“Yes!”
“Then why’d you wake up at two and stay in bed with me until mornin’?”
I stared at him at a loss for words mainly because any explanation I could give him I was never going to give him. And I realized, belatedly, even if it was to give him something as important as a rock solid alibi when the police popped by to question him as a potential murder suspect, perhaps I shouldn’t have shared that tidbit.
Then I announced, “I’m leaving,” and I started to walk around him but he took a quick step to his left and caught me by the waist, pulling me in front of him. “Take your hands off me!” I snapped but his arms wrapped around me tight, bringing me up full frontal to his body.
“This is something we both wanna explore,” he declared, my eyes narrowed and I wedged my arms between us, my hands against his chest.
“This?”
“What we got, what’s happenin’ here, you and me.”
“It is not!”
“No?”
“No.”
He looked over my head and clipped out, “Christ, you’re full of shit.”
“I am not!”
He looked back at me, giving me a shake. “Oh yeah, Nina, you are.”
“You don’t even know me!”
“I know enough I wanna know more.”
“Well, you can’t know more. I’m leaving.”
“You’re stayin’.”
“You can’t keep me here.”
“I can.”
“That’s –”
“And you wanna stay.”
I shook my head in disbelief and cried, “You’re infuriating!”
“And you love every f**kin’ second.”
My mouth made a “poof” noise at such a display of arrogance and I pushed against his chest. His hand slid up my spine, bringing me closer, pinning my hands between us as I watched his neck bend.
I had a feeling I knew where this was going.
“Max,” I warned, my body bracing.
“Quiet,” he ordered softly. “Got a point to make, honey.”
“Max!” I snapped.
“Let’s see how good this could be,” he muttered, his eyes on my mouth and I knew, I just knew, he was going to kiss me.
“Max, don’t you –”