I shivered, wondering if that was a real memory from last night or my horny imagination.
It was at that point I tripped over nothing.
Vann canted his head to the side and regarded me in my bridesmaid regalia. “I would have walked you out.”
I mimicked his pose, wrapping my arms around my body. But where he looked like a testosterone tightened tiger about to spring, I was the picture of hollowed out insecurity and self-doubt.
I struggled to swallow, contemplating how to explain my actions. “I knew we had a big day ahead of us, I didn’t want to bother you.”
“Is that what you think you would have done? Bother me?”
His words were wrapped in warmth and an intimacy he’d earned last night, but it was intimacy I didn’t feel since I could barely remember a damn thing. I shrugged, trying to play this cool. “You know what I mean.”
“No. I don’t.”
Laughing to break the tension, I said, “Listen, I realize we had a lot to drink last night and I just didn’t want you to… to feel awkward. It was a mistake and I was trying to save—”
“Last night was a mistake? You’re telling me you regret what happened?”
Obviously, yes. This was awkward as hell and I would have done anything to not have this conversation. So yes, I regretted sleeping with him, especially now that I realized he was going to give me the third degree about it.
But also no. No, I didn’t.
Another partial memory. This time he was positioned over me and I was clawing at his chest, my back arched in perfect submission as his magic rocked through me like a tidal wave.
Sharp and real, and oh my god, I needed to hit the pause button on these unwanted memories before I orgasmed right here on the spot.
Holy shit, I was in over my head.
“I don’t regret what happened,” I rushed to tell him. “Not at all.” I cleared my throat again. “What I’m trying to say is that we barely know each other. And you’re Vera’s brother, which complicates things. And basically, I had a great time last night, but I didn’t want to… prolong the inevitable.”
His chin jerked back a notch. “The inevitable?”
“We hooked up,” I explained, my shoulder lifting in that weak shrug again. “The end.”
His expression shuttered, a hard, impenetrable wall slamming over his eyes, tightening his jaw and locking his lips in place. After he’d stared at me so long and hard, I started to fidget, he shrugged too. “The end.”
Relief drilled through me, opening up entire springs of hope that this conversation was also coming to a close. I loosed a small smile. “Right. You get it. The end.”
His jaw ticked. My relief dried up with my sense of safety. He looked like a shiny new bullet, waiting in the chamber for the trigger to be pulled.
I shivered again, that same climax-filled memory pinging through my head. I was nervous. But I was also hella turned on.
He took a step forward, his lips twisting in a sideways smile. Only it wasn’t a pleasant smile. It was the equivalent of the safety being clicked off that gun. “Let me get this straight…” Another step forward. “We had a little too much to drink last night and hooked up.”
I bobbed my head back and forth. “I would say we had a little more than a little too much. My judgment was definitely impaired.” I tried to laugh again, but the sound hit the atmosphere like dust being sprinkled on the ground.
Taking another step forward, he nodded again. “What you’re saying is we made a reckless decision last night.”
“Reckless. That’s a good word for it.” My butt bumped against the counter. I’d started to retreat, but he wasn’t picking up the stay-away-from-me vibes.
Maybe because they were mixed up with the take-me-now ones?
He moved forward. “And because we didn’t use our most… sober thinking, we’ve now reached The End of whatever was between us.”
I tried laughing again, but it got me nowhere. “Isn’t that what you’re saying?”
He was in front of me now, close and warm and smelling like freaking heaven. His hands landed on either side of my waist. The smooth silk of his tuxedo brushed over my bare arms, sending shivers and tingles abuzz inside me.
