"I've changed for the better, I hope?" Mia ventured, drawing Seth's full attention back to her.

His Adam's apple bobbed as his scrutiny of her began anew. "Most definitely. And me? Do you think I've changed?"

"Not too much." She nearly burst into laughter at his hurt expression—"The Pout," she had christened it all those years ago. Amazing, she decided, how in so many ways he still resembled the boy she had wanted to cuddle and cuddle until the end of eternity. "Oh, sure, you've gotten a lot taller, and a bit more muscular…" Again, giggles rushed up her throat when "The Pout" grew more profound, so she decided to spare him further discomfort. "But your face? Nope…you're still as handsome as ever."

The answer obviously pleased him. He released a sigh, while the right corner of his mouth curled upward, cutting a sexy dimple into his cheek. Mia remembered that dimple so vividly. In the past, it had always set her pre-pubescent heart to pounding. It still did, only now with the force of a hurricane.

After running the brush through her hair a final time, she tossed it onto the coffee table, where it landed on a mini-mountain of Glamour, People, and Good Housekeeping magazines. Beside the magazines lay various brochures and portfolios describing several of the area's historical homes, part of the research she had collected for her job as tour guide for the many history buffs that infiltrated Savannah each year. Instead of fantasizing about Seth while taking her long shower, she should have been out here doing "her homework." Even in youth, she had often ignored her schoolbooks when thoughts of her handsome "cousin" made it difficult to concentrate. Damn, she thought, in a mere twenty-four hours, Seth's presence had her returning to her old habits. But she truly didn't care; after all, with a half-naked hunk standing just inches away, his bronzed flesh emitting the spicy, tempting scent of Brute while his bulging muscles practically screamed for attention, what red-blooded—and horny—female would prefer homework to lovemaking? Only a stupid one, Mia decided, and mentally thumbed her nose at the research...