The Temptations of Being Tempted

"The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it... I can resist everything but temptation." 

I love this quote by Oscar Wilde (and it pretty much sums up my relationship with chocolate!).

I find the idea of being tempted by something you know you shouldn't do particularly delicious. Take, for example, the first time Nick sees Harper again after their one night of passion. He'd gone to her place to explain that he wasn't the twin she thought he was, but instead... 

He knocked on her front door, still having no idea how he could possibly explain everything. Then the door swung inward and she was there and he had no air left to form words anyway. Her almond-shaped brown eyes widened at the sight of him, and he knew he had to say something. Anything. But her haunting beauty overwhelmed him. He’d barely been able to stop thinking about her since that night, and now here she was in real life. Filling his vision. Smelling like heaven.

“Malcolm?” she said, her voice breathy, and instead of explaining, he found himself mute, reaching out to feel the silky-soft skin of her cheek. His palm cupped the side of her jaw, his fingers feathering over her cheekbone, and he was lost.

Her eyes widened in surprise and she took a small step back, out of his touch, but her gaze didn’t falter. He waited a beat, waited in agony, waited until she swayed back toward him, and then he reached for her again. Her lips parted as she tilted her head into his palm. The world around them faded, and he took an infinitesimal step closer, being drawn by the magnetic force that had been there since he’d first laid eyes on her three months ago.

He was supposed to say something, tell her something, but there were no words in his mind, only Harper and the way her eyes had darkened as she looked at him. Breathing ragged, he lowered his head and speared his fingers through her long, glossy hair. This was wrong, so wrong, yet the rightness of it overwhelmed him, crushing all other thoughts.

She lifted herself on tiptoes and met him halfway, her mouth finding his, her lips soft, welcoming, wanting, her arms wrapping around his shoulders and gripping tight. With a groan of surrender, he slid his tongue along hers and hauled her flush against him.

This.

This was what had driven him crazy the night they’d met. This was what had kept her in his waking dreams since. This was what was making him dizzy now.

Of course, a little voice at the back of his mind whispered, this was also what had led him into trouble in the first place.

He had to stop kissing her. To find the strength to pull away and explain everything. Oh, but her mouth and what it was doing to his was divine…

Mind you, Harper finds herself pretty tempted by Nick at various points in their story as well...

Harper watched Nick and tried to keep her breathing under control. Being so close to him on the sofa as she’d pretended to watch TV had set every single nerve ending she had on edge. And then he’d fed her ice cream… Her skin yearned for his touch, but if she gave in now, all would be lost—she might not be able to pull back.

Then she noticed the strong, insistent beat of his pulse at the base of his neck. The tension in his muscles as he held himself in check. The way his gaze smoldered.

And she forgot what they were fighting against.

“Nick?” she asked, her voice breathless.

“Yeah?”

“What would happen if we gave in?”

His gaze flicked to her mouth then back to her eyes. “Gave in to what?”

“To this.” She motioned back and forth with a finger. “To what’s burning between us.”

He swallowed hard. “You really want to know?”

“Yeah, I do,” she whispered.

He looked down at her in the dim light of the kitchen, then lowered his head until his lips brushed over hers, just once. “This.”

A sigh built within her and escaped her throat as she leaned into him. “Oh. This is a good plan.”

Now, I might never have met a "wrong twin" in real life, but I do find myself familiar with the concept of temptation - and not just over chocolate. There's also the stationary aisles at Officeworks, and every time I see a book on sale, and all the dogs I want to adopt on a daily basis.

But what about you? What tempts you? I'm curious!