I shake my head and tell him the truth. “Near or not, taking you up on your offer is not in my best interest.”
“Why’s that?”
I confess. “You’re my kryptonite. My drug. My aphrodisiac. You’re every cliché to me, Bobby.” And a way of forgetting Carlos. I’m not ready. I need closure. Closure is finding Carlos’s killer or killers.
“And that’s a bad thing?” He strums his thumb across the arch of my cheek.
“I’m not into casual, and you literally vibrate with the word.”
He stays quiet for a few heartbeats, then gives me his truth. One that leaves behind a pang of pain in my chest.
“You’re right. Work takes up my time. A relationship isn’t in the cards for me.”
I have to ask the question that’s bothered me since he offered the blindsiding, insane solution for Gwen’s overdue tuition. “Do you offer the women you pick up inside Crimson one day and one night with you?” Am I not as special as I thought I was?
“You’re the first, Ever.” He wraps his arms around me and says next to my ear, “Promise me you’ll drive safely?”
“I promise,” I mumble, staring at his truck’s lush black leather seat.
“You’re upset.”
“I’m disappointed.”
“Because I’m into casual?”
“Because you’ll never make the call. You’ll forget about me.”
“Without a doubt, I’ll be calling. You’re unforgettable, Ever Moretti.”
“Only a guy who tells a girl that will forget her the moment a beautiful woman catches his eye.”
He grasps my shoulders and puts me at arm’s length. “I should be the one worrying. I’m competing with half the student body.”
“There’s no comparison.”
He chuckles, and the corners of my mouth twitch.
“Where’d you park, sweetness?”
Sweetness. I like that. Smiling, I tell him where my car is. We must be within driving distance. He picks me up off his lap and buckles me in.
I’m not ready for this night to end. “Can we walk there? I can drive you back to the club.”
“No need to. I have a feeling I’ll be walking off—” He clears his throat. “Walking off what you do to me.”
I close-mouth smile. He could’ve used any crass word to describe his erection but didn’t. The college guys would’ve had a field day with it.
Telling me to wait, Bobby gets out and runs around to my door. He opens the door and extends his hand to me. I scoot closer to the edge, thinking he’ll help me step onto the sideboard of his lifted truck before I hop off and land on my feet. Instead, he picks me up by my waist like I weigh nothing and sets me down.
I lift my gaze to tell him thank you but don’t get the chance. His mouth crashes over mine, and I’m lost to the skill of his tongue and the sweetness of his mouth.
I moan beneath the onslaught. My body slackens against his. I can get used to kisses with deep longing and unsatisfied need.
Thick fingers grip my hair. My head is angled, and Bobby deepens the kiss. He sinks his tongue into my mouth and touches the walls. Bitter beer. A sweetness I’ll remember as I touch myself. I could come now from his kiss alone. I clutch his bicep, and the muscles flex beneath my touch. I grip harder, begging him never to let me go. I can’t let go. I must hang on to my memories of him. Of my first love.
Oh God, I’m forgetting Carlos. Bobby’s kiss is all-consuming, and his grip on my hair, then my nape, is possessive. I’m not ready for another man to replace my memories of Carlos.
I break off the kiss. He’s breathing heavily. I am too. My fingers swipe over my well-kissed lips. They are swollen. He glides his knuckle over them like he’s apologizing. I jerk my head away. I never want him to apologize for making me feel good.
