Never Gonna Happen - Cynthia Eden Page 0,19
and sweaty, and, nope, I do not want to think about you doing that activity.
But, too late, because now she had a mental image of him, naked, arms braced on either side of her head as he stared down at her. His face would be locked into hard lines of desire as he drove in and out, in and—
“You okay? You look flushed.”
Sweet hell. She grabbed her orange juice again. Drained it. “Fine. Just need to head home.” Alyssa blew out a breath and put the glass back down. “Though it will totally look to my neighbors as if I’m pulling a walk of shame.”
Silence.
She wiggled her brows. “You know, because I’m in this dress from last night. Coming back home the next day, still wearing the same dress that I left with on my date…it looks like—”
“I know what a walk of shame is.”
“Of course, you do. You—”
“Do not say that I probably take a ton of them. I don’t. This obsession you have with inventing lovers for me has got to stop.”
Her mouth opened, but Alyssa couldn’t think of something to say.
He headed around her. Opened the fridge. Took out some water and began chugging it. Her gaze slid to the strong column of his throat. Then she noticed a dot of sweat sliding down, down his chest, down, down…
What are you doing? Stop it! “I’m sorry.”
He stopped chugging. Put the water back in the fridge. Shut the door. Then Sebastian frowned at her. “For what?”
“For getting into your business. For seeming judgey. For prying.” Her hand fluttered back and forth between them like some kind of drunk bird. “Not my business. It is not at all my business who you sleep with.”
He absorbed that. “Did you sleep with Isaac?”
“What? No, that was our first date. I don’t sleep with guys on the first date, thank you very much for asking.”
A nod. “Good to know. So, when we go out on our second date, will you sleep with me?”
Alyssa gaped at him.
“Is that a yes? Or a maybe?”
“You don’t want to sleep with me.”
He lifted an eyebrow.
“The kiss last night was a mistake. It was late. The day was crazy. Let’s forget the kiss ever happened.”
Sebastian glanced away. “Can’t promise that,” he mumbled.
She’d misunderstood. “What?”
He looked back at her. “How about I take you to your place so you can pick up a change of clothes?”
Alyssa had a better idea. “How about you just take me to my place and drop me off? Because I’ll be fine there. I have a security system, too, you know.”
“Not one as good as mine.”
“That’s because I’m not some kind of Batman-like billionaire with my own bat cave. You and I both know Isaac was not too far off with that charge.”
His lips quirked. “You can always make me smile.”
And his smile always made her stomach do a little flip.
“Look,” she ignored the flip and plowed on, “I just need to get home. Get to my stuff. I’ll stop looking like a late-night party animal—”
“You look beautiful, not like a party animal.”
“I am wearing zero make-up. My hair probably appears to have squirrels living in it—”
Again, that twitch of his lips. “No, it looks more…sexy. Tousled. Like your lover ran his fingers through it last night.”
She looked up at the ceiling because it felt too awkward to stare in his eyes when he was telling her things like that. “I’ll call Detective Lewis—Winston. Find out what he knows about the shooting. If he offered police protection last night, then maybe I can get some patrols to sweep past my home over the next few days.” She’d given this matter a whole lot of thought while she’d tossed and turned during the night. “I’ll be fine.”
“No.”
Her gaze lowered. Met his.
He glared. “No.”
“Why are you telling me no? This is my life, and my decision.”
“I—” He stopped. “I want you safe.”
“Trust me, I want to be safe. So I’ll be careful.” Something was nagging at her, though. “Last night, you told me that you got a tip that something might happen to me. That was the reason you came to get me at the theater.” But she still didn’t know exactly how he’d figured out that she was at the theater.
He nodded.
“Was it a call, like the one I received?”
His face hardened. “I got a text.”
“Are the cops trying to trace it?”
Sebastian straightened. “Let me get showered and dressed, and I’ll take you to pick up your clothes.”
Unnecessary. “I can call a taxi.”
His brows