“Your favorite place,” she said. “Or was that just another one of your lines?”
“Not a line.” He ran his hand over his beard. His loose shirttails flapped against his hard body. He glanced at her. “You broke into my apartment?”
“Is it breaking and entering if I have the owner with me?” she asked, allowing her gaze to flirt from his face to his bare chest.
“How did you get past my doorman?”
“Mrs. Lindsey,” she said with a shrug.
He reached for the tie. He loosened the knot and slipped it off his neck. “But why the blindfold? To bring me home?”
“You thought we were headed for a Fifty Shades–style adventure, didn’t you?” she teased.
“I hoped you would be naked when I took it off,” he admitted.
“I thought the blindfold would make it easier.” She looked past him to the Brooklyn Bridge. “Easier to hide behind excuses when you came to my lab. Your power. Your place in the world…”
“That I would be bored of you after a few dates.” He stepped in front of her, blocking her view of Brooklyn. His fingers touched her chin, guiding it up until her gaze linked with his.
“That’s a legitimate concern. I’ve never met anyone with your thirst for adventure.”
“Every date doesn’t need to be break-ins and blindfolds, Ivy. I would be content to hear about your day. Listen to you talk about your work.”
She let out a laugh. “You want me to bore you with science?”
“I want you.”
“I let you believe that I slept with you for the funding. When you came to see me on Sunday.”
“I saw through your bluff,” he countered.
She raised her eyebrows. “You stormed out of my lab. You said—”
“Not immediately. But I suspected you were afraid. I was, too.”
He lowered his forehead to hers and placed his hands on her hips. She waited for a kiss, for his fingers to move around to her front and slip beneath her clothes.
“I’m still wearing my lab coat,” she murmured.
“And you’re standing in my world. On my terrace. As if you belong here.”
“Even if I don’t, it doesn’t matter. I can’t walk away now. I don’t want to walk away. I’ve fallen in love with you, Carter Burke.” She pressed her hands to his bare chest, covering his heart. “It shouldn’t be possible. Love takes time. It doesn’t happen one Friday night dancing with fairies or under the stars at a castle—”
“Ivy.” He pressed his mouth to hers. He took his time, exploring her mouth. Tasting her as his tongue touched hers. He drew her deeper and deeper into hope and lust and seduction. As if he could make her believe with his lips and his body that love happened in the blink of an eye.
He broke the kiss and she looked up at him. Her fingers dug into his skin, seeking purchase. She needed a firm hold on this man who’d upended her life on impulse. This kind, good, sexy man…she needed to keep him here, kissing her.
“I love you, Ivy.” He released her hips and took a hold of her hands. “This is one of those happily-ever-after moments. From here, we just keep falling.”
“Downhill?” she teased.
“No, my cynical princess. Falling more in love every day.”