While Blade didn't give any outward indication of it, Whitney couldn’t help but feel like this was a make-or-break moment. If she gave the wrong answer, whatever chance there might havebeen for something to happen between them would disappear like a puff of smoke.
A lie was on the tip of her tongue.
In the back of her mind, she knew she was no match for a dominant, powerful man like Blade, especially in the bedroom.
But …
For some reason, she couldn’t make the lie come out.
Instead, she shook her head slowly. “No,” Whitney whispered, “I don’t want you to see me as a sister. I don’t see you as a brother.”
Desire flared in the dark eyes that seemed to pin her in place, and when he slowly and deliberately began to move toward her, her breath caught, and her heart rate kicked into high gear as the throbbing between her legs returned.
“Good,” he murmured, his voice low and seductive. “Because I definitely don’t see you as a sister.”
Stopping close enough that she could feel the warm puff of his breath against her skin, Whitney felt it stoke the fire currently burning low in her belly, and she had to squirm as the need for stimulation down there became too much.
A smirk kicked up one side of his mouth. “Do you know why I didn't kiss you back in the gym?”
Whitney shook her head.
“Because I couldn’t process that someone as sweet and innocent as you would want to kiss a man like me.”
She sucked in a surprised breath at the revelation. As far as she was concerned, he had things backward.
“Do you know why I didn't come and find you afterward?”
Another shake of her head.
“Because you're so vulnerable, so very innocent, that I'm afraid of hurting you, scaring you. What I like … let’s just say the name Blade doesn’t just mean I prefer killing with a knife over a gun.”
Was he saying that he liked to use his knife in the bedroom?
The shadows in his eyes, the self-recrimination, the longing that he was doing his best to tamp down seemed to suggest that he was. Could she handle that? The fact that the tingling between her legs had only increased indicated that she could. Maybe it even excited her.
Her entire life had been orderly, organized, neat and tidy. She worked in a lab, she ran problems through her mind, adjusted formulas, and worked to correct her mistakes. She didn't do crazy things like have sex with a man who still scared her a little and give him permission to use his knife on her, cut her skin, and make her bleed.
And yet she wanted this—wanted him—more than anything else she’d ever wanted.
Without giving her logical mind a chance to talk her out of it, for once in her life, Whitney just went with her gut and threw herself into Blade’s arms, pressing her lips to his and praying he didn't reject her all over again.
Chapter
Fifteen
January 14th
1:59 A.M.
Shoving all doubts from his mind, all insecurities, all concerns about whether Whitney could handle this, handle him, Blade let himself fall headlong into the kiss.
His sweet little genius kissed tentatively, unsurely, but he didn't sense any doubts in her. Whitney might not know how to kiss, but she had jumped all in.
Grabbing hold of her hips, Blade dragged her forward, setting her on his lap with her knees on either side of his thighs. There was no way to kiss her and not want so much more, and his body hardened accordingly.
It was impossible to hide the fact that he was hard for her, and he wasn't sure how she’d react to that. Wanting to kiss him wasn't the same thing as wanting sex, especially with how he’d admitted he liked it.
But she didn't pull away, didn't pull back, instead, she did the opposite.
