Chapter 24
The pitter-patter of little feet…
It wasn’t the first night Christian had heard Emily shuffle up to his door. But it was the first night he wasn’t going to wait around, heart in his throat, for her to knock.
It’d been hell—but also quite fun—to watch her struggle to resist him these past four weeks. Every teasing remark or quiet conversation only had him wanting more.Every gentle touch or fleeting caress had him fighting the urge to yank her into his arms and kiss her until she begged him never to stop. Every longing, hungry look she shot him—and there were quite a few—had him curling his hands into fists to keep from yelling at her, “You know you want me! You know you love me! Quit fighting and just give in, you daft, dear, damnably infuriating woman!”
But he’d surprised himself by showing the patience of Job. In fact, his restraint up to this point was worthy of a medal. Unfortunately for Emily, tonight he’d reached his wit’s end.
Time to press the issue, he thought, a feeling of anticipation tightening his chest.Time to give her the nudge she needs.
Quietly, he tossed aside his covers, tugged on a pair of jeans, and walked to his bedroomdoor. He was still doing up the buttons on his fly when he opened the door and found her standing at his threshold in the dark hallway. When she sucked in a startled breath, he was beyond delighted.
The lamp burning on his bedside table gave off enough light to show her eyes quickly tracing over his naked torso and lingering on the trail of hair that started below his belly button. When sheunconsciously licked her lips, his cock—which was always an overeager prat when it came to her—jerked with interest.
“Fancy coming in for a bit?” He held the door wide.
She darted a look into his room, saw his king-size bed with the rumpled sheets, and blushed to the roots of her hair.
Nodding, she then quickly shook her head. “No, I…” She swallowed. “I was just…”
He lifted a brow,loving that she was discombobulated. “You were just…what?”
Her eyebrows slammed into a scowl. “So you’re going to spend the rest of your life shirtless, is that it?”
He leaned against the doorjamb, crossing his arms over his chest and not missing the moment her eyes alighted on the bulge of his bicep. It was difficult not to shoot a hand of victory in the air when she gulped and seemedto have trouble meeting his gaze.
“You’re lucky I put on trousers, darling.” He made sure to thicken his accent. He knew what it did to her. “I sleep in the nude.”
Her eyes slipped to the waistband of his jeans. He didn’t need to hear her say the wordcommando. It was written all over her face. She gulped again, and he wondered if he’d ever heard a more gratifying sound.
My name onher lips when I make her come, he decided.Thatwas definitely more gratifying.
It took everything he had not to pull her into his room. She was adorable in her silk sleep pants, ratty pullover, and hair going every which way. The bruises on her neck and temple had long since faded, and with them had gone his anguish over what had happened in Cornwall.
Not that he didn’t still have regrets.He always would. He wished with his whole heart that things had been different. But he’d come to accept that theyhadn’tbeen different, and given that, he’d taken the only action he could.
“Emily?” He lifted a brow. “This is the third night I’ve heard you standing outside my door, so is there something you feel you need to tell me?”
Not that he wasn’t perfectly pleased standing there,letting her ogle him. And shewasogling.Score one for Christian!But with each passing second, it was becoming more and more impossible to keep his hands to himself.
“Huh?” She chewed on her bottom lip. “Oh right.” She nodded vigorously. “Thereissomething I want to tell you. I’m…” She looked around as if she was searching for the answer. “I’mmadat you!”
Thathad his chin jerkingback.
“I’m mad that you told everyone you love me and now they’re onyourside. I’m mad that you’re being so”—she waved a hand in his direction—“niceand accommodating and acting like nothing has changed between us. I’m mad that you keeptouchingme and making me remember all that was and all thatshouldhave been, had you not gotten all delusional and started thinking you’re in love withme.”
By the time she got to the end, she was breathing hard, her small breasts rising and falling against the cotton of her pullover.
A door down the hallway opened, and Ozzie poked his head out. His mad-scientist hair was even crazier than usual. “Hey!” he hissed. “Keep it down out here!”
Never one to pass up an opportunity to cut Ozzie down, Christian said, “You, sir, look like abeforepicture.”
Trading insults was one of Ozzie and Christian’s favorite pastimes, so Christian wasn’t at all surprised when Ozzie came back with, “Andyou, sir, are depriving some poor village of its idiot. But that’s neither here nor there, because Samantha and I are trying to get romantic, and it’s hard when we have to listen to you two.”
Samantha appeared beside Ozzie in the opendoorway. She was wearing a robe, but it was obvious by the beard burn on her cheeks and chin that Ozzie wasn’t kidding about the “getting romantic” part.
“Yeah!” She scowled at Christian and Emily. “Whathesaid!”
