“Do you want to go into town and get strawberry ice cream from Bliss?”
She shook her head. “It’s fine. I’ll be fine. It’s all just overwhelming. You’ll take me to see Glori tomorrow, though, right? If I start to bawl, I want you to pinch me really hard.”
“Won’t that make you cry harder?”
“No, I’ll be too pissed at you.”
He grinned. “Okay, you got it.” But she still looked so sad. “How about we raid Kurt’s wine cellar?”
“Oh, God, no more wine.”
“All right, then name something. Anything. You’re killing me here. Let me do one thing to make you happy.”
Whatever he’d said, it lit a fire in her eyes. Slowly, she broke into a sexy smile. “Well, there is one thing I want.”
“Name it.”
“And you’ll give it to me, no matter what?”
“Almost anything. I won’t walk away from this ranch, and I’m not willing to go into debt for you, so you can forget a shopping expedition to Paris. But anything else…the answer is yes.”
Behind her devilish grin was a vulnerability. “I want you.” And he really fucking liked the confidence it took to ask for what she wanted.
He arched a brow, giving her attitude to cover the punch of desire that made him go painfully hard.
“One night. Not even a whole night. I want to be with a man who likes giving women pleasure.”
Is she serious about this shit? Hell, yeah, he’d give her pleasure. Just the idea of touching her, kissing her, hearing her moans…fuck, he wanted that.
But wait. No. What was he thinking? He couldn’t just screw around with this beautiful, perfect woman. I’m not the right guy for her. “Hm. There’s a flip side to that, you know.” Before he spread her thighs to find out if she really wanted him, he had to change the direction of the conversation, turn to humor.
“Is that right?” She played along, but he could see the worry beneath that. She’d exposed herself, and he hadn’t handled it well.
But he was in it now. He’d carry the joke along, and then they’d both go their separate ways. He hunched a shoulder. “I’ll ruin you for other men. Plus, it’ll be addictive. You’ll want more. You’ll probably want it all the time.” He stuffed his shaky hand into his pocket. “And, I mean, I do have other things to do here.”
And then he’d spend the rest of the night imagining all the places he’d lick, stroke, and caress her.
“So, what I’m hearing is that you don’t have the stamina you once had?”
He chuckled. “Oh, no. No worries there. I’m fit as a fiddle.” He lifted both arms and curled his biceps.
But instead of laughing, her eyelids lowered to half-mast, and she got this sultry expression.
Okay, enough of this shit. He needed to tell her the truth. “I think you know I’m attracted to you.”
“I don’t know anything. You don’t show anything.”
All she had to do was look down to see the tent in his jeans. “Well, I am. But this isn’t a good idea.” If it were any other woman, he wouldn’t even hesitate. But it was this one, the only one he actually felt something for.
“You just said you were attracted to me so, what’s the problem?”
“The problem is that we have to live together in this house. If one of us catches feelings, it’s going to be awkward.”
“By one of us, do you mean me?”
He didn’t bother answering.
“Because I’m very aware of the calendar. There’s an end-date to whatever we do. You know what? Forget it. If I have to convince you…” She started to walk away.
He never wanted to hurt her, never wanted her to feel rejected. He reached out, but since she’d been in the process of turning, her back landed against his chest. He wrapped an arm around her waist. “There isn’t a single moment out of the day when I don’t want you. In the car, I want to slide my hand between your thighs. When you laugh, I want to tip you onto your back and fuck the smile right off your face. I want to watch your expression while I lick every inch of your body to figure out where you’re sensitive, to find the places that make you moan and the spots that make you shudder.”
“So, what’s the problem?” Her voice came out a whispered tremble.
“You make me feel things.”
“What kind of things?” Her hips swayed, her ass shifting over his hard cock.
Sensation flared and burned a trail down every pathway of his nervous system. “Things I don’t want to feel for someone I’m never going to see again.”
“Oh.” The single syllable dragged out like a sigh. “So, really good things.”
“Bad, Phinny. Very fucking bad.”
“What else do you want to do with me?”
He lowered his mouth to her ear. “I want you to put that jersey on, so I can bend you over the back of the couch, flip it up, and drive my cock into you.”
“That’s…that’s very graphic.” She reached for his hand and pressed it over her breast. He couldn’t help the reflexive need to squeeze. “So, if you decide to give me pleasure, it won’t be because you feel sorry for me?”
“Nope. It’ll be because I’ve wanted to fuck you since the first night in the basement.”
In one fluid move, she spun around his arms, slid her arms up his chest, and scraped her fingernails through the hair at the back of his neck. “I can’t catch feelings if I’m asking you for a favor. For the first time in my life, I want to make sex all about me. How can you refuse me?”
That lush pink mouth softened, and her tongue peeked out to moisten her lips.
I can’t. Need roared through him, and he kissed her. It was instantaneous, the collision of head and heart. Everything he liked about her—from her smile to her optimism to her inner strength—crashed head-on into the taste of her, the slick heat of her mouth, and the hungry grip of her hands. It overwhelmed him, rendering him nothing but hot, churning, aching need.
His pulse thundered, and he kissed her with a desperation that might’ve been embarrassing had she not been fisting his hair and trying to climb him like a tree. He wanted to rip off her leggings and get a grip on that peach-shaped ass, line up his cock with her pussy, and slide into all that wet heat.
But this is about her. What she wants.
Which meant he had to calm down.
Tearing his mouth away felt like disconnecting from a life source, like his lungs would shut down, and his heart would stop beating.
“No, don’t stop. Don’t treat me with kid gloves.” She clasped her hands at the back of his neck. “I want it all, Declan. Give me everything.”
“You don’t know what you’re asking.”
“I think I do.”
Fuck it. Cupping her ass, he lifted her. Immediately, her legs wrapped around his waist, and he carried her into the living room, dropping her onto the couch.
Dammit, those lust-filled eyes made him crazy, but he knelt in front of her, focused on lifting her oversize T-shirt and tossing it aside. Presented with the plump mounds of her breasts cupped in pale pink lace, he had no choice but to lower his face into her cleavage, filling his senses with her sweet scent and his hands with the heavy, supple weight.