My senses are on red alert, warning me I’m about to make a huge mistake. There’s nothing to discuss. The past must stay buried, I’ve always known that, even if a part of me wants to scream the truth in his face.
Never.
There might be some things better left unsaid, but if he wants to talk, I’m not running away again. I slide back the bolt and open the door.
Play it cool.That was something I never managed with Ty, but I’ve had years to perfect a professional mask.
“I didn’t expect to see you again.”
His gaze drifts over me, and it’s hard to remain still and pretend he doesn’t still affect me as much as he did when I was a trusting teen.
“You plan to use that on me?” He eyes the bat before returning his hypnotic blue gaze to me, and even though he’s made no move to enter the apartment, he’s already taking up all the space in this tiny hallway.
“Do I need to?” I give the bat an experimental swing before dropping it back into the corner because of course I don’t. Ty never hurt me, not in that way.
“You might.” He doesn’t wait to be asked, just swaggers in as though he has the right, before slamming the door shut. “Too late now, though.”
Don’t fall under his spell again.But with him standing so close, the scent of wind and bike and leather swirling in the air between us, it’s hard to keep up that polite, distant masquerade I managed earlier today. Especially with two glasses of wine inside me, destroying every inhibition I have when it comes to Ty.
“So, what’re you doing here?” I refuse to fold my arms or fidget or do any of the things I used to do and which I thought I’d put behind me years ago.
“Why the hell do you think I’m here?” He towers over me, his stance threatening, and if he were anyone other than Ty Jenson, my self-defense instinct would’ve already kicked into gear.
Not now, though. Adrenaline pumps through me, and it’s got nothing to do with fear or flight. It’s been way too long since raw desire ignited my blood or clawed at the barriers in my mind.Feels so good.I wanted him this afternoon, and this is all the proof I need that, in this at least, we agree.
Don’t go there.If I tell him to leave, he will, even if he curses me for it. But I’m beyond being sensible and responsible and every other social expectation I’ve lived by for the last decade. To hell with doing the right thing.Just one last time is all I want.
“I can only think of one thing.”
Shock flashes across his face, as though he expected me to act dumb. Then he gives a predatory smile that doesn’t reach his eyes and backs me up against the wall. “You think one fuck’s gonna make everything right?”
My heart pounds, it’s hard to breathe, and I haven’t felt so alive for more than ten long years. “That’s all you’re going to get, so make the most of it.”
Reckless.I don’t care, and it doesn’t matter. I can say anything to Ty, do anything, the way I haven’t been able to with anyone else since before I left L.A.
“Is that right.” His hands are flat on the wall beside my shoulders, imprisoning me between his arms. I glance at his inked biceps. God, how I used to love his tattoos. Now his left arm is sleeved, an intricate work of art that I could spend hours admiring…
Stop.This isn’t about recreating our past or building bridges. This is everything it never was before. Lust and sex, pure and simple, with no devastating emotions to rip my heart to shreds again.
I drag my attention back to his face. Not that it’s a hardship. If anything, the faint lines around his eyes and the grooves in his cheeks just make him more gorgeous than before.
Somehow, I manage to find my voice. “Yes. Take it or leave it.”
Did I just say that?
“That’s what you do now, is it?” He doesn’t come any closer, but the heat from his body envelopes me, stealing my breath and what’s left of my sense. “Fuck them and leave them?”
What would he say if he knew the truth? That even now, after all this time, he’s the only one who meant anything?
“Why? Do you want more than a quick hookup with me?”
His brief grin is anything but amused. “One night should more than do it. What about you?”
I always wanted the impossible when it came to Ty, but I gave up on those dreams a long time ago. If this is the goodbye we never managed before, I’ll make it count. Maybe then I’ll be able to let go and move on.
“A whole night? I was thinking more of a quickie up against the wall.”
“When did your mouth get so smart?”
