Chapter 6 #2
While I held his gaze, my mouth opened, and I surrounded the cake, my teeth diving into the softness. When I pulled back, I sucked my top lip into my mouth to clean it before I chewed. And as I swallowed, I asked, “Did you get what you wanted?”
He stared at me silently. “You answered my questions … but, no, I didn’t get everything I wanted. There’s a whole lot more I’d like to put in that mouth.”
I slapped his arm and laughed as he returned the dessert to the plate and licked his fingers.
“You don’t have to tell me what you do, but what does your work schedule look like tomorrow?”
“Why?”
“I want to know if you’re free.”
If I was free, then this was going to turn into more than one night.
But hadn’t it already?
Or were two visits in one night still considered only one?
The fluttering was back—hell, it hadn’t left. It just came in waves, and right now, it was like a tsunami.
“I’m off tomorrow and tomorrow night,” I told him. “I work the rest of the week.”
He rubbed his hands together, his fingers long and powerful-looking. “Then why don’t you stay until you have to go to work?”
I could feel my pulse in the back of my throat. “In your room?”
“My room, or if you’d rather not sleep with me, I’ll extend your room. Whatever you prefer.”
I was so curious where this had suddenly come from, considering, earlier, he’d had no problem with me leaving and never really officially said goodbye.
It couldn’t be because he thought this was going to lead to something. The reason we’d been matched on Hooked was that we’d individually selected that we only wanted to hook up, that we weren’t interested in a relationship, marriage, or any other situationship the app offered.
I rested my elbow on the back cushion, the fingers of that hand sliding into my hair. “Why do you want me to stay?”
“You quiet the noise.”
“That’s the only reason you want me here?”
He cleared his throat. “Being alone can sometimes feel intolerable.”
“So, I quiet the noise—in other words, I talk so your brain goes silent. And I take up space so you’re not by yourself.
” I chuckled. “Whiskey, you’re so complimentary, I’m overwhelmed.
Talk about making me feel like the most desired woman alive.
” I rolled my eyes. “You don’t need me. What you need is a dog. ”
“You’re wrong.”
“I’m not wrong.”
“What I want to do to you tonight … and tomorrow … and tomorrow night, that’s for you. And that’s because of you.”
“Then you need to work on your flattery a little.” My tone wasn’t condescending; it was honest. “If you want to fuck me, start with that. Don’t tell me I’m here to fill a room so you’re not lonely.”
His eyes narrowed. “People never talk to me that way.”
“I just did.” I gave him a soft smile. “And I would do it again.”
“Jesus …” His head shook before it dropped, and a soft laugh followed.
I pointed at his chest, surprised that I’d extended my arm too far and my finger actually touched him. The moment I did, he surrounded my finger and wouldn’t let me move. “You laughed.”
His face rose, and he turned his neck, no longer looking at me straight on. “I don’t know about that …”
“No, that was most definitely a laugh, don’t even try to deny it. Which must mean you find me funny. And that’s hysterical because I don’t think I’m funny at all.”
He dragged his tongue over the top of his bottom lip. “You’re cute.”
“Whoooa,” I sang. “Was that a compliment?”
“That mouth …”
“But I understand you want this mouth? Isn’t that what you said?” I pulled my finger away from him so I could trace it around my lips. I even added some cheesecake during the second loop for maximum impact. “That there’s a lot more you’d like to put in it?”
He laughed again. “How about this? I find you fucking gorgeous. Your personality—that’s cute. Cute and a little fiery. And it’s that cuteness and fire that caused the kind of reaction you claim I just had.”
“Claim?” I huffed. “No. It’s fact. You laughed not once, but twice.”
“I won’t confirm that.”
I squeezed his forearm. “You’re not one to admit when you’re wrong, are you?”
“I’m never wrong.”
I laughed so hard that I snorted. “Never?”
“No. Never.” He didn’t even have to think about my question.
“I know what I’m doing in my professional life.
I’m a master at it. I give it everything I have.
” When I released him, his hands cupped the back of his head.
“My personal life consists of working out every morning. Family. Fun, when time allows for it. There’s nothing for me to be wrong about. ”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“You’re saying no one ever tries to argue with you? Or prove you wrong—like I just successfully did, by the way.”
“Oh, they fucking try. Mostly my family. We work together, and most of the time, they don’t listen to me, and that’s when I lose my shit. Aside from them, no one dares to argue with me. I bark my orders, and those orders are fulfilled. If they’re not fulfilled”—he shrugged—“that person is done.”
My brows were so high that I felt like I no longer had a forehead. “What do you mean by … done?”
“Terminated. I’m not a murderer, Sky.”
“Okay, okay.” I nodded with relief. “Still, you’re not an easy man, are you?”
“As you can see, I make no effort to hide that about me.”
I pushed my side into the back cushion, getting more comfortable.
“So, you’re never wrong. You’re unwilling to argue because you’re never wrong.
No one dares to mess with you because, one, you’re never wrong, and, two, you’re a massive man with muscles for days, and they’re probably terrified of you, and, three, they’ll get fired if they do.
” My eyes dipped, not that I needed to get reacquainted—I’d spent plenty of time memorizing his body—but visually trailing the outline of his chest certainly didn’t hurt.
“Do the people who work for you find you insufferable?”
His face went stoic, and then, suddenly, he laughed. But this time, it was a deep, guttural laugh, and he even held his chest.
The sound was so addictive; I started giggling.
“I’m sure they do,” he finally replied. “But ask me if I give a fuck.”
My fingers went under his chin, and I scratched that spot like I would a dog. “It felt good to laugh, didn’t it?”
His hand went to my thigh. He didn’t set it there. He gripped me and pulled me closer. “That’s another reason I want you here. To make me laugh. To make me remember why I even want to laugh.”
“Now, that right there is a beautiful compliment.”
He held my cheek, his lips moving close to mine. “What I’m hearing is a yes.”
I nodded.
“I need to make one thing clear, Sky. My life”—he let out a breath that I sensed had come from the middle of his chest, a place that often burned from stress, like mine—“is complicated as fuck. I’m stretched far too thin.
And I’m left with very little time for anything other than work.
I want you to understand that, so when it’s time for you to leave, you know what this was, and you don’t have any expectations. ”
“Just laying it all out there, aren’t you?”
“You want me to be honest.” He held me tighter. “I sense that from you.”
“I do.”
“Then here’s a little more honesty. It’s not you.
” His thumb stroked my lips. “You’re something truly fucking wonderful.
I’m just in this”—he ground his teeth—“impossibly miserable situation that gets heavier and more crammed by the day. I wouldn’t drag you into my world when I know I couldn’t give you what you deserved. ”
I exhaled through my nose, my eyes briefly closing. “Stop.”
“Stop what?”
“Stop saying everything I’m feeling and personally going through.
We’re very, very different people, Whiskey.
I think we’re opposites on almost all the things.
But your life and my life—they’re similar.
” I scanned his eyes. “I’m in the thick of it, and it’s about to get thicker.
I couldn’t do this either—even if I wanted to. ”
“Then it sounds like we understand each other …”
I leaned into his hand. “We do.”