Stop for tonight. As if they had endless nights to pick the story up. She closed the book.
“You have a beautiful voice. I could listen to it for hours.”
Had she thought he sounded intimate before? He’d gone straight from kissing her neck to stroking between her legs with that little statement. “Thanks.” She started to get up but was startled to feel his fingers wrap around her wrist.
“Why don’t you sleep here?”
She could practically feel his body tight against hers. Her body tensed. Despite her best efforts, heat stained her cheeks. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“No sex.”
Unable to help herself, she glanced at his lap. No erection tented the sheet. He followed her gaze and grimaced. “Not like I’m able, right? It’s not you, it’s me. Trust me, my flesh is just a little on the weak side right now. If I was at full speed, watching you drink soup would have gotten me hard.”
Genevieve stared at him, not quite sure what to respond with. Was he trying to…reassure her?
“I’m screwing this up, right?” He rubbed his hand over his face and sighed in a gust of noise. “I’m not a suave guy, but normally I’m not this stupid. Look, I’m not going to lie, I find you really attractive. But I wouldn’t pounce on you even if I could get it up. I’m not into force. Hell, you can even make me weak if you want, like I offered before.”
He was so damn direct. For a girl who hated games and liars, it was a refreshing change. Genevieve raised her chin. “I’m not scared of you. It wouldn’t take me long to fight you off if I didn’t want you.” The key word being if. Because if she was really confronted with a gorgeous, amorous Alex who wanted her, she didn’t know if she was principled enough to refuse him, quite honestly. “I, um, just really like my couch. So…good night.”
He watched her go with such disappointment, she was beyond tempted to run right back into his arms. What was up with this guy? Yes, part of it was that inexplicable physical chemistry. But the scary thing was that emotional conduit that had opened earlier between them.
They were thrown together in a cozy little situation here. She needed to be the responsible, levelheaded one, since he clearly wasn’t into that role. His laid-back, flirtatious personality was damn attractive.
She tried to remind herself of that for the next four hours as she tossed and turned on the lumpy couch in her sunroom. The back room was colder than the main area of the cabin, partly because it lacked a fireplace, but mostly because the wall of floor-to-ceiling windows faced a winter wonderland.
Oh, and there was no naked hunk to curl up next to. That definitely made a difference in terms of warmth.
She heaved a rough sigh and tried to count the individual snowflakes as they fell down. She’d gotten up to about a hundred when a low moan interrupted her.
Without a second thought, she leapt out of bed and darted into the front room, certain Alex had hurt himself. When he was within her sights, she pulled up short. He wasn’t in severe pain, but he would be if he kept thrashing around like that. The moans were spilling from his half-open mouth with increasing frequency, his brow furrowed. He was uttering words, but they were so low and disjointed she had no idea what he was saying.
Genevieve approached him cautiously, not wanting to scare him or jolt him too hard out of whatever nightmare he was caught in. She knelt next to him and grabbed his uninjured shoulder, giving him the slightest of shakes. “Alex. Wake up. You’re okay.”
His eyes popped open, but by their glassy appearance, Genevieve knew he didn’t see her. “Jerry.” His tone was low and filled with such naked pain, Genevieve’s heart clenched a little. Who was Jerry?
She kept her tone firm and commanding. “No, it’s Genevieve. You’re dreaming.”
He blinked a few times and awareness returned. “Genevieve?”
She knew she should remove her hand, but it felt good over the tensile strength of his shoulder. “Yes. You had a bad dream. Are you okay?”
Alex shook his head, as if to clear it. “Yes. I’m sorry. Did I wake you?”
No, ’cause I never slept, ’cause I was too busy thinking of your hot bod.“No. Don’t worry about it.”
“I haven’t had that dream in a while.”
Alex had some kind of effect on her verbal filter, because despite the fact that she knew it was none of her damn business, she couldn’t help but ask, “Do you want to talk about it?”
He closed his eyes. “I’m all right.”
She should have been relieved. Hadn’t she just been telling herself that she needed to keep her distance from the oh-so-charming man? Without saying anything more, she moved as if to stand up.
“It’s just that…”
Her butt hit the ground so fast it was like she was a toddler running for story time. She couldn’t even begin to work up some good shame over her hypocrisy. “Yes?”
“I was shot last year while I was working a case. I think this stirred up that memory, that’s all.”
