She glanced away from his intense stare, her fingers toying anxiously with the hem of her robe. "You were definitely seduced by the candies and what was in them."
He crossed his arms over his chest, not caring for where the direction of this conversation was heading, or what she was insinuating. "No, I was seduced by you," he replied succinctly.
"You might think that's true," she said softly, an aching vulnerability lacing her voice, "but, in all honesty, it was most likely the aphrodisiac that, well, prompted your response to me."
"Look at me," he ordered. Even from across the room he wanted her to look in his eyes and see the truth for herself. Once her gaze tentatively met his again, he said in a steady tone, "I was not at all influenced by your candies."
"I know it might be hard for you to believe, but it's true." Her chin lifted a mutinous notch. "Those candies are responsible for every time we've been together sexually."
Frustration rode him hard. Good God, she wasn't serious, was she? But one look at her adamant expression and he knew that she truly believed her candies were the reason he'd made love to her those times. "Give me enough credit to know the difference between real passion and fabricated lust, and I resent the fact that you think I need some kind of sexual stimulant to want you."
She didn't back down from her claim. "The first time we kissed was right after you'd eaten a few Heavenly Kisses," she said, ticking off with her fingers. "Then you ate the Love Bites the night you cooked dinner for me here and we ended up having sex at the kitchen table. But the most telling proof I have of those candies and the power they have to induce lust and desire is the time I sent you the Chocolate Orgasms at your restaurant. Do you remember what happened?"
"Jesus, Kayla, how could I forget?" He shoved his fingers through his hair impatiently, wondering if there was any way to convince her that his desire for her was real, and always had been, and had absolutely nothing to do with her enhanced desserts. "After eating those Chocolate Orgasms I wanted you in the worst way, but not because of some kind of stimulant. I wanted you because while I was eating those candies I was thinking of you and what we'd done together the night before, and it turned me on. You turn me on."
"Then how do you explain all the times when we could have had sex and didn't, and each one of those times you didn't eat any of my aphrodisiac candies?"
He wanted to howl in frustration. He wanted to shake some sense into her. "It was nothing more than a coincidence."
She shook her head sadly, as if she wished that were true. "No, it wasn't. I've felt the reaction of those candies."
"Have you really?" he drawled incredulously. "And what, exactly, have you felt?"
"Warm. Tingly. Amorous." She shrugged her shoulders, causing that silky material to shift and slide over her full, generous breasts. "It happens every time I eat those candies."
He still wasn't buying it. He just couldn't suspend his disbelief that way… until it dawned on him why she was clinging so steadfastly to her claim that those candies were responsible for him wanting her. Because she couldn't bring herself to believe that he was sexually attracted to her on his own.
Her past with her mother and Doug had instilled her with the impression that without a slim, svelte body no man would give her a second glance. And those deeply rooted insecurities had prompted her to create her candies, and to believe in their power of persuasion when it came to his desire for her.
Those candies also protected her emotions, he realized. In her mind, when their affair ended, instead of facing the kind of rejection her mother and Doug had put her through, she could cling to the excuse that the aphrodisiac was the reason he'd lusted after her. And without those candies, his desire had waned.
He understood her motives, maybe better than she did. But he hated that she couldn't believe that he wanted her for who and what she was beyond surface appearance.
He figured there was only one way to convince her that those laced candies didn't have a friggin' thing to do with him wanting her. His feelings for her were as real as he was flesh and blood, and she was about to discover that for herself. In this case, his actions would speak louder than the words she didn't want to listen to.
He moved across the room toward her… slowly and easily, because she'd suddenly turned wary as he approached. "Since you've used me as your guinea pig the past few weeks, I'm going to conduct a little experiment of my own, and I expect your full cooperation in return."
Uncertainty shone in her eyes, but she didn't refuse him. "All right."
"Take note. I haven't had any candies this morning," he said, then slid his fingers to the back of her head and brought her mouth to his.
She initially stiffened, apparently not sure what his intentions were. He kissed her slowly at first, then gradually drew her into a deeper, hotter melding of lips and tongues that made her moan low in her throat. He felt her posture soften along with her mouth and used that opportunity to slip an arm around her back and bring her body flush to his. He cupped her breast in his hand, found her nipple through the silk of her robe and lightly pinched the taut tip.
Her breathing deepened, and so did his. Still kissing her, he smoothed his palm over her bottom then trailed his fingers up her thigh, beneath the hem of her robe, until he encountered the damp heat of her desire for him.
She shuddered in his arms, a soft whimper of need escaping her lips.
Now it was her turn to feel his passion, too.
Grasping one of her wrists, he eased her hand between their bodies and molded her fingers over the fierce erection straining against the fly of his slacks. There was no denying how she affected him physically, that his response was as real as it got. And if this wasn't enough proof for her, then he didn't know what else to do.
He lifted his mouth from hers, still holding her hand against his aching shaft, and stared into her dark green eyes. "This has nothing to do with any goddamn aphrodisiac, Kayla," he said, his tone rough with arousal. "It has everything to do with you, the woman I've fallen in love with."
She inhaled a quick, startled gasp of astonishment, seemingly rendered speechless by his declaration.
He hadn't meant for the words to come out that way, in the middle of a heated argument. But there was no better time to set her straight about how he felt about her, and so he just went with the moment and what was in his heart.
"That's right, Kayla," he said, softer now. "I'm in love with you. And I thought that you felt something for me, too."
"Oh, God… I do."
"Do you?" He couldn't read her expression, not enough to assure him of her true emotions. "Are you sure it's real and not the candies making you feel and think that way?"
He was mocking her, tossing back her own theory about her aphrodisiac candies. And she was confused enough not to answer his question, which told him she still had to come to terms with her insecurities and emotions before they could take this relationship any further.
But before he left, there were a few things he still needed to say and wanted her to hear. He let her go, then took a step back, putting distance between them again.
"I just showed you what you do to me without any kind of stimulant, and now you know that I'm in love with you. When I look at you I see a beautiful, sensual woman who has so much to give, emotionally and physically… if only you'd have faith in yourself."
He steeled himself against the tears welling in her eyes, the fear and panic he saw there that wrenched at his heart. "I want a future with you. I want your body, your mind and your heart. I want the whole package. You are who you are, Kayla, but you have to trust that my feelings are genuine, and not a fabrication of some kind of bizarre aphrodisiac. And when you can do that, then you know where to find me."