the caller, “I don’t want you calling me.” He then clicked off the line without giving the person a chance to respond.

  She tensed at the thought that the person he’d just given the brush-off was a woman. Megan lifted her chin. “Maybe you should have taken that call.”

  He glanced over at her while stuffing his phone back into the pocket of his jeans. She watched as his hazel eyes became a frosty green. “I will never take that call.”

  She released a slow, steady breath, feeling his anger as if it were a personal thing. She was glad it wasn’t directed at her. She wondered what the woman had done to deserve such animosity from him. At the moment, Megan didn’t care because she had her own problems. Rico Claiborne had made her lose control. He had kissed her, and she had kissed him back.

  And rather enjoyed it.

  Dread had her belly quaking and her throat tightening when she realized she wasn’t an iceberg after all. Rico had effectively thawed her.

  She drew in a deep breath, furious with he
rself for letting things get out of hand when she’d boasted and bragged about the control she had. All it had taken was one blazing kiss to make a liar out of her. It was a fluke, it had to be. He had caught her off guard. She didn’t enjoy kissing him as much as she wanted to think she did.

  Then why was she licking her lips and liking the taste he’d left behind? She glanced over and saw he’d been watching her and was following the movement of her tongue. Her fingers knotted into a fist at her side, and she narrowed her gaze. “I think you need to leave.”

  “No problem, now that I’ve proven my point. You’re as passionate as you are beautiful, Megan. Nothing’s changed. I still want you, and now that I’ve gotten a taste, I want you even more. So take my warning, don’t come to Texas.”

  A part of Megan knew that if she was smart, she would take his warning. But the stubborn part of her refused to do so. “I’m going to Texas, Rico.”

  He didn’t say anything for a long moment, just stood there and held her gaze. Finally, he said, “Then I guess I’ll be seeing you at some point while you’re there. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  Rico strode away and, before opening the door to leave, he grabbed his jacket off the coatrack. He turned, smiled at her, winked and then opened the door and walked out.

  Megan took a deep breath to calm her racing heart. She had a feeling that her life, as she’d always known it, would never, ever be the same. Heaven help her, she had tasted passion and already she was craving more.

  Four

  Upon arriving at Megan’s place early Friday morning, Ramsey glanced down at the two overpacked traveling bags that sat in the middle of her living room. “Hey, you’re planning on coming back, aren’t you?” he asked, chuckling.

  Megan smiled and tapped a finger to her chin. “Umm, I guess I will eventually. And those bags aren’t that bad.”

  “They aren’t? I bet I’ll strain my back carrying them out to the truck. And how much you want to bet they’re both overweight and you’ll pay plenty when you check them in at the airport.”

  “Probably, but that’s fine. A lot of it is baby stuff I bought for Alyssa. She’s having a girl and you know how I like buying all that frilly stuff.” He would know since his two-year-old daughter, Susan, had been the first female born to the Denver Westmorelands since Bailey. Megan simply adored her niece and would miss her while away in Texas.

  She looked up at Ramsey, her oldest brother, the one she most admired along with her cousin Dillon. “Ram?”

  He looked over at her after taking a sip of the coffee she’d handed him as soon he had walked through the door. “Yes?”

  “I was a good kid while growing up, wasn’t I? I didn’t give you and Dillon any trouble, right?”

  He grinned, reached out and pulled one of her curls. “No, sport, you didn’t give us any trouble. You were easier to handle than Bailey, the twins and Bane. But everyone was easier than those four.”

  He paused a moment and added, “And unlike a lot of men with sisters, I never once had to worry about guys getting their way with the three of you. You, Gemma and Bail did a good job of keeping the men in line yourselves. If a guy became a nuisance, you three would make them haul ass the other way. Dillon and I got a chuckle out of it, each and every time. Especially you. I think you enjoyed giving the guys a hard time.”

  She playfully jabbed him in the ribs. “I did not.”

  He laughed. “Could have fooled us.” He grabbed her close for a brotherly hug. “At one time we thought you were sweet on Charlie Bristol when you were a senior in high school. We knew for a fact he was sweet on you. But according to Riley, he was too scared to ask you out.”

  Megan smiled over at him as she led him to the kitchen. She remembered Charlie Bristol. He used to spend the summers with one of his aunts who lived nearby. “He was nice, and cute.”

  “But you wouldn’t give him the time of day,” he said, sitting down at the table.

