Sitting up as well, he tried to keep his temper in check. Getting angry with her wouldn’t solve anything. Not to mention, ruin the little time he had left with her.
“I didn’t mean to make it sound like that, but you have to understand what kind of man he is. Constantly sticking up for him, especially with me, isn’t doing yourself any favors.”
“Not seeing my side of things isn’t doing yourself any favors.”
Running a shaky hand over his face, muffling a groan, he turned toward her. “Can we not argue about this? I want to enjoy this night with you. This,” waving his hand between them, “this disagreement won’t even matter tomorrow. I’ll be gone. You’re going to do what you want to do regardless of how I feel or what I tell you. You’ve seen Travis, haven’t you?”
“You can say what you want about Mr. C, but Travis is off-limits. He is a good man. I don’t care if you arrested him. It’s his first arrest for anything and he’s never been in trouble before.”
“Do you hear yourself? It’s okay that he got arrested for arms dealing because it’s his first offense,” he said with a mocking voice close to hers. “And you didn’t answer my question.”
She poked him in the chest with an angry finger. “Well, it didn’t sound like you answered my original question. You avoided it by saying other irrelevant things.”
“My feelings for you are not insignificant. So, don’t insinuate they are.” Grabbing her finger that wanted to poke his chest again, he slid his fingers through hers. “I didn’t come here to argue about the Chilani family. We’ll never agree. I don’t want to keep fighting about it. I want to lay here with you and enjoy it.”
Pulling her closer, his lips brushed hers as a small form of contentment swarmed his senses. Her next to him made everything better. It had since the moment he met her.
“I ran into Lora.”
“I thought we would stop talking about any member of the Chilani family. I’d love it, actually.”
A stroke of her fingers tumbled down his cheek as she stared at him. "We should talk about this. You’ll want to hear it. Then we can agree to disagree. Although, I’ve never been a huge fan of Lora so no arguments about her from me.”
He wanted to smile at her sweet grin that accompanied those words, but he found it hard. Lora wasn’t one he was too concerned about. Now, if she said that about Travis or Martin, then he would beam from ear to ear.
“Fine. Tell me about Lora.”
“Pure coincidence I ran into her, but she would’ve contacted me anyway. She knows I left with you the night of the wedding.” Putting a finger to his lips to stop any interruption, adding in a shake of her head as well to keep quiet. “I told her we shared a cab and I was dropped off first and that I have no idea where you live, which is true. Mr. C told her to stay away from you and Lora’s never been one to listen very well. When she wants something, she wants it. End of story.”
He swiped a hand through her hair as he waited patiently for her to continue, although he had a bad feeling where this was going.
“She wants me to ask Lily to ask Ryan for your number. She wanted you at the wedding and still intends to have you. She thinks she can hide it from her dad. Mr. C misses nothing, especially when it comes to his kids.”
“The only person who can have me is you. I hope you know that.” Adding a kiss to the statement to make it more real, he leaned back. “Call Lily. You were worried about what to do, weren’t you?”
“So you’re going to keep going undercover inside the family? I—”
He broke her words by kissing her again. This time, taking his time to savor her taste. Swiping in with a smooth stroke, he tangled his tongue with hers. Every time he kissed her, he took the memory as a keepsake to get him through life down the road. He had no idea how he’d be able to leave her. Running away with her sounded like a better option the more and more it rumbled through his mind.
“You have the sweetest lips.”
“You’re avoiding the question again.”
With his hand still laced with hers, he squeezed lightly. “Call Lily and ask for my number. Give it to Lora. You did your part and I know nothing bad will happen to you, especially from Lora since she’s an unknown. She’s not on the business side of things, but I don’t like the unknown. The best thing for me is to know you’re safe. That’s it. She can call me all she wants. It doesn’t mean I have to answer. I have no intention of going back to the trenches with that family. Trust me. Do you trust me? I haven’t given much to earn that trust.”
“I trust you, Dax. Lora…I’ve never been able to compete with her. She’s beautiful, rich, and has this way with men.”
“You don’t have to compete with her. You never did. You were always the one I wanted, even when Lora clung to me. All I wanted to do in the limo was turn away from her and pull you into my arms. Self-control definitely became a new meaning for me. You are something special, Sarafina, I can’t even describe it. I already miss you.”
“I miss you, too.” Flinging herself into his chest, her warm tears started to soak deep into his heart.
“Don’t cry. Please, sweetheart.”
Between her muffled sobs pouring out in heartwrenching agony, she whispered, “Stay ’til morning.”
How in the hell could he resist that request? He should. Nothing good would come from him staying the entire night. Only more complications and feelings digging deeper into his heart.
“If I had my way, I’d never leave again.”
That didn’t answer her statement that was more a question than anything else. He couldn’t answer it, though, since he had no idea what the answer was.
11
Dax’s hand hovered over her arm, brushing down with a sweep as if he could caress her. Touching her would be bad. Waking her up wasn’t a choice. She would try to talk him into staying until morning and he couldn’t.
When he woke up ten minutes ago, the clock on her nightstand told him it was a little after three in the morning. A sign. If he had meant to wake up with her in the morning, his body wouldn’t have woken up. Clearly, he was telling himself something.
Get your ass out of bed!
Of course, he still struggled with moving away from her. The thought of leaving tore him up inside.
Leaving for good.
He would never see her beautiful face again. Last night he had almost grabbed his phone wanting to take a dumb selfie with her. To have a memory of her would’ve been heaven. At the last minute, he chickened out. He always thought selfies were dumb. Never took one in his life. Why prolong his torture? Having a picture he could pull out all the time would only hinder him further. It wasn’t acting weak in his eyes not to take a picture, it was staying strong.
Coming to her home had been weak. He knew that. Pacing his house from end to end hadn’t helped make a clear decision, only confirmed he needed to see her one more time. Even as he drove into the city, he told himself every time he took a turn that he should turn around. Stay away. Nothing good would come from seeing her again.
He didn’t lie to her. It hadn’t been his intention to take her to bed again. The door slamming in his face was the more likely outcome. Surprised as hell when she let him in only made his best intentions wither away. How could he not want to taste her again? Asking for one more night had been crazy, but worth it.