that, for the very first time, she understood. Everything. The hesitation, the dance of hot-and-cold they’d been doing, why she’d been unable to figure James out for the first time in her life. It had never occurred to her that he might honestly believe she’d put him in the same category as any other man in her life. He wasn’t like anyone else. Not in any way. But obviously, she hadn’t been very good at showing him that.
Hadn’t been brave enough to show him that.
She would be, though. For him, from this moment on, she fucking would be.
She traced a shaking thumb over his lower lip and let her question escape on a whisper. “Why don’t you trust me, James?”
“I trust you completely.” She felt his answer as much as she heard it, his breath shivering over her hand.
“But you think I’d hurt you?” she asked softly. “You don’t think I know what you need?”
Shock flitted through his gaze. He took a deep breath, his chest rising visibly. “We—before the first time you kissed me, Nina, you and I have never been like this.” But his voice caught. And the words were jagged, harsh. And his eyes burned.
“Are you lying to me, James?”
His jaw hardened.
“Are you trying to say, before the first time we touched, you’d never thought about fucking me? That when I caught you looking at me like you wanted to bite, that was all in my head?” Her words came out hot and slow, and each one seemed to pain him.
“I—shouldn’t have. I shouldn’t now.”
“Because?”
“I’ve known you too long. We’re friends. You’re Markus’s—” He sucked in a breath. “But shit, Nina, the problem is—the problem has been for a while now, that I don’t fucking care. This is complicated, and if it goes sideways it’ll be messy as shit and it will fucking destroy me, and I. Don’t. Care.”
Nina hadn’t thought she could smile this wide. But apparently, her face was capable of incredible things when she had a gorgeous man at her mercy, listing all the reckless ways he wanted her. Leaning forward until her lips brushed his, she whispered, “Good.”
He released a shaking breath, one that shimmered with all the need and tenderness burning between them. “Nina,” he said, his voice low and rough. “What are you trying to do here?”
“I’d think it was obvious,” she murmured. “I don’t chase men, but I’ve been chasing the hell out of you. You don’t do casual—” She broke off with a moan as his hand tightened around her throat, his thumb stroking over her pulse. “God, James, that’s hot.”
“Glad to hear it. Now finish your sentence before I die.”
She huffed out a laugh. “You don’t do casual, and I don’t want casual with you. James… I’d never risk our friendship for something I could get anywhere else. This is it. This is more.”
He closed his eyes, a frown creasing his brow. “Nina. Baby. Please tell me you mean it. Because if I get my hands on you again, sweetheart… letting go won’t be easy, let’s put it that way.”
He couldn’t possibly know how those words lit her up inside, how they sent an answering dart of possessiveness through her. “Good.”
He opened his eyes. Their gazes clashed, his golden-brown to her near-black. And then the lust between them, an electrical current dancing just beneath the surface of every interaction, surged to life.
James kissed her. He kissed her, and it was everything.
Chapter Ten
How had he ever denied himself this?
Nina was explosive in his arms, her lips soft and sweet against his, her taste utterly intoxicating. James couldn’t think beyond the sensation of her tongue teasing his mouth, her hands grabbing his shirt, her lush body pressed against his. But somehow, he maintained enough awareness to decide that he was not about to love her on this fucking sofa again. This time, he’d have her in a bed. And this time, he wouldn’t stop.
She wanted him. She wanted him, truly and completely, and he knew her well enough to realise that she wouldn’t break his heart—not on purpose, anyway. If she was asking for this, she meant it. And if she meant it, he could take the risk.
Fuck, he wanted this woman so bad, he’d have tried to seduce her into love even if all she wanted was a quick fuck. But apparently, she wanted… more.
“This is it.”
It would be. James planned to make sure of that.
He swept Nina up into his arms, laughing when she gasped against his mouth,