“Does that mean I get to name my prize?” This time I lean down so that my lips nearly graze over his, pulling back and smiling in satisfaction when he tips his chin up to meet me.
“Please don’t tempt me, Claire,” he rasps, melting away the resolve I’d just built up. “I’m so weak.”
I sigh in defeat and rest my forehead against his. “So am I. And I kind of hate the idea of you kissing anyone else,” I admit against my better judgment.
He straightens his posture as his brows draw in tightly. “You do?”
“Yes.” I cringe.
“What are you going to do about it?” he asks, his expression still strained.
His dare sends a wave of heat through me, but I remind myself that he’s just going to keep toying with me as long as I let him. He won’t allow himself to make another move, no matter how badly he wants this.
“Whatever it is, I should probably make you beg for it,” I reply coyly, testing his resolve.
Rowan licks his lips, bringing my attention back to his mouth. “I know I haven’t earned it, but maybe just … one kiss? To remind me what it’s supposed to feel like …please?”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
claire
The hoarsepleaseRowan adds to his request nearly does me in, and I nod eagerly, not even caring how desperate I’ve become. I cup my palms around his jaw and kiss him so hard our teeth clink together. His right hand entangles within my hair as his tongue slips into my mouth, accidentally yanking a few strands free from my braid as he urges me closer with another hand on my lower back.
And I don’t know how I’ve managed to resist him for this long, because kissing Rowan is even better than I remembered. I grasp desperately at his short hair, and then at his shirt, trying anything and everything I can to get closer to him.
Besides stretching that single kiss into a twenty-minute make-out session, we keep to our word, relishing in one another but never venturing beneath our clothes, despite how easy it would be with his scrubs and my practically indecent PJs.
He growls when we finally break apart, both of us breathing hard and struggling to keep ourselves from going in for more as he holds out his wrist.
“See … what you do … to me,” he barely gets out and gestures to the wonky line graph. But I admittedly can’t be bothered with anything else so long as his lips are still looking so irresistibly swollen.
“Youweresort of asking for it,” I reply with a giggle, pleased withmy work. Truthfully, I can’t remember kissing ever being this much fun, even when I was a teenager. Keeping my clothes on with Rowan is still infinitely hotter than actually having sex with anyone else.
I sigh when he nods and smiles at me, and it makes me feel like I’m floating. How is this all it takes from him to leave me in the same lazy, drunken state that I’d only have imagined was possible after a much more intimate act?
“Now do you believe me when I say I understand the difference between lust and love?” he muses, reaching up to push a strand of hair from my face.
The words are like a record scratch, popping my bubble and sending me plummeting back down to earth.
Even though he’s agreeing with the pointImade earlier, I find myself shrinking in. Hearing another reminder that he’s only attracted to me against his better judgment hurts more than I expected, especially since I don’t have much more to offer him.
“Yeah,” I croak out, pushing off his chest to rise to my feet. “I guess you’re capable of more than I thought.”
He looks up at me with concern. “Did I … have I said something wrong?”
I shake my head and point to his watch. “I just realized it’s getting late. Your family’s expecting us before lunch tomorrow, and you probably need to shower.”
“Right,” he says softly. “Sorry for keeping you up.”
“It was fun while it lasted,” I return dryly.
“I can, um, get the dogs if you want to turn in now.” His eyelashes flutter, and I can see the mixture of regret and confusion in his expression.
“Thanks.”
He sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “Good night, Claire.”
“Good night. Sorry your evening turned out to be so … disappointing,” I mutter before ambling down the hallway to my bedroom.
