Anna didn't realize she'd dozed off until the sound of water rushing through creaking pipes roused her back to life.

The bed was empty, the covers rumpled. From the bathroom came the sound of a shower running, the thud of soap hitting the tub floor. After a minute the water shut off, followed by the clack of shower curtain rings sliding on a metal rod.

He was in the shower. Naked. With one thin wall between them.

Afloat in that languid place between sleep and wakefulness, she let her eyelids slide closed again while a naughty picture of his body slid through her mind. Jesse. The name suited him. Tough yet tender. He'd welcomed her into his room. He'd put his arms around her in the parking lot, protected her from the storm.

Such a man would be an incredible lover. Anna couldn't say how she knew this. But she'd felt it, a galvanized shiver of awareness, while she stood in the sheltering circle of his arms with the snow blowing all around them. Awareness of his strength, and of the vague vulnerability that contradicted it. She'd been wrong to think him an impervious rock. Now that she knew his features, she read the unnamed history in the lines around his crystalline eyes-laughter. And the shadows beneath those eyes-grief. He'd been happy once. What had stolen that from him and brought him to this solitary place on Christmas Eve?

Unexpected desire surged low in her belly, burning her everywhere, pulsing heat between her thighs, making her painfully aware yet again of how long it had been since she'd known the touch, taste, scent of a man.

This one, with his paradox of darkness and light, mesmerized her. And being just a little afraid of him seemed to feed that fascination. She wanted to unlock his armor, see what dwelled beneath.

What if, for once, she took the road less traveled and followed the whisper of recklessness in her mind, the one that echoed the hot fantasies she'd entertained since first seeing him in the convenience store? What would he do if she threw all caution to the wind and met him at the bathroom door?

Merry Christmas, she'd say. May I unwrap you?

Before the scenario could play to fruition in her overheated mind, the door squeaked open and steam billowed out of the bathroom, followed by the delicious scent of soap and shampoo. Jesse appeared, his lean hips enfolded in a towel, his naked back turned to her as he retrieved the knapsack he'd placed by the sink.

She sat as still as a deer and watched the liquid play of sinew under his golden skin, her throat dry, her pulse pounding. Rivulets of water trickled over the ridges and dips of his musculature, rushing to meet at the low dip of his back.

When he lifted his head, she froze.

The clean-shaven, sharply chiseled face reflected in the mirror belonged to someone new. But those eyes…deep, bright, exquisitely blue…they were the same. Filled with buried sadness, but under that, something more. Man's awareness of Woman. He knew she appraised him, measured him, contemplated the possibilities, and she didn't deny it by looking away.

They stared at each other in the mirror for much too long before Anna finally found her voice. "You shaved off your beard and mustache."

His mouth quirked and he rubbed a hand across his chin. "It's been a while. I feel kind of naked."

"You look different."

"You don't like the change?"

Her cheeks warmed as she tucked away the memory of her earlier fantasy. "Believe me, a part of me definitely liked the beard. But you're quite handsome this way. I like your face."

"Thank you," he said, his eyes finding hers again. Searching for his own answers.

Holy cow, she wanted him. And what, truly, did she have to lose, alone on Christmas night for the thirtieth time in her singular life?

One…two…three…jump. "So what are you thinking, Jesse, when you look at me like that?"

"Wondering what you're thinking when you're looking at me like that," he volleyed.

She had to smile, even though her heart threatened to hammer its way through her rib cage. "That's funny."

"Maybe a little."

Try, try again. "Well? Do you like what you see when you look at me?"

"Yes," he said, without preamble. Not that she gave him any choice.

Her brows lowered. "You're nice to say that, but I kind of put you on the spot just now."

"Maybe a little," he repeated.

Anna bit her lip. "Well. I like you, Jesse."

His strong throat moved when he swallowed. "That's good, seeing as how we're stuck here together."

An arid comment, but not a rejection.

She eased forward on the chair, her heart pounding. "I want to know you." The truth quavered just a little. Playtime was over.

He let the shaving lotion slide back into his knapsack, the muscles of his back flexing as he straightened. "Why?"

"I don't know. I'm drawn to you. Not just physically." When he didn't respond right away, she snapped out of her pleasurable haze and closed her eyes, humiliation chilling away the desire that had turned her insides to warm, sweet liquid. "Jeez…what am I doing?"

"I'm not sure." He braced his hands on the counter, all clean and sexy, watching her in the mirror with those blue, blue eyes. "Keep talking and maybe we'll figure it out together."

Not a rejection at all.