Raine (Gods of the Fifth Floor #2) - M.V. Ellis Page 0,36

I could even fully fathom what was happening.

“Sorry for what?” She looked at me as though I was out of my living mind. She wasn’t wrong in some sense, but I was pretty clear and lucid on this point.

“For kissing you. I shouldn’t have... I just shouldn’t have. Period.”

“Were we just sharing the same kiss? Because from where I was sitting, I was the one who made the first move.”

“No. I mean, you did, but I didn’t have to reciprocate. That’s the part I shouldn’t have done.”

“Why not? Do you have a boyfriend or husband waiting for you at home?

“What? No. Why would you think that?”

“Well you seem like the sensible marrying type, and guilt would explain why you’re currently looking like a kid caught raiding the church collection plate to buy candy.” Ah, sweet childhood memories.

“No, of course I don’t. That’s not it at all, I would never cheat.”

“And I would never get married or have a girlfriend, so we’re both in the clear.”

“But you’re my boss.”

“For a week. I’ve worn underwear for more days straight than that before.” Why the fuck had I just said that? “Seriously. Relax, don’t overthink it.”

She was literally pacing the space in front of me and wringing her hands, and it was all I could do not to laugh about how gravely she was treating the situation, but I held back, because I figured that would for sure put the nail in the coffin of whatever might have been about to happen between us.

“We’re both consenting adults. Nobody is doing anything wrong. Nobody’s going to get hurt. Come back here.” I stretched out my arm toward her, beckoning her to me, but didn’t leave the couch.

Again, it was important that she came to me. This wasn’t my first rodeo with a skittish woman, and while I usually didn’t consider them worth the effort when there were others waiting to fall on my dick if I so much as blinked their way, I occasionally decided to go above and beyond, for whatever reason.

This was one of those situations where someone had piqued my interest enough to make me want to work for it. I’d learned a few tricks over the years for those times where I had to do more than crack a smile. I’d also borrowed some weird shit from the days when I used to ride horses, that somehow also worked on humans.

Horses and skittish women actually had a surprising amount in common. The first was if you wanted to get their trust, they needed to think it was their idea, and they needed to make the decision to move forward. In other words, they liked to think they were in control, even when they weren’t. That was the reason I’d hesitated with the kiss, and it had worked like a charm.

Straight away she’d taken responsibility for her part in what we were doing. I’d given her the chance to think about her next move and choose another option, but she didn’t, and she immediately owned it. Whether her guilt over that fact was going to cause her to run a mile in the opposite direction remained to be seen, of course.

I looked from my outstretched hand back to her. Taking in the troubled look on her face, and her uncomfortable stance. She was going to be harder to break in than any horse, but something told me she was going to be way more enjoyable to ride.

I counted backward from twenty in my head. The maximum I ever got to was fifteen, though I didn’t usually make it past seventeen, but something told me that this one was different in a lot of ways. Ten, nine, eight... when I got to two, I started to think it wasn’t going to happen at all, which would literally have been a first.

On two she took a slow and faltering step my way. Then another. And another. The whole time she looked like she was walking the plank. Jesus. I should probably have been offended that she was behaving as though I was beckoning her to her doom, rather than toward the pleasure I knew awaited her, if she could get it together to go for it.

When she was near enough, she reached out her hand. I took it, and pulled her toward me hard. I had every intention of letting her finish the walk, but in the event, patience evaded me. By that point, I’d already waited for far longer than I would