Come To Me (Dare With Me #3) - J.H. Croix Page 0,35

curious, more curious than I wanted to be. I liked to think of myself as a sensible girl, and Diego had me thinking far too many not-so-sensible thoughts.

Diego rolled his eyes. “To make a long story short, when I was too young to know better, I got engaged. Deana was one of my younger sister’s friends. Not Harley’s, but my sister Laura’s friend. After college, she worked for my parents doing bookkeeping. She embezzled a bunch of their money, and I broke up with her. That’s pretty much the whole story. In all honesty, I don’t think we would’ve lasted anyway because we were too young.”

“It’s awful that she embezzled from them,” I commented.

He shrugged, his lips twisting to the side. “It was, but they were okay. You have to understand my family. Growing up with them made me think I should settle down right away. We were tight. My parents got married straight out of high school. They were one of those lucky couples. They stayed in love forever.”

“That’s so sweet,” I interjected.

“It is.” Diego shifted his shoulders. “That’s probably why I asked Deana to marry me. But I don’t think everybody lucks out like that when they’re that young. I was off in the military when I found out about the embezzlement. Harley’s got it in her head that I refuse to give anybody a chance after that. I don’t look at it that way.”

I mulled that over and took a sip of my water. “When we had dinner, was that a date?”

I hadn’t meant to address my curiosity so directly, but now the question was out there.

Diego’s intense gaze swept over my face. “Yes, Gemma. That was a date. What did you think it was?”

We were in a crowded bar with music playing in the background and people all around. And yet, it suddenly felt as if we were all alone. Sparks shimmered in the air around us, and my breath became short.

I swallowed. “I think I thought it was a date.”

He leaned his elbows on the table, shifting closer to me. I could feel the potency of his presence, all raw masculine man. Gah! I wanted to climb on his lap and kiss him. I wanted his strong, sure hands all over me.

“Good. Because it was,” he returned in his gravelly voice.

The sound of his voice slid over my senses, and my belly shimmied. He regarded me quietly for a moment before adding, “I didn’t really want to come to this bar.”

Disappointment stung me swiftly, a lancing heat followed by cold. “Oh,” I said, leaning back in my chair. “You certainly didn’t have to come on my account.”

His hand curled over mine where it rested on the table, his touch warm and reassuring. “I came entirely on your account. I was looking for another excuse to spend more time with you.”

A fizzy sense of joy rose inside and my belly spun in flips. I definitely couldn’t catch a deep breath even though I could’ve used the oxygen. “Oh.”

“Now, unless you want to stay here, why don’t you let me make sure you get home okay?”

I was pretty sure Diego didn’t mean he was going to follow me home and wave from the driveway. Need galloped through me, my heartbeat echoing like hoofbeats pounding on the ground. I swallowed. “Now?”

“Whenever you’re ready.”

Chapter Eighteen

Gemma

My hands were practically shaking, not from nervousness, but rather from the vibration of anticipation spinning through my veins. Diego’s comment, whenever you’re ready, echoed in my thoughts. I hadn’t been attuned to how intensely ready I was before this evening.

For the first time, ever, my mind wasn’t getting in the way. When it came to dating and men and anything touchy, my mind was an absolute master at throwing up roadblocks, anything for me to trip and stumble. Nothing disastrous. And yet, always enough to take me away from sensation and to keep me thinking about out of place matters that had nothing to do with the moment.

Dwelling in the moment, particularly when the moment involved intimacy, had started to feel like something I would never experience. Aside from the obvious benefits to my body after my injury, yoga had offered me a space to learn to sink into physical sensation. That was a gift. Yet, I’d all but given up the idea that I could lose myself in sensation when desire was part of that equation.

Desire was an unfamiliar experience for me. I’d dated here and there in college, and I was no