Any Way You Want Me - By Jamie Sobrato Page 0,41
your skills any more?”
“God, no. Aside from what I told you last night, I’ve lived in complete fear of doing anything wrong again. I nearly screwed up my whole life, ruined what there was of my relationship with my parents and missed out on having a normal senior year of high school.”
Another stab of guilt hit Alex. He’d never known he’d helped drive a wedge between Yasmine and her parents. Was there no damn end to the ways he’d negatively impacted her life? Sure, she’d been guilty of hacking, but some nagging voice inside him had always wondered if she’d deserved to be made an example by giving her the maximum sentence.
Hadn’t he done enough?
He knew he had. He’d done more than enough. He shouldn’t have insinuated himself in her life again.
What the hell was he doing here, besides trying to prove to himself that he wasn’t inept as an investigator? Indulging his long-held desire for Yasmine? Was that what this was really all about?
He saw himself clearly for the first time, reflected in her gaze. He saw how low he’d sunk. His actions were not just underhanded, they were sleazy, despicable, unjustifiable…
And he couldn’t go through with it anymore.
He’d already had more than enough of an impact on Yasmine’s life, and he needed to stop before he did any more unintended damage.
Okay, admittedly, her stint in the juvenile detention center might have scared her straight, and if it really had, then he’d helped do some good in her life, too, but clearly, she’d paid a hefty price for her crimes.
Another problem remained. If he wasn’t seducing her for information anymore—then where did that leave them, besides lying naked together in her bed on Christmas night?
“You’re being awfully quiet,” she teased. “Did I bore you to sleep?”
“No, I was just thinking it’s sad you and your parents are so disconnected.”
“Everybody’s got their problems. Mine are pretty small in the great scheme of things.”
“But still—”
“This is exactly why I didn’t want to go into all this crap. I really didn’t want you to feel sorry for me, or to think I’m damaged because I spent a year in juvie.”
“I don’t. I just hate that any of that stuff happened to you.”
“I brought it on myself—end of subject,” she said, smiling as she brushed her fingertips across his cock, her obvious and very effective attempt at distraction. “Now can’t we think of something more interesting to talk about?”
His groin stirred at her touch, but he couldn’t go there now.
“So long as it’s not my dark and sordid past,” he said, forcing his tone to remain light, joking.
“Do you need to call your family today?”
“Oh, right,” he said. “It’s still daytime in Hawaii, but I’d better call before long.”
Yasmine had talked to her own parents this morning briefly, but Alex had put off calling, dreading thinking of what he’d say when they asked who he’d spent the holiday with.
Part of him wanted to flee the scene of his crime before he got caught.
And yet it was Christmas. He couldn’t just abandon her, and he didn’t want to. He wanted to stay and make love to her all night, all weekend, wanted to forget his real identity and become whatever man she imagined him to be. Clearly, he wanted too damn much.
He needed to tell her the truth, but now wasn’t the time. He had to find the right time soon, though, before their emotions got any more complicated. Even at this level of intimacy, the fallout could be major.
“But seriously, stop joking around. I want to know all about you now.”
“I’m the one with the boring past. Not much to tell.”
Except that he was a lying, sneaky, good-for-nothing fraud.
“All I know about you is that you know how to survive in the wild, you surf, and that you started in college. Where’d you go to college?”
“William and Mary in Virginia. I grew up in Virginia Beach, went to school for a year at Old Dominion before I decided to make the switch to a school away from home.”
“So you’re a mama’s boy?”
“Not exactly. I had to pay my own way through school, and living at home helped, but I got sick of it and decided to eat the cost of room and board.”
“That’s what student loans are for, right?”
“Exactly.”
“So I guess between teaching survival skills and surfing, you’ve managed to stay a lot more fit that the average programmer.”
“I have?”
“Haven’t you noticed you’re nearly the only guy in our office who doesn’t have