month or two, hopefully I’ll be ready to try sex with someone else, maybe my neighbor or—”
“No.” Fuck no. I grip her tighter. “Don’t walk away. I messed up and I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry, too. I just don’t think I’m ready to handle your kind of sex.”
“My kind of sex?” Intense? Passionate? Pleasurable?
“Impersonal. Maybe flings aren’t my thing after all.”
“But you seemed ready last night.”
“When you were just a hot guy determined to make me feel good for a night, I thought so. But since I’ve gotten to know you some…it changed things for me.”
My gut tenses. “What are you saying?”
She huffs and shakes her head. “I feel like an idiot. I guess I get attached too easily. Or maybe I’m just in a weird mental place. I don’t know. You just don’t seem like you’re into this tonight, and I can’t do the one-sided thing again. It would just be better for us both if I left. We’ll tell Harlow that we decided we weren’t compatible and—”
“No. We didn’t decide that at all. Masey, things changed for me, too.” Admitting that out loud makes my heart thump uncontrollably. My hands feel sweaty. I might puke.
“What do you mean?”
“Straight up? You’re smart. You’re kind. You’re”—the type of girl I’d be looking for if I was in the market for a wife—“nice. You’re not like anyone I’ve ever been with. I…like you. A lot.”
“And? What are you saying?”
“If you want to experience pleasure, I’ll give you all you can handle. And I promise, nothing between us will feel one-sided. Not one single thing. Say yes, honey. Stay with me tonight.”
Chapter Six
Masey hesitates, then finally sighs. “All right.”
It’s not the raving hell yes I would have liked, but she feels uncertain. I get it. I have to put a lid on my resentment that she’s using me for a good time when I agreed to let her. She doesn’t know a damn thing about my past and she doesn’t have to. Tonight is for Masey. I need to make it her best ever.
I’ll deal with the fallout tomorrow.
“You won’t regret it,” I promise.
She blinks at me with big eyes. I brush my thumb across her cheek, then lower my head and stroke her lips with my own. She’s stiff. Because she’s not sure of my sincerity? Or of her own appeal? Whatever her hang-up is, I need to make her feel so good she forgets it. So I fasten my mouth over hers and delve inside like I have forever to give her this one single kiss.
Cajoling her is an entirely novel experience. By now, the women I hook up with are usually eager to drop their clothes and get busy. But I like focusing on Masey, really connecting with her for a slow seduction.
She opens to me gradually. Her soft welcome jolts my libido. One kiss, and I’m hot for her. Determined. Almost fucking desperate.
Damn, how does the woman have this effect on me?
I tug her closer and tilt her face so I can better eat at her sweet, dizzying mouth. There’s some flavor on her tongue, just out of reach… I have to taste it, take it for myself. Own it the way I own her lips. No other man has ever kissed her so thoroughly. That turns me on.
So does knowing that, until the sun comes up, Masey is utterly, completely mine.
I sink deeper. She draws in a rough breath and shudders. This thing between us…she’s feeling it, too, right?
I break the kiss and study her face. The signs are there. Her cheeks are flushed and hot. Her ocean-blue eyes are dilated. She’s clinging to me. Zing zips through my body and burns lightning through my veins.
With a little whine, Masey winds her arms around my neck, slants her lips under mine, and fuses our mouths together again. The fire between us flares hotter. She steals my breath. I wrap my fingers around her nape with a growl and nudge her open wider for me. It’s a move I’ve made a thousand times…but I’ve never felt like I’ll fucking die if she doesn’t give in to me. And when she finally does? I’ve never strained toward someone the way I am for her now.
What the hell is happening?
I lose my head in the kiss. Thoughts evaporate. Instinct takes over. I barge deeper, determined to earn her surrender. I won’t be satisfied until she’s weeping and wailing for me in pleasure.
Ruthlessly, I take total possession of her mouth. She doesn’t resist,