“Maybe it was the bears.” Kissing the hell out of Zoe was one thing. Discussing whatever this was between us was…something else. I’d already told her she wasn’t a game. How much more could she want? I turned my head and took a long drink of my coffee, uncaring that it was probably scalding the shit out of the vocal cords I’d need later.
“Right. Be packed by noon.” Zoe slammed her planner closed and stood.
No matter what I did with this woman, it was wrong. Shutting her out was wrong. Kissing her was wrong. Doing more would be even worse. But that little flash of pain in her eyes trumped them all.
“I put you there,” I admitted, catching her wrist. She didn’t tug it away. “I found you sleeping on the floor, and I…” My eyes squeezed shut as I sucked in a deep breath. “I hated seeing you like that. Hated that I put you in that position. So, I put you to bed.” I slowly brought my gaze up the length of her body to meet hers.
“In your bed,” she whispered.
“It was closer.”
She scoffed and tugged her wrist free.
“I wanted you in my bed.” I stood, taking the vertical high ground if I couldn’t hold the moral one. “I didn’t get in with you or anything. I just…wanted you in my bed.”
Her eyes flared in surprise. “I would have rather woken up next to you than alone in your bed.”
A dull ache spread through my chest, sharpening into something simultaneously painful and sweet. “That’s a really bad idea.” But it sounded really good.
“Why did you run away from me on the plane and then freeze me out for a week?”
“Can we talk about something else?” I cringed slightly.
“Sure. What happened at my parents’ house last night?” She stared me down even though I was a head taller.
“For fuck’s sake.” I rubbed my hands down my face.
“Pick one, and I’ll let the other slide for now,” she offered.
“And if I don’t?”
She swallowed, then lifted her chin a good inch. “Then you can find someone else to stay with you, because I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me.”
I swore under my breath as I realized how badly I didn’t want her to go. There were only two people in my life I couldn’t walk away from—Jonas and Quinn. I cared too much about them. But Zoe had shot right up there without permission. Which was probably for the best, since I never would have given it.
“Fine.” The stool squeaked against the floor as I moved it back under the counter and stepped away from her. Maybe it made me a coward, but I went for the easier of the two. “I thought it was best to put some professional distance between us, given the direction things had gone.”
“Because you didn’t like kissing me?” Her brow puckered. “Because I’m not sure if you noticed, but you just kissed me again. Twice.”
“Didn’t like kissing you?” I sent up a quick prayer for patience. “If you’d like to come over here, I’ll let you feel exactly how much I like kissing you.”
She came closer.
I jumped back. “Fuck! Would you please let me be honorable for once in my damned life?”
“Explain.” She sank onto the stool.
“I want you.” My chest eased a little with the admission, and I raked my hand over my hair. “Let me be perfectly clear. I want you naked, under me, in my bed, on this counter, against that wall, in the shower, on the porch swing in full view of the wildlife—”
“I get the picture,” she blurted, her blush deepening. “So why run to the bathroom like you need to wash the taste of me out of your mouth? Was it all just to prove how far I’d let you go? I thought you said I wasn’t a game.”
“You’re not!” My mouth hung open for a second before I managed to snap it shut. “That’s not what happened. I went to the closest room with a lock because I knew if I stayed on that couch, I would have been inside you in the next thirty seconds.”
Her lips parted.
“Understand now?” I put the island between us. “I didn’t want to use you like that. Can you honestly tell me you wanted to fuck me with the crew on the other side of the door?”
She drew back slightly as her brow furrowed in thought. “Well, I wouldn’t have used that word,