  Ramsey was right, she hadn’t. She recalled having a crush on Charlie for a quick second but she’d been too busy helping out with Gemma and Bailey to think about boys.

  “I’m going to miss you, sport,” Ramsey said, breaking into her thoughts.

  Megan smiled over at him as she joined him at the table. “And I’m going to miss you, as well. Other than being with Gemma during the time she was giving birth to CJ, and visiting Delaney those two weeks in Tehran, this is the first real vacation I’ve taken, and the longest. I’ll be away from the hospital for a full month.”

  “How will they make it without you? Ramsey teased.

  “I’m sure they’ll find a way.” Even while attending college, she had stayed pretty close to home, not wanting to go too far away. For some reason, she’d felt she was needed. But then, she’d also felt helpless during Bailey’s years of defiance. She had tried talking to her baby sister, but it hadn’t done any good. She’d known that Bailey’s, the twins’ and Bane’s acts of rebellion were their way of handling the grief of losing their parents. But still, at the time, she’d wished she could do more.

  “Ram, can I ask you something?”

  He chuckled. “Another question?” He faked a look of pain before saying, “Okay, I guess one more wouldn’t hurt.”

  “Do you think having control of your emotions is a bad thing?” She swallowed tightly as she waited for his answer.

  He smiled at her. “Having too much self-control isn’t healthy, and it can lead to stress. Everyone needs to know how to let loose, release steam and let their hair down every once in a while.”

  Megan nodded. Releasing steam wasn’t what she was dealing with. Letting go of a buildup of sexual energy was the problem. And that kiss the other day hadn’t helped matters any.

  She hadn’t seen Rico since then, and she knew he’d already left for Texas. She’d been able to get that much out of Riley when he’d dropped by yesterday. “So it’s okay to…”

  “Get a little wild every once in a while?” He chuckled. “Yes, I think it is, as long as you’re not hurting anyone.”

  He paused a second and then asked, “You’re planning to enjoy yourself while you’re in Texas, right?”

  “Yes. But as you know, it won’t be all fun, Ram.” Ramsey and Dillon were the only ones she’d told the real reason why she was going to Texas. They also knew she had asked Rico to take her with him, and he’d refused. Of course, she hadn’t told them what he’d told her as the reason behind his refusal. She’d only told them Rico claimed he preferred working alone and didn’t need her help in the investigation. Neither Dillon nor Ramsey had given their opinions about anything, because she hadn’t asked for them. The “don’t ask—don’t tell” rule was one Dillon and Ramsey implemented for the Westmorelands who were independent adults.

  “You can do me a favor, though, sport,” he said in a serious tone.

  She lifted an eyebrow. “What?”

  “Don’t be too hard on Rico for not wanting to take you along. You’re paying him to do a job, and he wants to do it.”

  Megan rolled her eyes. “And he will. But I want to be there. I could help.”

  “Evidently he doesn’t want your help.”

  Yes, but he does want something else, Megan thought. She could just imagine what her brother would think if he knew the real reason Rico didn’t want her in Texas. But then, Ramsey was so laid-back it probably wouldn’t faze him. He’d known for years how Callum had felt about Gemma. But he’d also known his sisters could handle thei
r business without any interference from their big brother unless it became absolutely necessary.

  “But what if there are other Westmorelands somewhere?” she implored. “I told you what Rico said about Clarice having a baby.”

  “Then Rico will find out information and give it to you to bring to us, Megan. Let him do his job. And another thing.”

  “Yes?”

  “Rico is a good guy. I like him. So do the rest of the Westmorelands. I judge a man by a lot of things and one is how he treats his family. He evidently is doing something right because Jessica and Savannah think the world of their brother.”

  Megan leaned back in her chair and frowned. “Is there a reason you’re telling me that?”

  Ramsey was silent for a moment as he stared at her. Then a slow smile touched his lips. “I’ll let you figure that one out, Megan.”

  She nodded and returned his smile. “Fair enough. And about that self-control we were discussing earlier?”

  “Yes, what about it?” he asked.

  “It is essential at times,” she said.

  “I agree, it is. At times.”

  “But I’m finding out I might not have as much as I thought. That’s not a bad thing, right, Ram?”

  Ramsey chuckled. “No, sport, it’s just a part of being human.”

  * * *

  Rico had just finished eating his dinner at one of the restaurants in Forbes when his cell phone vibrated. Standing, he pulled it out of his back pocket. “This is Rico.”