[Theresa and Damien, strangers, were seated side by side in business class. He’s been flirting and she’s found herself responding. Now dinner is over…]

When the flight attendant had gone, Damien watched Theresa add milk to her coffee and stir. Her bare arm moved in circles, graceful and feminine. A smart, strong woman, yet vulnerable and wary. She must have had other lovers since her divorce, but her ex had done such a number on her, she still mistrusted men. How could a guy be cruel to Theresa? “About your husband,” he said abruptly.

The spoon clicked the side of the cup as her hand jerked. “What? Oh, enough said. It’s in the past.”

“Yeah, but all the same, I’d like to meet up with the bugger in a dark alley. I’d punch his lights out.”

His words, the grimness of his tone, clearly weren’t what she’d expected. Her eyes widened. “Day! That’s . . . you wouldn’t. That’s so . . . uncivilized.”

“You’re saying civilized meanness, like white-collar cheating, is okay, but being physical isn’t?”

“Well . . .” Her tongue came out and ran across her top lip as she considered. Color rose in her cheeks. “Violence isn’t a solution.” Her lips tipped up at the corners, then the smile took over, widening on her mouth, making her eyes light. “All the same, I’d like to see it. Jeffrey would . . .” She gave a snort of laughter. “God, he’d be no match for you.”

Damien loved seeing her laugh. Man, she was beautiful. “Theresa? The guy was a fool. A woman like you shouldn’t be taken advantage of, you should be appreciated. Slowly and thoroughly. By a man who wants to make you feel like the beautiful, sexy woman you truly are.”

The laughter had faded from her face as he spoke, to be replaced by wonder. “Day? That’s a really nice thing to say.”

He shrugged. “It’s the truth. Any man in his right mind would feel that way.”

“Not so as I’ve noticed.” The humor was back, this time wry.

“Then you haven’t been looking in the right places.” He picked up a strawberry. “Want another?”

“I think it’s your turn.” She took the berry from his fingers, dipped it in mousse, and held it out to him.

He nibbled the treat and with the last morsel sucked the tip of her index finger into his mouth.

She gave a startled, “Ooh.” A flush colored her cheeks and the exposed V of her chest. Under the thin sweater, her nipples tightened.

It was those nipples he imagined as he sucked on her finger. When he freed her, he teased, “Do you blush when you’re teaching at the uni?”

Her hands went up, covering her cheeks. “No.”

“Why not?”

“I guess because I know what I’m doing. I’m confident.”

“But not with me?” He put a slice of cheese on a cracker and offered it to her.

“No thanks, I’ll stick to fruit and chocolate.”

He ate the bite himself and fixed another. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“It’s not you, Day, it’s men. I’m not confident with men. As colleagues and students, yes, but not, uh, socially.”

That was nuts. She had so much going for her. How could she have let one man destroy her confidence? “Jeffrey has a lot to answer for.” He broke a grape off the small bunch on his plate, dipped it into her mousse then held it out so she could take it from his fingers, her soft lips a tantalizing whisper against his skin.

“It wasn’t only him. I was always years younger than the boys in my classes. Like, graduating high school at fourteen? You can bet no one asked me to the prom.”

“I see what you mean. But once you reach a certain age, when everyone’s grown up, the differences don’t matter so much.” He fed her a slice of overripe papaya and a bead of juice trickled over her bottom lip and down her chin.

He wanted to lick it, but she caught it with her finger. “Yes, but by then I had my doctorate.” She stuck her finger between her lips and sucked it, which made his cock jerk inside the confinement of his jeans.

“I’d missed out on all the girlie stuff,” she said. She slanted him a glance, wet her lips. “And on sex.”

Sex. The word, coming out of her full lips, sent a surge of lust straight to his already aroused groin, and he could barely suppress a moan.

“Sure,” she went on, “I knew the textbook facts about male/female relationships, but that’s not the same thing as being a normal teenager. Trying to decide if a boy really likes you, having your first kiss, wondering how far to go. Knowing when you’re in love versus in lust. Knowing when a guy’s in love versus just using you.” She’d gone from sounding wistful to bitter. Thinking of her ex again.

“Okay. But hell, Theresa, you’re grown up now. A beautiful, intelligent, interesting woman. You must’ve gained a bunch of experience since Jeffrey.”

She shrugged. “I wasn’t interested in trying again.” Quickly she added, “Look, I’m not completely pitiful and naïve. Jeffrey wasn’t my first and he wasn’t my last.”

“I didn’t mean that.” Only that she was vulnerable. Perhaps he ought to back off. He didn’t want to hurt her.

Theresa jabbed a finger in the middle of his chest. Hard. “No!”

He jerked and almost knocked his food tray off balance.

“I see that look in your eyes.” She jabbed him once more. “I hate that ‘poor little smart girl’ look. Don’t you go making decisions for me. If I let you . . .” she went even pinker, “uh, feed me dessert, it’s because I want to.”

Feed her dessert? The woman had to be aware that the dessert was foreplay.

“Not,” she went on, “because I’m some loser who’s desperate for the attention of a handsome guy. And I want you doing it because you want to, not because you feel sorry for me.”

He gave a surprised laugh. His throbbing cock sure wasn’t sorry for her. She was damned fine to look at, sexy, and he enjoyed talking to her. He was having the most fun he’d had with a woman in a very long time, even though they were both fully clothed. “No fear of that. But I don’t want you getting hurt again.”

“God! You and your massive ego.” Interesting to note that billabong eyes could spit fire. “Day, I won’t give anyone the power to hurt me. If we do – whatever – it’s going to be fully consensual. If we’re using each other, it’s for our mutual pleasure, and that’s all.”

Using each other? Nah, that’s what he and Carmen would’ve been doing. Her wanting to fuck a celebrity, him just wanting to get his rocks off. He reached over to spoon up some mousse then held the spoon to Theresa’s lips. “Consensual is good. But Prof . . .”

Slowly she licked chocolate from the spoon, her gaze holding his.

“Prof, if we . . . share dessert, or anything else, it’s not about using each other. Mutual pleasure, yes. Using, no. Got it?”

“Y-yes. I do.” Her eyes were luminous.

Gently he used his thumb to clean a smudge of mousse from her upper lip. Then he licked the chocolate from his thumb. Her eyes widened. Glittered with sexual heat. “Mutual,” he said. “Pleasure.”

She nodded as if hypnotized.

Damn, but he was impatient for the cabin lights to dim and give them some privacy.