“How do you know where I live?”
I hear him sigh. “Does it matter? Please open up. We really need to talk, Carla.”
“Um…no. You should go.”
Shit!
Shit!
Shit!
I don’t want to talk to him. Not now, and maybe not ever. My face goes hot just thinking about this disaster of a night. I’m pretty sureIkissedhimtonight. I was definitely the one rubbing up against him.
I get hotter.
“I really think we need to talk,” he says through the door. “I would appreciate it if it wasn’t through a door with your neighbors listening in.”
“You shouldn’t be here. It’s after midnight.” I open the door anyway, and I immediately wish I hadn’t.
Holy shit, but he’s gorgeous.
He isn’t wearing a jacket, and the tie is long gone. His sleeves have been rolled up to the elbows, and the top three buttons of his dress shirt are open. His black markings are visible, curling up his forearms and peeking out at his collarbone. He’s tall and stacked, and I can’t help but eat him with my eyes.
He smells good, too. Like cedar and smoke and something warm underneath. He smells like him, and it’s driving me insane, and he isn’t even inside my house.
“For the love of god, let me in. Please.” His eyes are locked on mine. “Let me say my piece, and then I’ll go. You never have to see me again.”
I hate that thought because I want to see him again so badly, which sucks.
“Please, Carla.” He drops his head for a beat, then looks back up at me. “Fuck.” His voice is deep and beautiful, and it does things to me that I refuse to acknowledge.
No way!
“Pretty fucking please.”
When he puts it that way.
“Fiiiiiinnnnnne.” I step to the side. “I don’t see how there can be anything more to say. I just don’t. We’ve said all there is to say to each other, Magma.” I close the door behind him and cross my arms. “What else is there?”
“I’m in love with you, Carla.”
Apparently, I was wrong. There was more to say after all.
My mouth falls open. My brain short-circuits. Somewhere in the back of my skull, a tiny version of me is running in circles, screaming.
“Say something. Please.” He watches me, and when I don’t talk, his jaw goes tight, and his eyes blaze. “I hope to fuck that you aren’t serious about that Malachite male. I meant what I said. He isn’t nearly good enough for you. I’m glad you didn’t kiss him when he dropped you off or so help me…”
“You were outside when Malachite dropped me off?”
He gets a sheepish look.
“I had to see you. I had to come. I wasn’t?—”
That snaps me out of it.
“Aren’t you supposed to be with Brook?” I tap my foot on the floor, because what the hell? “Why are you here? You can’t be saying things like that to me when you have a girlfriend. It isn’t right.”
“Brookisn’tmy girlfriend. She’s my friend. That’s all we are.”
