Renegade Millionaire by Kristi Gold

next to his then brushed his knuckles across her cheek. “Best I can recall, none of my teachers were pool sharks. But then, I don’t remember any of their daughters looking like you, either.”
    Joanna forced herself away and strolled to the end of the room near the large picture window. She came upon a train set, intricately detailed down to the tiny pines and miniature houses. She bent and studied the tunnel opening from the foot of a tree-dotted hill. “Joseph would love this. The train I gave him for Christmas is cheap plastic.”
    She heard a thwack and glanced over her shoulder to find Rio dispensing the remainder of the balls into the pockets. His thermal shirt, pushed up at the sleeves, revealed his caramel skin threaded with masculine veins. His dark hair veiled his beautiful face when he leaned over, but it didn’t matter. Joanna had practically memorized every detail.
    He moved around the table and leaned over to make another shot. “I used to watch one setup from the window at a train shop when I was a kid.” He sent one ball into the pocket then straightened. “I waited a lot of years to have one of my own.”
    Joanna turned back to the train to keep from staring at him. When she heard footsteps behind her, she didn’t dare turn around. “Exactly how old are you, if you don’tmind me asking?” she said, aiming for something simple to say.
    His hand came around her to push the control, setting the locomotive in motion along with her pulse. “Literally? Thirty-three.”
    She concentrated on the engine billowing steam, the multicolored cars as the train made the rounds on the track. “And how old would you like to be?”
    â€œThat depends. When I’m in here, I’m thirteen again. In the outside world, I have to be the grown-up.”
    â€œWell, I passed you up agewise last year.”
    â€œYou’re only fourteen?” he asked, mock seriously.
    She turned and smiled at him. “Ha, ha. Thirty-four. And a half.”
    He inched a little closer, seeming to suck the air from the small space between them. “An older woman. Intriguing. You look much younger. Not fourteen, but I would’ve guessed under thirty.”
    â€œSometimes I feel ancient.”
    He stroked a hand over her cheek while studying her flushed face. “You feel great.”
    She was losing it, losing her will to resist him. Not a sensible thing to do, but rationality wasn’t foremost on her mind at the moment. Rio was, with his penetrating eyes and a smile that certainly didn’t belong on a boy. “So you don’t like being the grown-up?” she asked.
    â€œThere’s nothing wrong with being a man when the circumstance calls for it.”
    He stopped the train now in mid-whistle, sending the room into silence. Then he pulled her flush against him and claimed her mouth with a kiss that could shake the tracks, the walls, shake Joanna into oblivion. It did. The gentle thrust of his tongue, the searing heat of his body, the strength of his steady hands as they traveled thelength of her back then came to rest on her hips, acted on her like a magic charm, a spell she couldn’t escape if her very life depended on it.
    She draped her arms around his neck and sent her hands through his silky dark hair to explore. The kiss deepened, wild and needy, hungry and desperate. Desire advanced and her concerns retreated. Under Rio Madrid’s expert guidance, she forgot to be afraid to want.
    Rio was suddenly moving, taking her with him, leading her to who knew where. Perhaps a dreamland of his own making, like the mythical god he had spoken of, a sun god creating a firebrand with his mouth moving softly yet firmly against hers. She instinctively knew that he could take her places she’d never been before, if she allowed him.
    He spun her around and backed her up without breaking the kiss. The edge of a table nudged her hip, the pool table,