“Yep.”
“But in June we…”
“Yep.”
“Oh. I see.” She lowered her gaze to her hands. “I wasn’t the only one who needed a distraction.”
“No.” He ran a hand through his hair hesitantly. “I…used you. I probably shouldn’t have, but…”
“Oh, be quiet,” she said, smiling. “We both used each other. And there was nothing wrong with it. I don’t blame you for a single day of the six months we were sleeping together…”
He chuckled. “Just for all the days after?”
“Yes,” she said harshly.
Sighing softly, he rubbed the back of his neck. Talking was…difficult. “I’m sorry. About what happened in the bar. I shouldn’t have said all that. But…you provoked me.”
“You claimed there was nothing between us.” Her voice was cool, but fire burned in her eyes. “You said I don’t know you and don’t need to. That I have no claim to any of your sides.”
“Yes,” he responded quietly. “But I never thought that was a problem. That was exactly what we agreed to, wasn’t it?”
“I know,” she replied irritably.
“Then why does the thought that you don’t know me upset you so much?”
She swallowed and bit her lip while looking him directly in the eyes. “Because in the last ten years, I haven’t gotten as close to anyone as I have to you. I know we weren’t in a relationship, but…you made what we had seem worthless,” she whispered hoarsely. “It wasn’t! It may have beenonly sex, but…it was the best damn sex I’ve ever had. I don’t know if I wouldn’t have gone completely crazy without you. Ineededyou. And to hear you say that it was a one-sided thing...that the time with me meant absolutely nothing to you…”
“It meant something to me,” he interrupted quietly, gritting his teeth. “The hours with you were…the only thing that was mine.”
“And why couldn’t you just tell me that?” she snapped. “That’s all I wanted from you!”
“Because it makes everything too complicated, Anna, don’t you understand?” he muttered harshly, leaning forward so that his knee bumped hers. “Because then you’d be right and it would have been a mistake. A mistake that felt so damn good that I want to repeat it. Over and over again. Until your head is filled with nothing but my name. Lucas, not Moreau. That scares me. Because it means I haven’t gotten enough of you.”
She looked at him, her eyes wide. Her lips parted. Her cheeks went pink. And her gaze got so damn hungry. “And what if I haven’t had enough of you either?”
“Then I’ll tell you it doesn’t matter,” he murmured, forcing himself to look into her eyes, not at her mouth. To hear only her voice, not her shallow breathing. To feel only the reproach, not her hand so damn close to his leg. “We can’t keep having hot sex forever. We work together, so it would come out. And that means drama, which I don’t want and you don’t need if you want to be taken seriously in your job. Just find something real, Anna.”
She continued to stare at him. Her hand slid to his knee, and her gaze fell on his lips. “I don’t know if I want something real.”
“I know.” He placed his hand firmly on hers, preventing it from moving higher. “Dax said you wanted to start living for real when you finished med school.”
“Dax talks too much,” she whispered, turning her hand so that their palms were touching, so that her warmth became his warmth.
“Is that true?” he asked, trying to maintain control.
“No. I started living properly before that.”
“Yeah?”
She swallowed and raised her other hand. Placed it on his chest, right over his pounding heart, but he felt it all over his body. “Yes. The night I kissed you. And honestly? Right now, I don’t want anything real. Right now, I only want you. So either you tell me to leave now — or kiss me.”
He stared at her. Looked straight into her eyes. Watched her pupils swallow the blue of her irises. Shouldn’t…couldn’t…
He kissed her.
A man only had so much control.
Chapter Ten
