“Go?” She looked back over her shoulder. “I thought we were…” Her words trailed away. “We should go.” Her shoulders straightened. “Long day. Long night. Definitely time to go home and—”
“Fuck.”
She sucked in a sharp breath. “Excuse me?”
Yeah, way too blunt. And it had been a one-word response. He could do better. “I want you to come home…with me.” Was that any better? He sounded rough and demanding as hell. He cleared his throat. “If you want me…if you want to be with me—”
“Yes.”
Had she spoken? Or had he just wanted so badly for her response to be yes that he’d just imagined it?
“Yes,” Maisey said again. She stopped hugging herself. The bracelets on her wrist jingled as she pressed her hand to his chest. “I want you. More than I have ever wanted anyone else.”
“Then give me tonight.” Because he needed her too much. Couldn’t hold back. He wanted to take and take… and have her break apart with pleasure beneath him.
“I’ll give you anything you want.”
His hands fisted. “Keep saying things like that, and I will take you right here.”
“Promises, promises…”
“Maisey—”
She stepped back. “How far away is your place? And just how fast can you get us there?”
***
Maisey wasn’t home. Clay cast a quick glance at her parked car. Her car was there, had been there all night, but the house was dark. Quiet.
He’d gone to the door. Knocked a few times. Not received any response.
He knew she must be gone with the guy who’d been skulking around her. Odin. The man with the gaze that was unnerving. Odin had seemed like trouble to Clay.
Maisey was good. Sweet. The innocent type. She wouldn’t have anything in common with a guy like that.
Surely, she’d be home soon.
He’d just keep watch on her place. When she returned, they needed to talk. He was worried about her. And after the attack on campus, he figured that Maisey could use a friend…
She could use me.
He would be there for her.
***
“Ignore the boxes,” Odin said as he locked the door behind them. “Just getting moved in. Was supposed to unpack last weekend, but then a new case came up.” Maisey had come along and changed everything.
Maisey stood in the middle of the boxes. She had been quiet on the drive over. He hadn’t said much. He’d been too busy keeping his hands on the wheel and off her. He’d found his gaze sliding to her legs. He’d imagined parting her thighs. Putting his hand on her and stroking her through the denim of her jeans.
“I didn’t expect you to be the condo type.” Maisey glanced around. “I mean this place—it’s really fancy.”
Was she trying to say he wasn’t fancy? Odin considered the matter. Guilty. He wasn’t. “I needed a place to stay. It became available so I took it. I liked the view.” Money wasn’t an issue for him. He didn’t mention that. Maisey didn’t care what he had or what he didn’t, so he didn’t see the point in telling her about the money he had piled away.
Maisey crept toward the glass balcony doors. It was dark out, so he knew that she couldn’t see the stretch of beach and the waves that pounded below.
As if reading his thoughts, she said, “During the day,” Maisey motioned toward the door, “I’m sure the view is beautiful.”
“Beautiful,” Odin echoed, but he wasn’t talking about the view of the beach, and he’d pretty much reached his limit on small talk. He’d gotten them to his place. They were locked in. The alarm was on. No one would be bothering them. For the rest of the night, he had Maisey all to himself.
She glanced over her shoulder to look back at him. “I’m nervous.”
He’d been stalking toward her. At those words, he froze.
“I shouldn’t be. I mean, not after what we did at War’s place, but, ah—” Her hand lifted. Waved vaguely toward him. “I am.”
He wanted to rush to her, but her words had stopped him cold. “You’re afraid of me?” Shit. He should have thought of this. After the way things had gone down in the bar, of course, she was afraid of him. She’d had time to think on the car ride over—that silent, tense ride—and now she wanted to back away. To put some distance between them, and what the hell was he supposed to do about that?
His stomach twisted. “I would never hurt you.”
“What?” Her eyes widened. “I know that! Why would you say…” She rushed toward him. Reached for him. Curled those soft hands of hers around his arms. “I’m nervous. Nervous. As in…having sex is a big deal and you obviously have way more experience than I do. Sex has never been that good for me—not like it was when you were, ah…” She sucked in a breath and said, “Going down on me. So if it was that good when you were using your mouth, I am pretty sure I will go absolutely crazy when, you know, another part of your body is in me. And I just want you to know that this is all…” She blew out a breath. “I don’t want to disappoint you.”
He squinted at her.
She squinted back. “What is it?” Her fingers let him go.
“Making sure you didn’t hit your head.” His hand lifted and curled under her delicate chin. He tipped her head back so the light slid over her face. “Don’t see any new injuries. Still don’t like that damn scratch.” The sight of it on her cheek pissed him off. “Didn’t think you were hurt at the bar.” If someone had hurt her…
“I wasn’t hurt. Why would you suspect that?”
He kept right on cupping her chin because he liked touching her. “Because you’re saying crazy shit.” He made sure he was staring straight into her eyes. “You could never, ever disappoint me. That doesn’t need to be a worry that ever whispers through your mind.”
She smiled at him.
Those dimples would be the end of him one day.
“I don’t have a lot of experience,” she told him in a voice that wobbled in an oddly sweet way. “I just—I want you to enjoy it as much as I did. I mean as I will. As I did and I will.”
She was so damn cute. “I’ll be with you. I’ll enjoy the hell out of it.” He had no doubt she would be the best lover he’d ever had. How did he know that? Because he couldn’t remember wanting anyone as badly as he wanted Maisey. “But you have to be honest with me.” He kissed her. A quick press of his lips against hers. “If I get too rough, tell me.”
“Odin…”
“I’m big, Maisey. You’re fucking breakable next to me. If I scare you, if I’m pushing too much, tell me.”
She inched closer. “On one condition.”
“What’s that?”
“That if I’m too rough,” she whispered, “you tell me. If I push too much, tell me.”
Yeah, that was never gonna happen. She could push and be as damn rough as she wanted. She was teasing, but Maisey didn’t get it. He wanted to pounce on her. His dick was still just as hard as it had been when he’d been back at War’s place. When he’d been so close to having what he wanted most. When he’d tasted her. Gone crazy because she was so delicious.