“You got three minutes.”
“This will take less than two.” Now she sounded pissed, which was better. Pissed he could handle. If she was mad, she’d be all right. It was her vulnerability that shredded his guts.
Her tears last night… God, listening to her cry in Luc’s arms had nearly done him in. Luc had soothed her, whispered to her. Those soft sobs and torn breaths had eaten at Deke, gnawing on his resolve. He wanted to be the one to comfort her.
Dangerous want. If he’d held her, caressed her last night, he would have ended up making love to her. Not f**king her. The kind of sweet, soft loving meant to reassure. The kind that would bond them together. For her sake and his sanity, he’d resisted.
First jealousy, now this. What the hell was wrong with him?
Kimber drew in a bracing breath. “After yesterday morning and last night, I can’t stay. You don’t want me here, and I know why. Thanks for the help you’ve given me. I’ll get my things and be gone by ten.”
What the…? Gone by ten. Her words should have been a relief, but Kimber was a fighter. Why would she suddenly concede and retreat? And why did the thought of her leaving take a gash out of something inside him that felt suspiciously like his heart?
She turned away from him. Even so, he couldn’t miss the vulnerable expression tightening her face as she rose and crossed the kitchen and exited the room. He could just let her go, should let her walk out now… Woulda, coulda, shoulda.
Deke stood and scrambled to block her path. “You know why I don’t want you here, huh? What do you think you know?”
A frown of incredulity wrinkled her brow. “I know what men have been saying about me since puberty hit. I rarely wear makeup and I don’t own a dress. I hate lace and I think fatigue pants are a great fashion do, despite what magazines say. I never mastered the fine arts of giggling and eyelash batting. I like fishing, loathe cooking, and can drink a six-pack of beer in under four minutes, if challenged.” She tossed back her head, fighting tears, and her face said that she was annoyed because of it. “I’m a tomboy. And I know for a lot of guys—for you—it’s a turnoff.” Her comment was so wrong, Deke almost couldn’t process it. “You think I’m turned off by you?”
The duh! expression would have made him laugh if this wasn’t so serious. “When I first came here in lace and heels, you wanted me. But then you saw through it, and like in high school, you came to view me as one of the guys. It turned you off, so you told me to leave you alone unless we were in bed. There, you intended to live up to your promise. That proves my point.”
Was she serious? “That proves you know jack shit, kitten.” She planted a hand on her hip and sent him a challenging stare. “I’ve been down this road. More than once. You don’t have to shield me from the truth. I can take it.” Suddenly, Deke wanted to pound the face of every high school creep who’d made her feel less than female. But it was an out, an easy one. Letting her believe the lie would get him off the hook. But it would be chicken shit. And he couldn’t hurt her on purpose.
He sighed, defeated. “Have I done anything yet to baby your feelings?” Kimber hesitated. “No.”
“Exactly. I wouldn’t pretend you turned me on if you didn’t. And this shit about you not being…feminine enough. It’s crap. It isn’t makeup and giggling that makes a woman. It’s her smarts, her moxie, the way her sexuality flows through her.”
“What are you saying?”
Reaching for her hand, he squeezed it. “You’ve got it all, kitten. I like that you’re straightforward. You don’t get freaked out by my profession. You’ve got a killer sense of humor when you’re not tense. If I’m grouchy, it’s because you turn me on too much.”
“Too much?” Skepticism shot from her hazel eyes. “You want me too much?
Tugging on her hand, he draped it across his fly, covering the unflagging erection he had whenever she came within ten feet of him. “Does it feel like I’m lying?” Through his sweatshorts, she gripped him, stroked her nimble fingers up and down his rigid length. “No.”
Deke grabbed her wrist to stop her. Between his crazy urge to hold her and the lust she was inciting with her every touch, she was treading dangerous water.
“Don’t start something you can’t finish.”
With her free hand, she grabbed at his shorts and began to push them down. “I can finish you. Didn’t I do it last night?”
Her mouth. Oh, hell. Yes, she’d totally finished him. The wet, silky heaven had been paradise. Luc had told her exactly how to unravel him, and she had. Slow, hard, a little bite—and he’d been a goner. The thought that she might do it again, here and now, made his c**k pulse under her hand. She gripped him even harder in answer.
He grabbed her fingers, which were pushing at his shorts, with his free hand and his last bit of wits. “Don’t.”
Kimber didn’t pause. She stopped and jerked her hands away. “You want me but you don’t want me to touch you? And since when does a man who wants a woman too much turn down a blow job?”
“If you push me right now, I’ll want more.”
“What does that mean?” she snapped.
“Your virginity is off limits. Don’t test me, or you’ll find yourself naked and impaled on my cock. It’s all I can f**king think about. If I get inside you, I’ll stay inside you—all damn day if you let me. And I’ll come back for more tonight. And Luc will want to be next in line.”
A sharp intake of breath. A sudden flush staining her cheeks. A softening of her combative posture. “Oh.”
“I’m on a short leash, so I’d get the hell away from me if I were you.” But Kimber didn’t move. For a long moment, she just stared at him. Deke resisted the urge to squirm uncomfortably. There was something going on in that pretty head of hers. God help them both if she gave any indication that she wanted to have sex with him. He didn’t have much self-control left. He’d drag her back to Luc’s bed, wake his cousin up and…do something he’d regret.
A long silence later, she stepped closer, placing her hands on his shoulders and stepping on her tiptoes to reach him. She settled her lips over his and gave him a soft, almost chaste kiss.