Especially when she came back to herself after an amazing orgasm and realized she was still sprawled wantonly on a piece of furniture in a moderately inappropriate place. Or a backseat. Macy had that look now, the slightly embarrassed I can’t believe I just let him take me here look.
She cleared her throat and hopped down, her dark hair shielding her face. He grinned to himself and headed to her bathroom to take care of the condom. When he returned, she was back in her original position when he’d first entered the kitchen, whipping up pancakes.
“Hungry?” she asked.
Now that his sexual appetite was out of the way—well, for the most part—hell yeah, he could focus on less important parts of his anatomy, like his stomach. “And she cooks too,” he said, pinching her on the bottom. She laughed.
“Well, a little. Don’t get too excited.”
She had him excited all right. It had little to do with her abilities in the kitchen. Of the culinary variety.
“We didn’t burn the bacon after all,” he observed, picking a piece and biting into it. It was good and crispy, just the way he liked it.
She laughed softly and he paused to watch her profile. As she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, her hand visibly shook.
“You okay?” he asked, smoothing his hand up her back and massaging her shoulder.
She nodded almost before he could get the words out. She wouldn’t look at him. “Mm-hmm. Great.”
What the hell had happened here? He’d kind of sneaked up and laid siege to her, but she’d seemed to be into it. Maybe last night was supposed to have been last night, and this morning, she wanted him the hell out of her house.
No strings, right.
Okay, he could do that. It’s what he’d promised her last night. But he found again that he didn’t like it. A thousand and one things he could do to her pliant body zoomed through his mind. He wanted all day with her to knock some of them out.
“Coffee?” she asked, pulling mugs down from a cabinet.
Obviously she hadn’t planned to kick him out right away. He was being a dumbass. “That’d be awesome. Black.”
They sat down to eat at her bistro table in her sunny little nook, but the pleasure of the food was eclipsed by that of watching her hair sparkle in the sun. It was brown and silky, though the morning light cast a reddish halo around it. Several times, he glanced over his coffee mug to catch her staring at him. She would always drop her gaze to her plate or avert it out the window. She barely touched her own food.
“You’re not eating much,” he said.
“I’m actually not that hungry. I thought I was…but I guess I’m not.”
“Feel okay?”
Her brows dipped briefly. “Oh, sure.”
“Macy.” Ghost reached across the table, sliding his hand over hers. Immediately, she turned hers over and grasped it. Might as well get it out there. “If you’re feeling weird about all this, you don’t have to worry. Don’t think anything is different from what we talked about last night.”
It really hurt to say. And maybe he was insane, but he thought the expression that crossed her face as she stared down at their joined hands was hurt too.
“I know that.” Her voice sounded thick, as if her throat was closing in. “I had a really good time, though.”
“Me too.”
Her soulful gaze flickered up to his and back down. Dammit, they hadn’t even scratched the surface. Why did her words have echoes of good-bye in them? Why the hell did sex always complicate things? It was just one body part going into another. Why couldn’t it just be about the physical act, please and thank you, catch ya later?
But that was exactly what she was doing, wasn’t it. Again. He should have friggin’ known better than to go here with her. She’d already pulled this hot-and-cold shit on him once months ago. His running to another state hadn’t cleared his memory of how pissed off he’d been. He’d thought surely she wouldn’t run the same game on him now, but it looked as if she was ready to make him into a fool for the second time.
Damn if he was going to hang around and let her. Abruptly, he released her hand and shot out of his chair. Surprise flared across her face.
“Thanks for breakfast, but I’d better get dressed and jet,” he said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder in the general direction of