“Yes.”
Her face heated. “Sorry.”
His eyes narrowed. “What?”
“I get that some of my mannerisms are a lot to take. I apologize.”
If anything, he looked angrier. “Who said that to you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Who said that your mumbling was a lot to take? A man?”
More than just one. But she was ashamed to have to admit that.
“First, it isn’t good form to talk about other men while in bed with one.”
But they weren’t together. They were just sharing a space, right? And why was she asking herself insane questions? Maybe that expert her grandmother had hired had been wrong.
“And second of all,” he said before she could tell him they weren’t really in bed together, “you are not too much. You are too much for lowly men who were too little for you. You are freaking Delilah Eddington Underwood. You are the pinnacle. If any man said that you were too much, he was a spineless idiot who didn’t have the bollocks to take you on, and you’re better off without him.”
Suddenly, the backs of her eyes were burning. “Thank you.”
His gaze softened. “Now get some sleep.”
With that thought, she turned back around, and settled in. She knew that nothing would come of her fascination with Ian. He was way out of her league, but it was still nice that he said those things. As a woman, she should be sharing with girlfriends, but the one and only true girlfriend she had was Eden. Jin was her friend too, but she couldn’t really tell her about her past relationships. Eden, though, she could have told her, but it had been embarrassing. She was inching toward thirty and had only had two relationships, and both had ended the same way with the same complaints.
But Ian said there was nothing wrong with her. Or, at least, she wasn’t too much. Holding that thought close to her heart, she allowed sleep to take over.
Ian woke being wrapped up in someone’s arms. The woman was cuddled up to him, her nose pressed against the pulse point in his neck. His dick was hard. The scent of roses hit him hard. His still half-asleep brain came fully awake when he realized that the soft bundle pressed up against him was Lila.
He should untangle himself from her, but he couldn’t. She had sought him out in sleep, just as she had the night before. His heart seemed to turn over. This woman he had once called his nemesis was starting to matter. The truth was, she had always mattered. And lately, Ian was starting to realize she mattered more than most people in his life.
She mumbled in her sleep, pressed closer, then stilled. He knew the moment she became aware of the situation. Lila stiffened, then her eyes fluttered open.
“Umm.”
He couldn’t say anything to that because his brain was bleeding. He had never been this damned hard in his life. At least, he didn’t remember it.
Her tongue darted out to wet her lips and he groaned.
“You are killing me here, Lila.”
She blinked. “I like when you say my name.”
Her voice was sleepy, her face flushed, and Ian couldn’t stop himself. He lifted his head and brushed his mouth over hers. Just that simple gesture had need racing through his veins. She shivered against him and it was his undoing.
He gave into the hunger that had been building for months. He slanted his mouth over hers, taking the kiss from simple to raging heat in less than ten seconds. Lila didn’t hesitate. She opened her mouth, and he thrust his tongue inside. After slipping his hand down her body, he urged her closer by cupping her ass and pressing her closer. There would be no way she wouldn’t feel his arousal.
She moaned against his tongue. The vibrations filtered out over his body. Bloody hell, he needed her naked. He wanted to slip down her body, taste her need, then lose himself inside of her. He could just imagine how tight she would be and the way she would squeeze him.
Before he could give into that desire, he heard the tell-tale creak of the floor, warning him that someone was on their way back to the room. With great regret, he pulled back from the kiss.
She made a noise that sounded a bit like a growl, and he smiled despite the fact he wanted to growl himself. He was so fucking hard, he was amazed he hadn’t come. From barely dry humping. The woman was dangerous.
“Love, there’s someone coming down the hallway.”
Her eyes flew open. God. Those eyes. They would always get to him. A cute blush filled her cheeks.
