A brush of something warm against my bare arm. I react without thinking, twist and grab the intruder’s shirt and use the momentum of my motion to throw him. A strong grip around my shirt—shit—and as his big body goes down, he pulls me down too, his leg swiping at my ankle.
I aim an elbow at his chest, ready to crack his sternum, but he blocks it as we land in a heap with me on top. I’m not a waif, so the impact should knock the air out of him, but it doesn’t. We roll a bit and I end up on the living room floor on my back.
“What a welcome.”
“Noah?” I scowl up at him. “You couldn’t have just said ‘Hi Bobbi?’”
“Yeah, but then we wouldn’t be lying here together in your dimly lit living room.”
“Ack.” I struggle to get up but he won’t let me. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“What the hell areyoudoingin a man’s shirt?”He sniffs. “You smell like him too.” His voice is low and seething with something dangerous.
Instead of backing off or explaining that the T-shirt belongs to my cousin, I laugh. “So? Nobody’s stopping you from putting on a woman’s blouse and smelling like her.”
“Oh baby, the only woman I want to smell like is you.” He rubs himself against me like a cat—that’s the only way to describe how he’s moving over me. “The only woman I want to taste is you.”
“Shut up.”
Desire flares in his eyes. Too late I remember what happened the last time I told him to shut up. His mouth swoops down and claims mine ruthlessly. There’s no finesse or tenderness, just raw need and possessiveness as his tongue thrusts into my mouth like he’s starving for me.
I shouldn’t take anything he does at face value, but part of me starts to melt a little. His mouth feels so good. It’s unfair how well he remembers what I like. The exact pressure I love, the teasing strokes I crave, and the dominating caresses I can’t get enough of.
And the fact that I still crave him—and remembering that I’ve never felt the urge to sleep with another man after Noah—results in a surge of annoyance and embarrassment. I should never let him control me with sex. I deserve more.
I open my eyes, just a little, and see his face in the shadows. The long lashes over his high cheekbones, the heat of his body and the hardness of him nestled between my legs. If I had amnesia, I’d probably think he was my devoted husband and crazy about me. Maybe that’s why I keep falling for his charms.
Well, no more.
I arch abruptly, shoving him off and bringing my knee up sharply so he can’t continue to use his body to hold me down. It connects, but not the way I want; he grunts and rolls away.
He stares, eyes glazed with unfulfilled lust—which is rapidly dissipating. “Hey, watch the knee. I thought you wanted babies.”
“Not yours.” I sit up.
“You aren’t havinghis.” He points at my shirt.
“Really? Why not? You planning to get me pregnant and then not show up when my water breaks?” I loop my index finger around the chain and pull it from under the shirt, so Noah can see the blue diamond ring. “I deserve what this represents—a good,reliableman who doesn’t lie to me. I deserve to be my husband’s number one priority, to feel loved and respected.Cherished.”
“Bobbi, I—”
“Do you remember the time I baked you a birthday cake and you said it made you feel glad you were born? In Mexico?”
“Youmade me feel glad I was born.” His voice is rough with emotion. It begs me to lower the shield around my heart, but I won’t.
“I want to be with a man who makes me feel gladIwas born, Noah. I can’t settle for anything less than that. My future shouldn’t be less than that. I don’t know why you’re back in my life and what you’re hoping to accomplish, but let’s not…” I shrug, struggling to put my messy thoughts into words. “We can be friends.”
“I don’t want to be your friend, Bobbi. I want to be more.”
“That’s the divide between us. And I’m not negotiating.”
A beat of silence. “You said you’d give me a chance if your cat liked me.”
“So? It won’t do you any good.”
“We'll see about that. Yes or no?”
I stare at him and then sigh. “Yes. But it won’t change anything.” Señor Mittens is antihuman. And Noah doesn’t have the patience to woo my cat.
