“Because I want you to see me as I amnow,” she admitted sullenly.
“Why?”
Screw it, she decided.He must suspect how I feel about him, how I’vealwaysfelt about him. It won’t change anything if I come right out and say it.
“Because Iwantyou, Sam,” she blurted. And then for good measure, and so there was no way he could misconstrue her words, she added, “And not in the puppy love way I wanted you when I was in middle school. I want you the way a woman wants a man. With all the accompanying nakedness and sweat and the exchanging of fluids.”
Even in the low light, there was no mistaking the path his Adam’s apple took up the length of his throat.
“I lost my virginity to your sister.” The words were rough, like they’d been dragged over sandpaper on the way out of his mouth.
She waved a dismissive hand. “So what?”
“So doesn’t that mean I’m off-limits?”
She blinked. And then remembered what he’d said months ago. That because he’d dated Candy back in high school, it meant he was more or less her brother-in-law.
She’d scoffed at the notion then. She wasted no time telling him what she thought of it now.
“I mean, if you’d actuallymarriedher and become my brother-in-law, then yeah. Or ifCandywould have a problem with it, then sure. But a high school fling that began and ended a million years ago? And a sister who doesn’t care about much besides the good standing of her membership at The Metropolitan Club? Pretty sure that means you’re fair game.”
“Candy might not care,” he insisted. “But don’tyou?”
“Why would I?” She canted her head. “I spent my entire life being given Candy’s castoffs. All her old clothes. All her old makeup. Heck, I even got her old Honda Civic when she married Jared and he bought her a new Mercedes. I kind of feel like it’s only fitting that I should lust after her old boyfriend.”
Her words elicited the response she was after. One corner of his mouth quirked. “Why do I feel like you just called me Sloppy Seconds?”
“Are you sloppy?” she teased. “I’d just assumed you’d learned a thing or two since the days when you groped my sister on the park bench at Jackson Park.”
His jaw slung open. “Shetoldyou ’bout that?”
“Not at the time,” she assured him, deciding she was going straight to hell for having such fun at his expense. “I was too young. But once we were both adults? Over bottomless mimosas? Sure. I heard the stories.”
“For fuck’s sake.” He ran a hand through his hair and then paced about ten yards down the tunnel to where Fisher had parked the motorcycle. The light from his cell phone haloed him in a circle of white. “Andthisis why a man should never date sisters,” he muttered. “They compare notes.”
“I hate to break it to you, but it isn’t just sisters. All women share their experiences. It’s one of the ways we protect ourselves since we’re forced to date our only natural predators.”
That stopped his pacing. “Your only natural predators?”
“Think about it. When you hear about a woman being assaulted or killed, is your first thought that the perpetrator was a mountain lion or a man?”
“Jesus.” He shook his head. “When you put it that way, it’s amazing any of you step foot outside your front doors.”
“The urge to mate is strong.” She sighed breathily. “Unfortunately.”
He really played up the whole Super Man theme by shoving his fists onto his hips and taking up a wide-legged stance. “Isthatthe reason you want me? Because I’ve been vetted and deemed safe?”
“Oh, for—” She threw her hands in the air. “Are you serious?” When he refused to answer, simply stood there glowering, she was forced to go on. “I want you because you’re smart and sexy. Because you like the Coen brothers and because your sense of humor matches mine. I want you because ofyou, you big, dumb…dummy.”
She shook her head when her insult made that one corner of his mouth twitch again. For good measure, she added, “As for being safe? You’re probably the most dangerous man I’ve ever met.”
The part she kept to herself was,And not because you can shoot a rifle or jump out of an airplane. But because you could break my heart without lifting a finger.
Like it or not—and she was pretty sure she didnot—there was no more denying exactly what she felt for him. It wasn’t simply lust mixed with admiration swirled together with unrequited longing.
It was love.
She was in love with Samuel Harwood.
