Shit. He felt like the world's biggest asshole.
“Right,” he forced out. Asshole didn't even come close.
She didn't look angry, thank god, but he hated the slight downturn of her beautiful mouth. As if she was tasting something sour.
“Because you're you and I'm me? Apples and oranges?”
Again, he had to force out an, “Exactly.”
She stared at him as if daring him to look away. “I don't buy it.”
What the fuck? He'd just told her he couldn't foresee any kind of future with her and she was questioning him? Any other woman would've probably been crying. But not Janica.
Despite himself, his respect for her notched up another level.
And a sweet sense of relief that he hadn't seen coming flooded through him as she said, “I think you like me a whole lot more than you want to admit. And don't tell me that if I leave right now you won't be coming by my place later to fuck my brains out again.”
A warning light flashed before him. Partly because he was afraid she was right. Partly because he didn't want her to be right. He'd always been in control. Always.
But something told him where Janica was concerned, he might not ever be in control again.
It was unthinkable not to fight it, not to fight what he was feeling, not to fight what he couldn't possibly understand.
“Right there,” he said in just as challenging a voice as she'd made her previous statement, “that's exactly why we could never work as a couple.”
“A couple, huh?” She cocked one eyebrow up in an exaggerated manner.
She was turning his words around like a lawyer intent on prosecution. “Jesus, Janica, you're not listening to me!”
“Yes I am, Luke.”
“No, damn you, you're not!”
Fuck. He never raised his voice. Except with her.
“Actually,” she said sweetly, “I thought I'd been listening to you pretty darn well. Did I not drop to my knees or strip fast enough for you last night?”
“And that's another thing,” he found himself saying as he tried to keep up with her. “That's not how I have sex.”
“Could have fooled me,” she retorted. “Seemed like you knew exactly what you were doing.” She paused, narrowed her eyes. “At least in my experience.”
Jealousy bit him in the ass at the thought of her role-playing with another man. He couldn't stand the vision of another man ripping her dress from her, giving her commands, forcing her to suck his dick.
“How many other guys have you let dominate you?”
“Is that what you did?”
His jaw felt tight from gritting his teeth together so hard. Why couldn't she make this easier on him?
Of course she couldn't. She was Janica Ellis.
The ultimate pain in the ass.
And...the sweetest lover he'd ever had.
“You know damn well what I made you do,” he said in rough voice.
She grinned and he was surprised by it. Just as he was continually surprised by everything she did. That was her problem, she was unpredictable. Or, he thought a beat later, maybe the problem was that she was predictably wild. Sexy. Overwhelming to his senses. He just couldn't take her in, couldn't process her in a rational way.