Once Upon a Kiss Read online

  A beautiful woman in a sparkling gown—check.

  The rush of adventure—check.

  One of the world’s best fossil collections—check.

  Carter moved behind his dream date. He reached for the case holding the massive skull and placed his hand over hers, his front brushing against her back. Would they set off an alarm if he pressed her up against the case? Would security come running if he drew her up onto the raised platform holding the fierce predator’s remains?

  “This is a first for me,” he murmured.

  “You’ve never seen the dinosaurs at the Museum of Natural History?” She kept her gaze fixed on the T. rex fossil. “I thought you grew up in Brooklyn. How is that possible?”

  “You really did read my bio, didn’t you?” he said with a short laugh. “I wasn’t talking about the dinosaur. Like most boys, I wanted to spend my life digging for fossils when I was in kindergarten. My mom brought me here all the time. But this is the first time I’ve been here on a date with a woman who finds a fossil of a skull with a four-foot jaw ‘magnificent.’”

  “This isn’t a date,” she said flatly.

  “Oh, no,” he teased. “Drinks, dancing, and a clandestine museum visit—what else would you call that?”

  “A business meeting?”

  “I spend ninety percent of my time attending meetings. They don’t look like this, Ivy. They don’t feel like this.” He brushed her blond locks off her shoulder with his right hand. Then, in a moment of pure impulse, he dropped his head to her shoulder and ran his lips over her bare skin. A wild, reckless thrill raced through him as he lifted his mouth. And he wanted so much more of this night, of this crazy adventure, of the passionate, determined woman in his arms. He wanted to leave rules and responsibilities beside the dinosaur bones and run away with Dr. Ivy Grant.

  “This is a date,” he added.

  “That’s not why I brought you here,” she said. He grinned at the breathless note in her voice. “I wanted to show you how science impacts lives.” Ivy waved her free hand at the fossils. “This is my world. Exploring, learning, searching for the answers we need…not dating or romance or love. I’m a scientist.”

  My scientist, he thought.

  He touched his lips to her earlobe. “Scientists don’t enjoy drinks and dancing?”

  “I do,” she admitted as she leaned against him. “But my work…my work always comes first.”

  “Not tonight,” he said. He wanted to stop thinking about budgets and shareholders, even if for just one night, if it meant getting to spend time with Ivy, following her scientific quest to the final stop. But her expression was resolute.

  “Every night,” she said softly.

  “Look at us.” He ran his hand over her outstretched arm to her shoulder. His fingers followed the drape of fabric down her back to the cinched layers of sparkling tulle at her waist. “A pair of workaholics visiting one of New York’s City greatest sites in the middle of the night.”

  Finally she turned her head. Her gaze met his. Wrapping his hands around her waist, he turned her to face him.

  “I’ve wanted to kiss you from the moment you burst into my office.”

  “You didn’t know who I was,” she said.

  “I knew that you sparkled.” He raised one hand to her mouth and touched his thumb to her lips. “I knew you were bold and beautiful.”

  “Beautiful,” she whispered.

  He waited for her to push him away. He wondered if she would capture his hand and draw it down from her mouth. But she simply stared up at him as if seeing the truth for the first time.

  Believe me.

  “May I kiss you now, Dr. Grant?” he asked softly.

  She blinked, as if opening her eyes to the idea that she might be more than just a scientist, but a woman with desires and needs. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, you may.”

  Cupping her cheek, he lowered his mouth to hers. One soft touch. He skimmed his lips over hers. Feeling…exploring…returning for another taste. Her lips parted and he was lost. He deepened the kiss, slanting his mouth over hers as their tongues touched.

  His fingers pressed into the tulle at her waist, grasping for purchase as he fell deeper and deeper into the kiss. He felt her hands running over his chest.

  “Touch me,” he moaned against her lips as he pulled her hips against his.

