THE BENNETTS' CHRISTMAS (The Bennett Family and the Masters Family #6) - Brenda Jackson Page 0,48
wished he hadn’t said that. Did he have any idea how that made her feel? He could have had any woman on board, but he was glad to be with her. “Why?” she heard herself asking.
He lifted a brow. “Excuse me?”
“I’m just wondering, what’s so special about me?”
He surprised her when he leaned in close, almost in kissing range, and whispered in her ear, “You’re fun to be around, you’re genuine…and I desire you.”
She nearly missed her step. Although they were attracted to each other, this was the first time they had addressed it. She swallowed deeply. “You desire me?”
“Can’t you tell?”
Yeah, she could. An arousal was something a man couldn’t hide. Part of her wanted to tell him that he shouldn’t desire her, but how could she say that, when she wanted him as well? “I can tell.”
Was this the moment when he asked her what she was going to do about it? She’d heard that line more than once, and it had been a major turn-off, because the man had made it all about him. As if her desires didn’t matter. When he didn’t say anything, she tilted her head and said, “I’m waiting.”
He lifted a brow. “For what?”
“Aren’t you going to ask me to do something about it?”
She saw confusion in the depths of his eyes. “Why would I ask you something as stupid as that?”
She shrugged. “A lot of guys would.”
“Then I’m glad I’m not like the other guys you’ve dated.”
He was right, he was different. He was more mature, sophisticated, and a true gentleman. He wasn’t the ‘rush-the-woman-to-the-bedroom’ type. She also had a feeling that he wouldn’t leave her disappointed hours later. “I’m glad.”
“Make no mistake about it, Monica. I want you. But there is something I want even more.”
“What?”
“I want to get to know you.”
He’d said that before. “Why?”
“I just do.”
She found that odd. “You’d rather spend time getting to know me instead of trying to get me into your bed?” she blurted out and then wished she hadn’t.
“I’d like to do both, but with you, I want to do things differently.”
She found that odd as well. “Why?”
He didn’t say anything for a minute, then shrugged. “I don’t want to scare you off.”
Scare her off? “How could you do that, Landon?”
He tightened his arms around her. “I want you more than I’ve wanted anyone in a long time. I’m not only trying to deal with it, but I want to understand it, too. That is why it’s so important that I get to know you better. I need to find out the reason I’m experiencing such intense emotions when it comes to you.”
“Like you said, you want me. Sex isn’t all that complicated.”
“You’re right, it shouldn’t be,” he agreed.
That made her wonder why he was making the situation more complex than it was. “Yet, you feel that it is?” she asked.
“When it comes to you, yes.”
Monica didn’t say anything for a minute, mulling over what he’d said. “But you still haven’t explained something. How do you think you could scare me off, Landon?”
Landon wasn’t sure how much he should tell her. Besides, how could he explain something he hadn’t quite figured out himself?
He had met and fallen in love with Simone when he’d been in his early twenties, and they’d enjoyed a rather normal relationship. However, from all the sexual energy that had radiated between him and Monica from the first moment they’d met, there was nothing normal about them. He had a feeling that would apply both in and out of the bedroom.
He wanted to have a relationship with her—he knew that now. But if he was to tell her that, he had a feeling she would place roadblocks in the way—seeing him as a threat to her future goals. He wouldn’t be, but he didn’t intend to waste the remainder of the days they were on the cruise trying to convince her of that. What he intended to do was take one day at a time, work hard to make each one productive, and then hopefully, by the end of the cruise, they would have found answers together.
That meant he had to tread lightly, explaining things in a way that would get her thinking, while at the same time, try to understand why he wanted her so much. “I told you that I desire you more than I have anyone else in a long time. Honestly, I’m afraid I might be too much for you.”