I gaped at him. “You did not.”
He chuckled and let go of my hand to massage my thigh. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”
That, I believed.
I scooted closer, my skin prickling with anticipation. “Is there anything I should know now?”
Like how much he wanted to be with me?
He pulled off the road to park, then wrapped his arm around me. “I love taking long walks on the beach.”
I rolled my eyes and smiled. Did he also love writing poetry? And picnics, surely.
I nudged his nose with mine. “Something real, please.”
He slowly caressed my cheek, his gaze wading across my face with almost melancholy fondness. “I’d ruin you, if you let me.”
I inhaled sharply.
Not hurt.Ruin.The girl who was too sweet.
“I doubt it,” I said, aggressively nuzzling into his palm. That was just another line of his. A self-defense mechanism. More dramatics.
He furrowed his brow and studied me, waiting.
I traced the grooves of his knuckles, careful not to make eye contact. “I’m not the sweet, selfless girl everyone thinks I am.”
“No. I remember a cute, feisty girl snapping at me in The Closette.” He chuckled, the citrus spices on his breath warm across my face as he pulled me closer. “I just meant that I have bad instincts when it comes to making you happy.”
My heart pounded. “You might be better at it than you think.”
“Is there anything you want me to know before we go any further?” he asked, his thumb tracing my bottom lip.
The dark waters of my mind churned more than the lake outside.
“I…”
A medical chart fogged my brain:
ICD-10 Code Z73: Patient has problems related to life management difficulty.
“I have bad instincts too,” I said, then pecked his cheek, my lips driving more of a puncture than a caress.
He stuttered a laugh and eyed me in the dark. Was that embarrassing?
I shed my sweater, hot from the fevered imitative it’d taken to touch him like that.
“Tori,” he said, his voice husky with want.
I had to do something. I had to get out of my head—and out of this car.
“I-I’ve never been skinny dipping, and I’ve always wanted to try it. Come on.” I popped open the door, then ran toward the beach.
Angel followed, our breathless laughter breaking through the chill air. “Maybe you’ll be the one to ruin me,” he called.
The only thing I planned to ruin tonight was any lingering doubts I was too sweet for whatever Angel could do with me.
Chapter ten
