Chapter 9
SHAWN
I was so frustrated with myself, thoughts were difficult. I wasn’t sure how to get back on track with Kara.
As I pulled alongside her, she looked like she longed for a shower and a bed. Yeah, me too. But I longed for her even more, and the feeling was powerful and intense. We needed to fuck and get it over with. Deal with our lust and dispel the sexual tension.
So far, she had followed through on her threat. I’d set a hand on her elbow while we were waiting to cross a street, and she’d jerked away. It was going to be much harder to convince her I should stay the night if I wasn’t allowed to touch.
Difficult.
Not impossible.
Dragging our luggage over damp curbs and sidewalks through the bricked streets of Maastricht was rough, but she went as if it were no trouble.
Most likely to spite me, and I could hardly blame her.
My typical instinct to dominate had seized control, and I’d crossed a line, and then I spent the remainder of the flight thinking about how I was going to correct this.
Kara’s apartment was an older, three-storied brick building with a large white door. It had a generic look to it, and I wondered if it was corporate housing for Incentive Systems.
“What is it you do for Incentive, specifically?”
“I’m a project manager.” I gave her a look telling her that wasn’t really an answer. She sighed. “They bring me in to diagnose problems and solve them in the most efficient way possible.”
I carried both of our bags up the few steps, through the main door, and into a narrow hallway. She uttered a polite thank you but stayed quiet as she strode to the second door on the left. It was when she fished out her keys that I abruptly realized what was about to happen.
She was going to go inside and shut the door in my face.
I’d never been rejected when seducing a woman. The floor was unstable beneath me.
“Wait,” I said, putting a hand on her doorframe. And then I set the other on the wall just outside of her hip, caging her in. I left her with no choice but to put her back against the wall and face me. I didn’t want to move aggressively on her, but I needed to regain control of the situation.
“What?” Her voice was edged with annoyance.
The words weren’t difficult to say because I meant them. “I’m sorry. Let’s talk about it inside.”
She gave me a dark look.
“Also,” I said, “you didn’t thank me.”
“Actually, I did, but thanks again for letting me use your plane so you could grope me at twenty thousand feet.”
“Anytime.” I leaned in, and she shifted away when my lips brushed hers.
“I’m pretty sure I said—”
I was only a breath away. “I haven’t touched you. Not with my hands.” I set my mouth on hers and heard the dull thump as the back of her head connected with the wall, trying to escape our kiss. It was only a few short seconds before her body betrayed her mind and she answered back.
Yes. Relief that I hadn’t lost her eased some of the tension in my chest.
I used every skill I’d cultivated over the years to convince her.
There could only be one answer to the question I was going to ask momentarily.
We were getting closer when she slipped a hand behind my head, her fingertips creeping into my hair.
Her rule stated I couldn’t touch, but she was allowed to, apparently.
Her tongue was in my mouth, and my hand against the wall balled into a fist, the knuckles pressing into the plaster since it couldn’t go elsewhere.
I couldn’t take any more when she drew my bottom lip into her mouth and bit down gently. The question was rising in my throat. I lifted my head, looking down at her and her kiss-swollen mouth—
“All you have to do,” she whispered, “is forget about the security detail and you can come inside.”
My breath left me in a burst.
I’d miscalculated. I’d thought I was working her up, making it impossible for her not to invite me in, but she’d played me spectacularly. I’d never been more turned on and pissed off than I was at that moment.
“Please,” I said, shocked at the desperation in my voice. Well, there was something I’d never done before.
She ducked under my arm and put her key in the lock. “Auf Wiedersehen, Shawn.”
If I weren’t so disoriented, I would have thought her accent was adorable. I watched her push the door open, flip on the light, and then halt, her body going rigid.
Her apartment was in ruins.
The couch was shredded and pieces of foam were everywhere. Drawers had been pulled from the desk and entertainment center, the contents strewn around and smashed into pieces. Chunks of the wall were missing from where the curtain rods had once been.
Dread slid down my spine like someone had poured icy water down my back. Instinctively, I reached out and pulled her into my arms, wanting to keep her safe. She didn’t fight me, either, her no touching rule suspended.
Her shocked gaze swept over the shambles of her apartment and lifted to meet mine. The quiet tremble in her voice told me exactly how shaken she was. “What . . . do I do?”
“You call the constable,” I said.
And I’d need to call Jason.