“Dump him,” Connor Regan told her. “I’ll make you happy in ways you never thought possible.” He grinned as he said it, but his eyes held a gleam of something serious, something that gave Madeline Jones gooseflesh.

She slapped him lightly on the arm. “You have got to be kidding me. There’s more chance of me scaling Everest in a bikini than dumping Gabe.” Maddie was having the best sex she’d had in years, possibly even in her whole life. Hell, just thinking about physical therapist, Gabriel Carter’s touch made her skin prickle with a lust she’d never experienced before.

She might not be crazy head-over-heels in love with Gabe—yet—but they were having a brilliant time together, and who knew where things might lead? No way could she consider calling an end to things now—especially not for Gabe’s best friend.

Connor’s appreciative gaze settled briefly on her breasts—breasts that had tightened with wanton desire at the thought of Gabe’s touch—before returning to her face. “You have to. It’s the only way to save my sanity. Do you have any idea how long I’ve waited to meet someone like you, the woman of my dreams?”

Maddie smiled, unable to take him seriously. She knew Gabe trusted Connor, he’d told her so. He trusted Connor with his life, so it stood to reason he trusted him with his woman as well. “No. Why not fill me in?”

With his looks and his slim, athletic build, she doubted Connor’d waited more than a week at most. No doubt women were flinging themselves at his feet on a daily basis. But cute as he was—with his unshaven whiskers, and longish blonde hair—slim and trim didn’t work for her. She liked big and ripped. Like Gabe. She had a thing for bulging biceps and huge, hard chests. She had a thing for men who could make her feel dainty, and with Gabe she felt as petite as a doll.

She liked that Gabe’s friend thought she had some depth to her character, but still Maddie shifted from one leg to the other. His gaze was hungry, and while it didn’t make her uncomfortable, it made her…something. Something she did not want to explore too deeply. “Someone exactly like your friend’s girlfriend, you mean.”

Amusement danced in his eyes. “You think I’m a bad person.”

“I’m trying to,” she confessed, “but it’s hard to think badly of you when you can’t seem to find one single woman to satisfy your needs. Poor thing. How you must have suffered.”

With a dramatic gesture, he placed a closed fist over his heart. “Oh, I have suffered. Enormously.” He looked at her with a soulful gaze. “Make it better. Take me in your arms and comfort me. Please?”

She shook her head. “I’m sorry, sweetie. My arms are reserved for Gabe.”

The look he flashed her was delightfully evil. “Trust me,” he said, “if you held me in your arms, the last thing you’d call me is sweet.”

Maddie looked at him suspiciously and harrumphed. “What happened to the charming man I met at dinner last night? To the perfect gentleman who is staying at Gabe’s flat for the weekend? Who are you and what did you do with him?” Charming was a perfect word to describe Connor. In the two hours she’d sat beside him at dinner, he’d utterly bewitched her. Drawn her into his world with humor and wit, fascinating conversation and eyes that made her feel like the only other person alive.

“He met a girl,” Connor sighed. “At dinner last night. The girl of his dreams. And he fantasized about her right through to the wee hours of the morning.”

Maddie couldn’t help herself. She gave a snort of laughter. “You’ve known me what? Less than a day and you’re fantasizing about me?

“Just one look, Maddie. That’s all it took.” His tone teased, but his eyes told her he spoke nothing but the truth.

“Connor, you hardly know me.” Okay, so they’d spent a long time chatting the night before. They’d clicked immediately, laughing and talking about anything and everything. Still, what he said now bordered on preposterous, even if it was all spoken in jest. “How could you possibly think I’m the girl of your dreams.”

He shrugged. “I’m thirty. I’ve been around long enough to instinctively know who’s right.”

“That so, huh?” Maddie raised an eyebrow. “Well then, let me let you in on a secret, a little something women know instinctively themselves.” She summoned him closer and whispered in his ear. “Simple rule of thumb: The right woman can never be your best friend’s lover.”

Connor pulled his head back and gave her a smile so wicked it made her heart skip a beat. “I guess that would depend on whose rules you’re playing by.”

She gaped at him, at a loss for an appropriate response.

A muscle ticked in his cheek. “Close your mouth, Madeline Jones. Otherwise I might be tempted to put something in it you’re not at all prepared for.”

She snapped her jaws shut, then opened them again tentatively to speak. “And by that I’m assuming you mean a cigarette or something equally unpleasant?”

“Not even close, sweetheart, and you know it.”

It was her turn to sigh. “I miss the man I met last night. I would have liked to get to know him better.”

“The man would like to get to know the woman he met last night better too.” His smile was wolfish. “Infinitely better.”

She shook her head and laughed. “Even though said woman is sleeping with his best friend?”

“Especially because said woman is sleeping with his best friend.”