“Yeah.” He gripped hers before letting go. “Thanks for coming tonight.”
“Of course.” Then she did what she’d been wanting to do all night. She leaned close to kiss him on the lips. A small, tender touch. But the familiar spark between them flamed bright all the same.
He kept sneaking glances at her on the drive home. The Smith she was used to would have made innuendos or teased her about getting sexy at some point. This quiet, introspective Smith did nothing but peek at her now and again. He parked and walked her to her door. There he paused, asked for her key, and when she gave it to him, opened her door.
He nudged her inside but remained in the doorframe, watching her. Waiting for her to invite him in, maybe? His gaze was tender when he said, “Thanks.”
“Um, sure.” She waited for the kiss that never came. “But you already thanked me.”
“You deserved it. So, ah, can I see you tomorrow? Breakfast on me.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “If you’re not busy, that is.”
Kill me now.He was doing that uncertain, shy thing again. The sincere man breaking through all the antagonistic, arrogant barriers he normally flipped at the world. Killing her resistance smile by smile, Smith waited with patience.
“I’d like that,” she said against her better judgement. So much for not getting involved with a man so soon after Cody. She was in so deep she could barely see past the need to make Smith happy.
His smile, when it came, made the butterflies in her belly flit all over the place. “Come on over when you get up.”
“But what if you’re asleep?”
“Knock and I’ll wake up. I’d rather be with you than dreaming.”
He left her staring after him, hopelessly ensnared and no longer unsure about it.
She knew what she had to do or go completely insane.
Smith openedthe door the next day at seven in the morning. He’d finally fallen asleep at two a.m. after a brutal time of trying to calm himself down. Just because Erin had agreed to breakfast with him didn’t mean anything had changed. They were still dancing around each other, and he had no idea if she’d agree to sleep with him. But he found he didn’t mind waiting, and that had never happened before.
He’d never had to chase after a woman. Typically, once he’d made his interest known, it didn’t take all that long to get her in bed. Smith had looks and a decent body. He knew this. He also knew how to please a woman, and he’d never had a problem giving a woman an orgasm. Smith respected his bedpartners. He might not love them or want to be with them for more than one go in the sack, but he didn’t lie to get them there. His lovers had known the score.
Did Erin? Because he sure as hell didn’t know what he was doing with her. Frustrated with himself, Smith put on sweats and running shoes and went out for a four-mile run. He let the physical exertion work on his mental kinks, trying to iron out his thoughts and feelings while figuring out what it was about Erin that felt so different from all the others.
All the others? He snorted. Smith wasn’t as big a player as he might like to think. Women gave him physical pleasure. But they wanted too much or not enough from him when it came to relationships.
Neither Meg nor Angela had wanted him. Rejected by two moms.
His first real girlfriend had wanted to play around, and he’d lost his heart at only fifteen. But hell, they’d been young, and he couldn’t blame her for their breakup. Not that he would after seventeen long years.
In the time since, he’d dated only seriously once, fucked around, and generally had sexual fun with women while keeping his heart behind a Kevlar vest. His time and energy had gone to making a living working construction and odd jobs before joining the Marine Corps. The Marines had definitely helped mold the man he’d become. The odds were still out on whether that was a good or bad thing.
He stepped up his pace, dodging moms with strollers and a few couples jogging together. The crisp October morning promised more sun, and he ran hard to work off the pie and meltaways from the previous night.
He clenched his fists tighter, still able to feel Erin’s hand holding his, to remember her mouth, her taste, her sweet scent as she’d kissed him in the truck.
Fuck, but he loved being around her. She made him feel as if all things could be possible. Happiness just within reach. So damn weird to feel that way for a woman.
The Corps had given him that for a while, a sense that he had a greater purpose to fulfill and was doing something good for once. He didn’t get into trouble, was promoted early, and generally enjoyed being a Marine.
Yet something nagged at him the longer he’d been in, that sense he was missing something. Coming home obviously hadn’t been the answer, because Meg cared even less about him now than she had when raising him. Her truths didn’t crush him the way she’d probably thought they might. In a way, she’d started him on a new path, giving him brothers. At first to hate, and now to… what? He didn’t hate them, no matter what he’d told Cash. That slippage last night, calling Reid “bro” had eased something between him and Reid. He felt it.
But it was Erin who preyed on his mind. Erin with whom he wanted to share his spare time.
He ran back home, winded, his muscles tired, his mind wired but also eased by his self-admissions.
He didn’t mind having brothers, though he wouldn’t call any of them close.
He liked his life right now, especially without Meg in it.
He especially liked Erin, as more than a friend. Hell, he was crushing on her big time.
