He trailed his fingertips over her navel, down to her pubic bone and back up again. “That was…”
“Yeah.” She blew out a breath. “That was…”
“You’re thinking hard over there,” he said, quoting her words from earlier.
She turned her head on the pillow to face him. “I am.”
“Whatcha thinking about?” The familiarity with which he touched her made her feel like a total tosser for being ready to run earlier.
“Can we be serious for a second?” she asked, interrupting the exploration of his fingertips along her ribs.
He glanced down the naked length of her laying in his bed. “Sure.”
“I don’t know. I don’t know what you’re thinking.” She rolled, aligning their bodies. “But I need to be clear about where I’m at with this.”
“Becca…” He kissed her on the forehead. Unfortunately, he removed his fingertips from their exploration. “Tell me what you want.”
“Sorry.” She covered her face with her hands. “I’m making this weird.”
He pulled her hands away, again with a gentleness that seemed so unlike him. “Given the night we’ve had, I’m sure there’s nothing you could say right now that would make this weird.”
“Oh, I might surprise you.” She laughed, but it was stilted.
“Do you want to do the label thing?” He rolled on top of her, not giving her his weight, but letting their bodies touch. “Boyfriend. Girlfriend. That thing?”
The problem was, she didn’t. That’s not what she wanted. She shook her head. “I just. I don’t want anything serious. I just—” She pressed her fingertips against her temples. “I want to have fun in my life for a while.”
“If that’s what you want, I can make that happen.” He rolled her to her back, lengthening over the top of her, but not giving her his full weight.
She nodded. “I mean, would that bother you?”
He closed his eyes, let out a long breath. “Not as long as you don’t go having fun with other guys while we’re having fun.”
“I’d feel better if we are exclusive while we do this.” Look at her communicating like she would have encouraged her clients to do. Ask for what you want. Be assertive.
“Given that I’ve got no intention of being with anyone else, I’d say exclusive is a good deal.” His hands were back to roaming again.
Well. Great. Good talk. “Okay. Good. We’re exclusive. And we’re having fun.”
“See, that wasn’t weird.” His smile stretched clear across his cheeks.
“It wasn’t.” Not much, anyway.
In truth, the whole thing felt odd. Unlike Cedric’s finger, which seemed to know exactly where it was going as it played her,shecouldn’t put her finger on why everything felt slightly off center…
Chapter 16
Linx
“Whatcha doin’?” Linx emerged from the shower with a thick, white towel wrapped around his waist. He’d hoped Becca might join him, but she’d been fast asleep when he woke earlier.
The fatigue would be his fault. The thought made his mouth water for her. They’d had an active night, that was for sure.
She sat cross-legged on the bed, tying some kind of knots with thin strips of leather trailing from her purse.
“Macramé.” She kept her focus on the loops of leather, frowning at the rope she worked on, then nodded and fed the end of the rope through a long loop. Then she smiled like the sun had just come out on a cloudy day.
“I have no idea what that is.” He strode toward her and her project.
