“You were going along with your life and this came out of nowhere.”
“Wham,” she said, appreciating him for articulating her meaning.“Some part of my past always lingered in the background, but…” She blew out a breath.“For the first time, I felt like I was getting my shit together.”Opening her eyes, she got comfort from his profile.“That’s because of you, you know.”
The corner of his mouth rose.“It’s ‘cause of me everything’s hit the fan too.”
“Your people are good people.No one can help who they are.”
“You included.We make decisions when we’re young that…”
Was he thinking about Teagan or validating what she was going through?
“Are the guys mad?Ozzie?Dalton?Noble?I haven’t talked to them.”
“What?No!No one’s mad at you.They’re standing ready to help.Whatever you need, they’ll do.They just figure you’ve been gawped at enough.Nothing’s different with them, Candy.With them or with me.”
He negotiated the traffic and parked around back, on the other side of the patio fence.
“I’ve only ever seen this truck from the windows upstairs,” she said, smoothing the leather as he killed the engine.“I like it.Why have I never been in it before?”
“When have we ever gone out anywhere together?”
Huh.He came to open her door, supporting her as she jumped onto the brick driveway.Another fingerprint lock got them through the gate, the accordion doors, and when they were inside, lights flickering on, she exhaled harmony.
“Do you want a drink?”he asked, going toward the back store.
She chose the stairs instead.“If you didn’t want me here overnight, you wouldn’t have brought me here.And if I wanted to get drunk, I’d have stayed at the club.”
“Same rules as last night?”His fingers dropped from the door he hadn’t opened.“Everyone will pile back here—”
“And I’ll be relegated to your bed.”She went up a stair, clutching the banister as she looked back at him.“I have things I need to get out of me.And I don’t want to do it down here in the light.”
“You want to do it up there in the dark?
“It?”she said, welcoming his grin with her own.“Yes, I do very much want to do it with you up there in the dark, but your rules are your rules, Unicorn.”
A platonic friend?He couldn’t be counted as that.Yet, they wouldn’t be friends with full benefits either.What she didn’t want was to start a conversation, enjoy any intimacy with him, even of a non-sexual kind, only to have it shattered when people returned from the club.That meant alone in the dark was their only guarantee of seclusion.Or as guaranteed as it could ever be with Roxie in the equation.
The others could stay in Crimson for hours or be on their way back to Cam’s already.She had no way of knowing and calling might suggest an invitation.
“Mock away,” he said.
She laughed.“I’m sorry, I’m not mocking you.I’m the joke here.I’ve never had a guy make me feel so…”
He didn’t want to have sex with her, yet she didn’t feel rejected.Their attraction was mutual.He’d said as much.Not that he needed to with the potency of chemistry that zipped between them.
Any woman who tried to force a man’s hand was no better than any other sexual predator and that wasn’t her.She wouldn’t want to wake up with a resentful, potentially angry, mate or worse, a guilt-racked, ashamed mate.If both parties weren’t all in, ready, willing, desperate, how could either of them enjoy the carnal experience?
TWENTY-THREE
WITHOUT PUSHING FOR more, he came over to hold her hips from behind as they ascended all the way to his floor.Bed.It wasn’t even a focus for sex, yet it brought joy and excitement.The nights she’d been with him…
When his hands kept going and his lips met the side of her neck, she sank back as he pulled her to him.
“Mm, you’re eager, Unicorn.If you’re drunk, you shouldn’t have driven us home.”
“I’m not drunk.”Yeah, that was the joke.Cam was a lot of things and irresponsible couldn’t be further from that list.“I like having you in private.”
“Most of our time together is private.”
