‘Oh, like they taught you that in med school? Don’t try to act like it wasn’t something you instigated. And don’t try to pretend it wasn’t something you’ve wanted for days. And don’t you dare try to pretend nothing more personal isn’t going to happen.’
He shifted. The sheet slipped. He hastily pulled it back.
Yeah, his ‘personal’ reaction was only getting bigger. And she was beyond sure of him now. Anticipation licked her nerves and made her laugh. ‘Did you know there’s over two hundred and fifty million bubbles in a bottle of champagne? Which means there are about a hundred and twenty-five million bubbles zinging through my veins now.’
Gabe leaned back and rested his head back on the headboard, his pulse still settling from the shock of waking to find her in his room. But this reality was no nightmare, just pure fantasy—a too-pretty girl laughing at him, daring him, tempting him. ‘Someone bothered to count?’ he drawled, trying to feign some cool—some control.
‘Apparently so.’
‘You’ve had your bottle, then?’
‘All by myself.’ She sniffed. ‘You should have had some with me.’
He shook his head slowly, ruefully smiling. He’d lick the last drops from her lips given half the chance. But the trouble was helikedher. And that was where the complications arose. He sensed hurt beneath her determinedly sunny exterior, was certain she was denying loneliness and who knew what other needs. But he couldn’t ever be the guy to give security. His lifestyle would never accommodate a serious relationship and he didn’t want emotional hassle. It had taken him too long to feel his own freedom. And he couldn’t trust that she wouldn’t think she wanted more if they became fully intimate.
‘No matter.’ She sashayed closer. ‘You promised me something.’
Oh, the temptation was extreme now. ‘I didn’t promise,’ he muttered weakly.
‘After the show.’ She ignored his denial. ‘I danced how you said to. Did you see?’
His gaze dropped to the sheet as he tried so hard to expunge the image that had sprung to mind. ‘Yes.’
‘Did you like it?’ Her voice went husky.
He swallowed. This was torture. Utter torture.
‘You’re afraid to answer that?’
‘Yes,’ he admitted.
‘Why?’
‘I don’t want to hurt you.’
‘You won’t. So long as I’m warmed up—and I do believe I am.’ She chuckled. ‘It shouldn’t hurt that much at all, should it? I always figured the pain thing was a way of trying to put a girl off. Trying to keep us “good”.’ She gurgled with laughter.
‘Roxie.’ He felt strangled as heat consumed him. ‘I didn’t mean physically.’
‘Oh.’ She bit her lip but the giggle continued anyway.
‘I’m serious.’ He sat upright, angry and frustrated and so,sopainfully hard. ‘Can you really do a one-night stand, Roxie? Can you really stay emotionally disconnected? First lovers usually go hand in hand with firstlove—involving more emotions than you intend simply because you don’t have the experience to control them. I don’t want emotional entanglement. I don’t want commitment. If we did this, it would matter more to you than it would to me.’
‘No, it wouldn’t,’ she denied it. ‘All that matters to me is having it good and I know it’ll be that way with you.’
He screwed his eyes shut tight, because he knew it would be so muchmorethan good. ‘You’re a virgin. Adrunkvirgin,’ he reminded himself. ‘What am I thinking trying to have this conversation now? Get the hell out of here.’
‘I’m not drunk,’ she asserted bluntly. ‘I want you. And I don’t want anything more than tonight.’
His eyes shot open and he took a deep, pained gulp for sanity.
‘Isn’t it every man’s fantasy to initiate a woman in the art of sensual pleasure?’ She sighed with the most witchery smile he’d ever seen. ‘Why not show me how good it can be?’
He’d been hard for her since the moment he’d found her red-eyed scrubbing the shower—long before she’d told him her secret. But her devastating frankness—that mix of innocence and carnal desire—made him want her all the more. Hell, yes, hewanted to show her how good it could be. But he couldn’t. He just couldn’t.
Wild with both her and himself, he threw off the sheet and swung out of bed.
Open-mouthed, Roxie gazed as he stood up. He was hotter than she’d imagined. His abs rippled beneath golden skin and a smattering of dark hair that arrowed down to emphasize the huge hard-on he was packing. He advanced towards her with aggression inked all over him.
