"What are we doing?" I finallyasked.
"You're rubbing my chest and feeling sorry for my nipples, and among other things, I'm trying to figure out what your hair smells like," Riley murmured into myscalp.
"Purple," Iwhispered.
He laughed, and the warmth of him curled around me. "Your hair smells like purple? You meangrape?"
"Not grape," I said. "Purple. Just smell it again, and you'llgetit."
He inhaled deeply and then hummed, and I felt those vibrations in my hands and behind my eyes and everywhere, all at once. "I can't believe this, but I think you'reright."
I murmured in agreement and shifted just enough to bring my cheek to his chest. I'd been in this position before, but always with a layer of clothing between us. Now it was skin on skin, and all of those promises I'd made myself? The ones about keeping it casual and sticking to the arrangement and the man-free diet? Poof. Gone.Longgone.
"I know I'm right," I replied. "I've been using this shampoo since I was fifteen. It's a basic drugstore variety and it smells like purple, and Iloveit."
"I love it, too," hewhispered.
"Should we keepgoing?"
It was a question that could be interpreted however he wanted, and I needed it that way. I didn't trust myself to take the first step here, not when I knew I'd order him to get his cock out. And I wanted him to do theordering.
"With this game?" he asked. "I thinkyou'vewon."
"Are you forfeiting? I can go a few more rounds and get you out of those pants," I replied. I'd meant it as a joke, and as with most things I said, my words came out sharp andserious.
"I'm sure you can," he said. A noise rattled in his throat, something between a rough sigh and a growl, and he stepped away from me. I wanted that sound in my ear again. I wanted it in my bed, and I wanted it for always. "Get dressed, Shortstop. You'rebuying."
* * *
"Iwant to hear about Nevada,"Riley said when we were settled into a booth at The Red Hat, a tavern around the corner from the Walsh Associates office. "No placelikehome?"
I frowned into my beer. "That's two different topics," I said. "I can tell you about Nevada, which is always pronounced Nev-add-uh, never Nev-ah-duh. Or I can tell you about why it's not home, notanymore."
"Do both," heordered.
There was a hard glint in his eyes, something I hadn't noticed earlier tonight. He'd also kept a safe distance from me on the short walk to the tavern, and his head down and hands tucked in his pockets until we were seated on opposite sides of this booth. Clearly he'd gotten his fill of me back in thebasement.
It never escaped my notice that Riley was dealing with some shit. He wanted the world to believe he was all easy smiles and goofy commentary, but those were the layers he used to gain distance. No one stopped to look under the surface when he was recapping sports highlights with his wonky brand of wit, or diffusing situations with self-deprecatinghumor.
But it was all there, right under theradar.
I knew he was hung up on someone. While I'd originally assumed it was the ex-girlfriend from college—of scarred nipples and tramp stamp fame—I wasn't completely convinced. He never bashed her or blamed her for things without taking some of the responsibility himself, and that left me wondering whether he still held a torch for her. But those pieces didn't fall into place. If he wanted to start things up with her, it sounded like she'd jump for joy and find some other perfect part of himtomaim.
Whoever it was, she was occupying a whole hell of a lot of his mind and probably all of his heart. And I hated her just atinybit.
"Nevada is great," I started. "I'm from the Washoe Valley, which is in northern Nevada. Reno, to be specific. There are casinos and some legalized prostitution, sure, but there's so much more than that. When you live there, all of that fades into the background and you're left with mountains and lakes and more sky and sunshine than you've ever seen in yourentirelife."
"You grew upthere?"
I nodded as I sipped my beer. "Yeah, Adam and I were born there," I said. "My mother's family has been in northern Nevada since silver was discovered in the mountains near Virginia City almost two hundred years ago. She knowsallthe old Bonanza King families from the Comstock Lode, and can tell you generations upon generations of gossip. It's like the West's version of the Daughters of the AmericanRevolution."
Riley studied the menu for a moment before glancing back to me. He was smiling now, the hard glint fading. "So you'rerealNevada people,"hesaid.
"Pretty much," I said, laughing. "Kind of like how you're real Bostonpeople."
Scratching his chin, he said, "And here I was, telling you how my family had been restoring homes in Boston since the Great Depression when you have stories about the freakingComstock."
"See, that's what I love about Nevada," I said. "Everyone thinks it's this dusty old place with some casinos and maybe a few aliens, but it actually has this amazing history and weird little mining towns and people who still tell stories about what really went down back then. It's more than you'd everexpect."