  Her back arched to accommodate her roaming hands. Her fingers teased the edge of his tux jacket before dipping beneath. Her palms pressed against his shirt and he was tempted to strip down.

  She rocked her hips against him. There was no way she’d missed the blatant fact that he wanted to take her, right here, against the fossil case.

  He pressed her back against the glass wall as he trailed kisses over her jaw. Her head tipped back as she offered her neck. Releasing her waist, he ran his fingers up to the cutout.

  “I’ve been tempted all night,” he murmured as his index finger followed the fabric’s edge down past her breast.

  “Carter.” She reached for his shoulders and paused.

  He stepped back and shrugged off his tux jacket. “Right here, Ivy. Just you, me, and a couple of dinosaurs. What do you say?”

  She blinked and looked past him as if she’d forgotten where they were or why they’d come.

  You kissed me because you wanted to. Not for your funding.

  Hope surged and he tossed his tux jacket aside.

  Ring! Ring!

  Alarm bells echoed in the dark hallway. Her eyes widened and she jumped away from the case. He whipped his head and pointed to the full-size Tyrannosaurus rex fossil mounted in a stalking position. The T. rex stood with his head low and jaws parted to reveal his six-inch long teeth.

  And his tux jacket dangled from the predator’s mouth.

  She glanced at him. Thank you, Jesus, her eyes shone with amusement, not what have I done.

  “Just you, me, and the dinosaurs?” she called over the alarms. “I would, but—”

  “Hold that thought, beautiful.” He took her hand. “Right now we need to run.”

  Chapter 13

  Ivy rested her head against the museum’s exterior wall. Her breath came in short, sharp gasps. She fought back another outbreak of giggles. They’d evaded museum security, plus a potential run-in with police. The situation wasn’t funny.

  She pressed her hand to her mouth, hoping to trap the inappropriate laughter inside. Her lips pressed together beneath her fingers.

  The same lips Carter Burke kissed beside a world-famous, extinct carnivore.

  The giggles turned to a soft moan as her body recalled how he felt pressed up against her. How he’d outlined the space between her breasts…how he’d kissed her as if proven scientific needs like oxygen didn’t apply to him. He could kiss and kiss and kiss…

  She glanced over at her partner in crime, the man who’d pushed her to the verge of stripping off her gown beside the fossils.

  Carter stood next to her with his hands in his pockets. He appeared relaxed. But then maybe her billionaire boss always spent his nights rushing from one pulse-pounding activity to another.

  No, he’d defined his world earlier—spreadsheets and profit statements. This smart, driven man consistently chose work over fun.

  Just like her.

  Except for tonight.

  He’d made an exception. He’d taken one look at her and decided to take a chance on adventure, and on her.

  She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. The ground felt cold despite the warm spring night.

  “Ivy?” he asked. “Are you all right?”

  “I left my shoes in the museum,” she murmured.

  “There’s a T. rex inside who has my tux jacket dangling from his teeth,” he reminded her.

  Her eyes widened. “Did you leave a business card or your phone in the pocket?”

  He shook his head as he withdrew his cell from his pants pocket. “They’ll never know it was us. I can have my tailor make another jacket.”

&
nbsp; She looked down at her feet. “But I can’t walk around Manhattan barefoot.”

  His smile faded as he raised his cell. “I’ll call for my driver—”

  “No.” She allowed impulse to override her common sense. She wasn’t ready to return to her lab with her head hung in defeat. She didn’t want to slip back into her boring clothes. And she certainly did not wish to be whisked away from the man who kissed her as if he never wanted to let her go.

  I like him, she thought. And then: I’m falling for him.

  No, she couldn’t tumble into his life. When the sun rose, she needed to go back to her world and her work—hopefully with the additional funding. But until then…

  Across the street, Central Park stretched out in front of her.

