His laughter vibrates against my hand, muffled and warm.
I release him with a reluctant sigh.
“Fine,” he says, catching my hand and pressing it flat against his chest. His heartbeat thumps steadily beneath my palm. “I won’t keep saying it. I know it bothers you.”
Well, fuck.
I can’t take it back now.
Maybe it’s better this way. Maybe my heart will find a way to his, without the words scaring me away.
“I…” I hesitate. “I don’tnotlove you, you know.”
He frowns up at me. “Isn’t that a double negative? So it’s basically positive?
“No.” I deadpan. “It’s neutral. At best.”
He snorts. “Can I date you, at least? Neutrally, of course.”
I smack his chest lightly, and he gasps dramatically, clutching himself.
“Oh, do I wound you, Mr. Altman?”
“You sure do, Ms. Hayes,” he says, grinning like an idiot.
I roll my eyes—but I’m smiling too.
He shifts up slightly, one hand coming to cradle the back of my neck as he pulls me down.
“I’m gonna kiss you now, my love,” he whispers against my lips. “Kiss me back if you’re free for a date tomorrow.”
I smile, my gaze dropping to his lips. “Well, we’ll see now, won’t we?”
He groans, closing the breath of a distance. Like he already knows my answer.
The kiss starts slow—tentative—but it deepens quickly as it always does. Melting into something warm and steady. Something real.
And somehow, the darkness doesn’t feel quite so consuming in his arms.
FIFTY
Ruin
It must have taken me some godlike, supernatural strength to pry myself off of Charlotte last night.
Her eager moans had me nearly snapping and ready to strip off our clothes. And then the minx offered her bed again.
“We won’t do anything,” she’d said slyly. “Just stay the night.”
My cock had been weeping by the time she let my mouth rest. I’d never thought I’d be happy when her eyes drooped.
Her sleepy mutterings ebbing into sloppier kisses until her hand stopped teasing my cock over my sweats.
God-fucking-damn!
I’d told her I won’t be going there. Not until I’ve taken her out on a proper date.
When I repeated that this morning, she looked at me strangely. And I had no idea what went through her beautiful head when she suddenly kissed me to the point of insanity—before reluctantly letting me leave.
