“Yes,” I whispered. My heart still hammered against my chest.
“If I don’t clean you now, I’ll take you,” he said with a shrug. I bit my lips and flushed.
“But I’d like that.”
“Oh, I know. You’ve made it nearly impossible to keep my cock to myself, but I’m going to do what I need to do,” he groaned.
“And what is that?” I asked.
“Take care of you,” he said, his voice dropping into that low rumble, curling my toes. He said it naturally, as if everyone did it this way. But I knew the truth—no one did this. I swallowed the lump in my throat. It wasn’t normal. How could it be that a man I’d just met treated me far better than Amos had in the six years I’d known him? My vision blurred, but I looked up, refusing to blink and let the tears fall.
I didn’t want to fool myself and believe he would want me forever.
“Isn’t this supposed to be the part where I go home?” I whispered. If he heard me, he didn’t say, but he tensed beneath me.
His bedroom was a blur as he carried me through it. The room was a cavern of matte black walls and textured tile, stripped of everything but the essentials, not including framed drawings of snow-capped mountains and cloudless sunsets. This bathroom was three times the size of mine. A mirror spanned the left wall, reflecting the black basin tub set into the floor.
He sat me on the cool, hovering counter. My feet dangled over the edge as he walked over to the tub, leaning down to turn it on. When he stepped between my thighs, his firm waist against my core, I tipped my chin to look at him. He leaned forward, his hands caged me in on either side, lowering himself until we were eye level. After everything we’d done together, this made me squirm.Eye contact.He searched for something. I didn’t know what he was searching for, I hoped he wouldn’t find it.
“Vera.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yes?”
“What do you think this is?” There was no judgment or annoyance. I clenched my jaw as thunder rolled in the distance. The answer was on the tip of my tongue, but I hesitated. Dane wasn’t Amos, but knowledge didn’t erase the worry. The fear that one wrong word would send me flying across the room.
“A hookup,” I whispered, though the word felt wrong. “Men don’t…. they don’t do this. They don’t stayafter. They don’t care if I’m aching. It’s been fun, but it’s time I leave.”
“You think I’d settle for a hookup when I want the whole damn thing?” He leaned in, his nose brushing mine. “I’m not ‘men’, Vera. What have I done to insinuate that’s all we are?” Something like anger flashed in his gaze.
“Isn’t that why I’m here?”
“No, Babygirl. That’s not why you’re here. I went to that party to find you.”
“Men will go anywhere, at any time, to get their dick wet,” I explained.
“That’s where you’re still confused,” he chuckled.
“What?”
“Don’t group me in with those so-called men. Women come to me. They slide into my DMs and beg for my cock,” he sighed. My breath rattled in my lungs. I turned away, hating the way my chest hollowed. His hand gripped my jaw, his fingers stretching from one ear to my temple. He forced my attention back.
“I know you can have any woman you want,” I whimpered. A tear slipped, trailing down my cheek as he watched.
“Is this for me? Babygirl, I didn’t say that to hurt you. I was explaining why you’re different,” he murmured.
“Me?” I breathed.
“You,” he growled. “You’re the only one. I did those things because it was you.”
“You expect me to believe that you’d do all of those things for someone you’d never met?” I asked.
“I expect nothing but what you have to offer.”
I needed to run, but he refused to release me. He didn’t hover, but he stayed right there, waiting as if I mattered. His body was a barrier against the winds of my own depression. His gaze held me captive, demanding I believe him, refusing to letme look anywhere but at him.But who could ever love me?I took a deep breath, forcing my muscles to relax.
“Let’s not pretend this is something it isn’t.” Dane arched a brow at my words. He stared at me as if he saw something I didn’t.
“And what is that?”