  Our next adventure…

  “I can’t walk on the pavement barefoot, but the grass would feel good.” She gathered fistfuls of tulle and lifted the gown from the sidewalk. Then she gingerly walked to the curb and waited for the light to change. “Plus, there’s one more place I want to show you before you make your final decision.”

  He shook his head “Ivy—”

  “It’s my favorite place in New York.” She glanced over her shoulder. “One more adventure before you go back to your spreadsheets. Just one more.”

  He joined her at the curb. “And if I’m tempted to show you my favorite place next?”

  We have until dawn, she thought. But what if he planned to end their impromptu adventure before the sun rose? Maybe Carter Burke liked to be in bed before midnight, or at his computer, focused on his precious budget sheets.

  “Once you see mine, you’ll realize there is no way your favorite place can top it,” she said playfully, as she thrust the lingering questions to the corners of her mind.

  The light changed and the white WALK sign illuminated. She moved forward, but a firm hand on her arm prevented her from taking another step.

  “I can’t let you walk across the street barefoot,” he said. An arm slipped under her knees and lifted her off her feet, as another hand supported her back.

  “Carter,” she gasped.

  “Don’t worry.” Cradling her in his arms, he marched across the wide city street. “New Yorkers see stranger things than a man carrying a beautiful, barefoot woman into the park.”

  “I’m not concerned about that,” she murmured.

  Not about questioning looks from New York cabbies.

  But the way her body melted against him? The temptation to rest her head against his powerful chest? The desire to stay in his arms?

  She had a long list of reasons to worry. But by the time they reached the park entrance and he lowered her bare feet to the grass, she’d buried her concerns and turned her attention to their next adventure—a visit to the princess’s lair.

  New York City’s very own castle.

  Chapter 14

  Racing across grass fields and familiar footpaths, Ivy headed toward the distant globes of light. She rounded the final corner—ignoring Carter’s repeated and playful inquiries about their destination—and stopped.

  The building fit for royalty glowed in the distance. Sporting a striking stone façade and a tall, flag-topped turret, the hundred-fifty-year-old structure belonged in a world of make believe, not a fast-paced city dotted with skyscrapers. Or at least that’s what she’d thought when she’d come here as a child.

  “Belvedere Castle,” Carter murmured. “I should have known.”

  “The castle’s locked for the night or I’d take you inside and show you the microscopes in the nature observatory.”

  “More science.” He shook his head and grinned. “And here I thought you were leading me to a secluded, romantic destination.”

  “The terrace overlooking Turtle Pond is open until the park closes.” She nodded toward the set of stone steps. Streetlamps illuminated the pathway leading up through a pavilion to the castle. “If you’re interested, we can take a closer look at the castle’s reflection in the water.”

  “Lead the way.” Carter gestured to the stairs.

  She raised her gown and mounted the steps. Under the lamps’ warm glow, her bare feet glided over the smooth stones, moving through the pavilion, past the lower terrace, and up to the top level. She walked to the gray granite wall and released the fistfuls of tulle. The pond’s smooth surface glowed beneath them, reflecting the Gothic-style building.

  “Incredible.” Carter moved to her side. He rested his hands on the wall’s ledge and peered out into the darkness. “I’ve never been here at night. It feels like a different world.”

  “A quiet corner in the city that never sleeps,” she said. “That’s what my father told me when he first brought me here.”

  “He took you at night?”

  She nodded, her gaze still fixed on the water’s smooth surface. “When I was little, my father would take me on princess walks. I’d dress up in this costume he bought for me on our trip to Disney World, a yellow Belle dress, and he’d lead the way to the castle.”

  “Was it just the two of you?” Carter asked as he leaned forward and rested his forearms on the wall.

  “My mom wasn’t in the picture anymore and my big sister thought she was too old to play princesses. So yes, it was just the two of us.”

  In her peripheral vision, she saw the powerful line of his back and shoulders. He looked every inch the lion she’d met in his office hours earlier. Had it really only been a few hours? She felt as if she knew him—trusted him. Or perhaps that was the night’s adventures playing tricks on her.

