“Or we’ll eat both. There’s always room for dessert and plenty of it,” Kate laughed as she took a step forward upon seeing the elevator doors open.

She walked straight into a solid wall of man and muscle. The cupcake box tipped forward and the cupcakes smashed straight into his chest. Actually straight into and across the front of his impeccably tailored suit coat. A coat that from the looks of it, most likely cost more than six months of her salary. And it was unfortunately at present covered in pink butter cream frosting.

For a second time stood still as Kate faltered for something to say. I’m sorry didn’t come close to cutting it, but was the best she could offer at the moment.

“I’m so sorry. This was all my fault. I wasn’t paying attention and the cupcakes…” Her words trailed off as she stared once more at the wall of muscle before lifting her gaze to the man’s face.

Bad idea. If his chest was impressive, his face was enough to stop a speeding locomotive in its tracks. The man was drop dead gorgeous, even covered in frosting.

He looked from the box in her hands to her face and it was all she could not to turn beet red on the spot.

“It’s my twenty-seventh birthday today,” Kate finished lamely. Great, now she’d gone from babbling to pathetic. Could the night get any worse?

“Happy Birthday,” the man replied softly before running his finger down the front of his suit coat and lifting it to his mouth. “This is edible, I assume?”

Kate nodded, unable to form a coherent word, entranced by the motion.

She watched him put his finger into his mouth and suck off the frosting, then slowly ran the length of his tongue up and over the tip of his index finger. Kate watched as his gaze was locked on her face the entire time.

Her stomach lurched as heat infused her body. Her heart beat wildly against her rib cage as Kate willed herself to be calm, but to no avail. This man didn’t invoke calm, he invoked lust and passion and naked hot, sweaty bodies on satin bed sheets. And other things she really had no business thinking of at that moment.

Thoughts of a private birthday celebration with him would be a present she’d never forget. Kate tried and failed to pull her runaway thoughts back into focus as she continued to stare at him.

Dear heaven, it was almost orgasmic watching him lick off the frosting. A thousand images popped into Kate’s head as she envisioned his tongue and her body in very close quarters.

She closed her eyes in an order to pull her wildly errant thoughts back into some form of sanity. Right now sanity was the farthest thing from her mind or any other part of her body. After drawing in a deep breath, Kate reopened her eyes to find him staring at her with a strange look on his face.

“I must admit they are quite enjoyable, despite how I came to be enjoying them.”

“Thank you.” The words came out barely a whisper, more like a low croak as Kate swallowed hard. “I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am. I’ll pay for the dry cleaning. Whatever you need, I’ll cover the damage.”

The man shook his head and glanced down at his watch. “I’ve got a better idea.” He pulled a business card from an inside coat pocket and laid it atop the pastry box. “Be at this address tomorrow at nine sharp. We’ll work it out then. Right now, I’ve got to go.”

Before Kate could utter a word, the man headed back into the elevator, the doors gliding shut behind him.