“Isn’t that what you like?” He asked her, knowing he was wrong, but frustration and desire drove him now. “Putting on a show?” He took a step closer, close enough she had to lean her head back against the door. Eden’s voice rose and fell from the barroom, but the sound of Amber’s breathing filled his ears.
The air between them shifted instantly. Her laughter died away, replaced by a charged silence. She smiled slowly. “Oh, I see now,” she said softly, shiftingher hips against his swollen cock. “Is that what this is about? You want me, but you won’t let yourself have me?” She drew her finger down his chest, leaving a burning trail in her wake. His stomach clenched. “Always the perfect gentleman.”
His pulse raced. Slowly, his hands came to her shoulders, and caught and lingered for a moment on the little bow, fingering the fabric. How easy it would be to tug the ribbon and see all that creamy skin. She wanted him as much as he wanted her, he was sure of it. He could see it in her sultry eyes and feel it in her ragged breathing.
He didn’t miscalculate that emotion. It was the only one she didn’t hide.
But he wanted more.
“Take what you want,” she breathed. Her lips were pink, tilted up in that wickedly curving smile that made him so crazy. He quickly gripped her wrist and brought it back to the door next to her head. Her breasts rose and fell steadily against her chest, so close he could feel the press of her nipples through his shirt.
She slid one arm around his neck and raised her lips. “Finish what you started in my kitchen.” She rolled her hips against his, deliberately. Hard. Notching her softness perfectly against his hardness.
“Don’t,” he said harshly. “Just—” Now it was his breathing that echoed in the small room. Every muscle in his body was rigid with pent-up desire. He wanted to lift her up and feel her legs tighten around his waist, to untie her dress and see her beautiful bare breasts in his hands, and suck her nipples until she went wild. And most of all, finally, finally thrust into her wet, welcome heat while he fucked her against the door.
Jesus. This was insane. This wasn’t him. They were in a supply closet, for fuck’s sake. He ran a hand through his hair, frustrated beyond measure. “I have to go,” he said very,very quietly.
“I thought . . .” she started, then stopped abruptly.
“You thought what?”
“Never mind,” she said, lifting that little determined chin. “It doesn’t matter.” She smiled ruefully. “It doesn’t matter,” she said, as if she needed to hear it again.
She turned to leave. Theo stepped up behind her, tight and close to her body, until she was pressed between him and the door. Her scent filled him, the soft curls of her hair brushed his face and he let himself breathe her in.
It could, he wanted to say. It could matter to us both. But he didn’t say that because she wasn’t ready to hear it. She might never be, and he would just have to live with that.
He straightened up and opened the door for her.
Chapter Twenty-Three
At six o’clock onMonday morning, her alarm went off. She struck a hand out blindly and turned it off, cracked one eye open, and groaned. The sheer curtain in her bedroom revealed a gray, dark sky that looked ready to open up and pour at any minute.
She made up her mind. She wasn’t running today.
Theo would be mad about it, but she wasn’t feeling any sort of generosity for the man at the moment. His abrupt goodbye at the pub had left her feeling emotions she made it a habit never to feel.
She was so disappointed she had spent the rest of the night flirting with all the usual crew. It was a superficial attempt to not feel the emptiness that grew in her as she watched Theo walk out. That kind of high never lasted, but it was something when she felt abruptly like she had nothing.
Not even the ability to sleep in anymore.
She punched the pillow and got up. Theo had ruined her. Her body was so used to waking up early, she couldn’t go back to sleep. Even her usual breakfasts of muffinsand coffee made her stomach hurt now. She’d never admit it, but she craved green juice and eggs.
What had he done to her?
And why hadn’t he stayed last night?
The answers to either of those questions was more than she wanted to think about before the sun was up.
But she was done running. She didn't care what other events he went to for the rest of the summer. It wasn’t even in her job description to schedule them, and aside from a nice little bonus if he won reelection, it was no skin off her back if he never went to another community event.
Theo was a sadist and she wasn’t going to let him boss her around anymore.
Or hurt her by leaving.
She was the one who left.
Which is why, when he knocked on the door promptly at six-thirty, she was ready to pounce.
