Louise
I pressed my back against the door. I had no freaking idea what to think.
God, I’d wanted him so bad. I hadn’t let myself admit how much until he nearly kissed me.
It had been building for days and I was at least as much to blame for it as him.
I’d done the one thing I’d been promising myself I wouldn’t.
I’d jeopardized everything. I couldn’t get involved with someone like him.
I was just a tourist in his world: six months and I’d be out, back to my normal, safe world with Kayley.
I couldn’t bring him into my life...however good it felt.
We needed to somehow get back to being just business partners.
Then I looked down and saw the dark mark on my arm where he’d grabbed me.
Something about it made the heat swell inside me and then plunge down to my groin.
The essence of what he was, brutal and dangerous, was what kept me backing away from him.
But it was exactly what drew me in, too.
Jesus, what if I hadn’t pulled away? Would I have wound up on his lap, feeling the hard press of his cock through his jeans?
Would he have tipped me back, my hair hanging down to the floor as he tongued my breasts?
I pressed my ass hard against the door, imagining him kissing me.
..then his hands cupping my breasts and squeezing, then sliding down my body.
..one hand going under my jeans and then my panties like that, stroking through the hair and the sensitive skin beneath, leaving me gasping.
And then further down, his thick wrist stretching out the front of my jeans, those strong fingers hooking underneath, finding me, parting me, like this—
There was a loud knock at the door. Since I had my whole body grinding up against it like a cat in heat, the vibration went right through me. I jumped away from it, pulling my hand from my jeans and panting in shock. I put my eye to the door viewer and—
Oh Jesus, he’s still there! He’d been standing there the whole time!
I felt my face heating up. Had he heard? Had I moaned something? Had I been banging my hips against the door?
I slowly opened the door a hand’s width, putting on my best poker face. But as soon as I looked into his eyes, I went weak inside. I thought he was going to push open the door and grab me right there. God, does he know what I was just doing?
He seemed to wrestle himself under control. When he spoke, his voice was carefully neutral. “What time do you want to start, tomorrow?” he asked. “We’ve got a lot of planting to do.”
I just stared at him.
His eyes said please.
He’d realized it had been a mistake. And he wanted me to know that he knew. He was trying to tell me that it was all going to be okay, that he would keep his distance.
I nodded slowly. “Okay,” I said. Then, “Two. I’ll meet you there.”
I saw the relief on his face...but I could see the frustration there, too, only just outweighed. “Okay,” he said.
I closed the door. We were back to just business partners, exactly as I’d wanted.
So why did it feel like I was having something ripped away from me?