“Sex,” she said.
Eight
AROUSAL GRIPPEDJACK’Sballs like a fist. His blood beat low and thick.
Lauren raised her chin, simmering with nerves and determination. He warmed at the sight of her, the setting sun smoldering in her hair, her face flushed and damp.She was so hot. So bright with life. Embarrassed, maybe, and still wobbly after that panic attack, but she still had that essential spark he’d lost.
I want sex.
Hunger, savage and dark, surged inside him. His stomach muscles tensed.I can give you sex. On that bench, on the floor, bent over that table. He wanted to yank that little skirt up to her waist and find her creamy and ready for him. He wanted to sink inside her, to make her come and come and come until her eyes lost her questions, until all she could see was him.
He ground his teeth so hard his jaw ached.Not him. He didn’t want her to see the real him, the angry, crazy man or the cool, controlled bastard. Until she saw what he wanted her to see, then. Somebody capable of giving her what she needed.
I want sex, she’d said.
But that wasn’t what she needed.
Who took care of you?he’d asked, and seen the answer dark in her eyes.Nobody.
He didn’t have her courage. He couldn’t put himself out there the way she did, spilling his guts and his goddamn feelings all the time. But he could be the guy who took care of her for now, who made her problems go away for a while. He could provide her with a refuge. Not simply his boat, not just dinner, but the sweaty, dark oblivion of sex.
As long as he stayed in control.
“You need to call the inn,” he said. “Let them know you won’t be home tonight.”
Her mouth jarred open as his meaning registered. He’d surprised her.Good.He surprised himself, how much he wanted her to stay.
She rallied swiftly, like the survivor she was. “I’m thirty-one years old,” she pointed out wryly. “Past the age for curfews. Or bed checks.”
“Right.” He took her almost-empty plate.
At least she’d eaten something, he saw with satisfaction. He’d done that much for her. Thoughts of other things he’d like to do for her, with her, to her, fired his brain, crackled through his body.
He set the plate down carefully, precisely, on the table.
Her eyes crinkled at the corners. What did she see when she looked at him that way? “Want help with the dishes?”
She was teasing him. Did she guess how close he was to the edge of his control?
“The dishes can wait.” His voice was rough. “I can’t.”
She laughed a little breathlessly. “You do know that’s ridiculously flattering, right?”
“Honest,” he corrected. He could do honest. To a point. Detectives did it in interrogation all the time. Admit just enough of the truth to coax the response you needed.
He took her hands and drew her smoothly to her feet. Their bodies brushed, hips, belly, thighs. She was warm and solid against him. The tiny stud in her nose winked like an ember. She tilted her head back, her pupils dilating to take him in until he felt himself falling into her gaze. He kissed her in self-defense, closing her eyes, opening her lips. She tasted cool and crisp like the wine with a touch of hot, a hint of sweet, a bite of salt. She kicked all his senses alive. He kissed her again, deeper, wetter. Her hands came up, shaping his shoulders, her fingers imprinting his skin, and his whole body surged and lunged like a dog on a leash. His dick was like iron.
He raised his head.Control. “Let me show you the cabin.”Before I take you out here.
She blinked once, lashes sweeping those wide, dark eyes. “Okay.”
He could make it to the cabin. He could take her on a bed. He could be what she needed him to be.
He guided her with a hand at the small of her back, reluctant to lose hold of her completely. His thumb found the gap at the top of her waistband, and his hand tingled liked he’d stuck his finger into an electrical outlet. Her skin was moist and warm.
“Wow.” She turned slowly in the cramped space, her gaze traveling over the no-frills cabin as if she could catalog his character along with all his stuff. “So this is you, huh?”
“My place. Yeah.” He hoped like hell he didn’t sound as defensive as he felt.