  “Your parents divorced?” Carter asked.

  She nodded and looked back out at the famous park cloaked in darkness. “When I was seven. My dad had full custody. My mother…she moved on.”

  “Where is she now?”

  “She lives in Europe. Italy right now. With husband number three.”

  He stood and reached for her hand. His fingers interlaced with hers. “I’m sorry, Ivy.”

  Midnight at the castle. A sympathetic billionaire. Have I stumbled into the fairy tale I hoped to find while climbing these stairs as a child?

  Impossible. She’d come here on a mission, not guided by fate. And Carter Burke was merely looking for a distraction.

  Wasn’t he?

  “Once you reached your destination on your princess walks, what happened then?” he asked.

  “I would spin in circles and dance under the moonlight,” she said. “I pretended I was Belle, the inventor’s daughter, and that I would grow up to be an inventor, too.”

  “Not much room for the Beast in your version,” he said.

  “I was a kid, and I wasn’t interested in princes,” she said.

  “And now?” he asked softly.

  “I stopped believing in fairy tales a long time ago, Carter. My work—”

  “Comes first. I know. And yet, you brought me to a castle.” He turned to her and offered a little bow.

  “Carter?”

  He held out his hand. “Would you like to dance, princess?”

  She laughed as she stepped into his waiting arms. He guided her into a gentle one-two-three rhythm as if a full orchestra had run through the park and set up on the castle’s terrace.

  Feeling his hand on her waist and the other holding tight to hers as he guided her over the stone dance floor, she sank into the moment. She pushed away the pressing questions—what would happen when the night ended? Would she return to her lab a failure? Or would her “prince” grant her wish and provide the funding?

  Is that all I want from him? The chance to keep my research alive?

  He released her waist and spun her in a circle. The gown twirled around her as if it had been waiting all night for this moment. Then he drew her back into his arms, drawing her closer still. He stared down at her, his eyes suggesting a desire that had no place in children’s tales, but instead belonged in a night on the town. An adventure shared between two grown-ups.

  I want him. Not for my work, but for me.


  The truth felt selfish. Her research could save lives, help families. But acknowledging her desire was also freeing.

  Releasing his hand, she wrapped her arms around his neck. “First a make-out session in front of the dinosaurs and now dancing under the moonlight? I guess this is a real date.”

  “I don’t think I’ve heard the phrase ‘make-out session’ since high school,” he teased.

  “It’s been a long time since I’ve been on a date.” Her fingers toyed with the curls at the nape of his neck. “I guess they changed the language.”

  He allowed his hands to roam over her waist, mapping a path to her lower back. “Don’t tell me it’s been since high school?”

  “No, but my last serious relationship ended two years ago. Not long after I started at the Burke Initiative. Too much work and too little time for him.”

  “Two years is a long time.” Carter stopped and looked down at her. “Let me make it up to you tonight. Come with me to my favorite place in New York City.”

  She ran her hand over his broad shoulders. “Which is?”

  “My home.”

  Chapter 15

  The famous lights of Times Square flashed outside the car window. Billboards mounted on skyscrapers ran commercials for TV series and must-have products. A car dangled off the side of a building as if it had been abandoned mid-adventure. On second glance, she realized it was yet another advertisement for a new mini-series.

  The black luxury sedan sped past the ads, one after another.

  Am I kissing our adventure good-bye? If I truly want to win my funding back, shouldn’t I keep him out, show him one more way in which scientific research helps people around the world?

  But she didn’t know where to take him next. Her lab? A hospital? They couldn’t exactly walk into one of New York’s leading hospitals and ask to see a patient suffering from a terminal, rare disease.

  The car slowed, and then drew to a halt. She turned her attention to the road. Despite the late hour and the fact that the Broadway shows had ended for the night, they’d hit traffic. She rubbed her bare feet together and wondered if she should get out now.