jumped down, refusing to play screen for her any longer. Jade watched with horror as her fluffy cat pranced away, standing in the corner and staring back at her as if daring her to try and catch him again.
She looked back at Angelo, her mind registering that he was still completely naked. And completely gorgeous! Her eyes drifted over his amazing figure but she realized after only a moment what she was doing and tore her eyes away. “No, this is so wrong!” she gasped.
She turned away, grabbing one of the pillows off of the floor that had previously been placed neatly in the middle of the bed. “I don’t do this kind of thing,” she almost sobbed.
“Obviously,” Angelo stated, starting to understand that she wasn’t just being coy. She was genuinely upset. That seemed to soothe his temper slightly, but he wasn’t going to let her leave. Besides, she looked ridiculous holding that pillow up against her breasts and hips.
“Jade, what we did was perfectly normal between two consenting adults. And we’ve been dancing around the issue for weeks. We both wanted each other. There was nothing wrong with enjoying each other’s bodies.”
“I didn’t!” she cried back, shaking her head violently. “I didn’t just do this!” She looked around and blushed at the mess of the bed. “Okay, yes, I did. But I can’t do it again. Which is exactly where I know your mind is going.”
“Damn right,” he practically growled and started moving closer to her. He didn’t want her on one side of the bed while he was on the other side. He captured her gaze, not letting her look away while he said, “We’re going to do it over and over again until you don’t feel so self-conscious about being naked around me any longer,” he stated firmly. “And then we’re going to make love even more until I know all of your secrets.” He was practically a foot away from her now. “And then we’re going to do it even more until we have secrets that only you and I have with each other.”
“We can’t,” she whispered, unaware of the tear falling down her cheek. “I can’t. This isn’t me. This isn’t who I am!”
Angelo realized what she was saying. It was possible that only those words could have stopped him from taking her into his arms.
“We’re not married,” he stated, finally understanding.
“You don’t love me!” she countered, unable to say with any conviction that she didn’t love him. It suddenly occurred to her that she truly did love him. With all her heart. And it hurt even more knowing that he didn’t love her. “And yes, when two people are in love, they get married.” He probably cared for her, but that was a significantly different emotion than love. And she realized that she wanted it all. She wanted this man’s love very desperately.
“Then let’s get married,” he said, shocking even himself by that suggestion.
She looked back at him, completely confused since just last week he’d told her that he would make a horrible husband. “You don’t do marriage. You just told me that at the ice cream shop.” Oh, if only he were sincere! She would jump at the chance to be married to this astounding man! But no, she couldn’t marry a man who didn’t believe in marriage, much less even love her in return.
Angelo was perfectly aware of his stance on marriage. But now that he’d said it, the idea made perfect sense to him. “I’m changing my mind.”
Jade reared back, shaking her head. “We can’t get married simply so we have permission to have sex!” she came back, stunned that he would even suggest something like that.
He laughed softly, shaking his own head. “I hate to break it to you, Jade, but I don’t need a marriage certificate to have sex. That’s your hang-up.”
She quickly walked around him, holding the pillows in front of her like a shield. She had to get to her clothes. “That’s ridiculous. People don’t have sex simply because they like it.”
Angelo leaned against one of the posts of the bed, his massive arms crossed over his chest as he watched her with both amusement and fascination. “Jade, I don’t believe that you’re really that naïve. Of course people have sex because they like it. We just did. Are you going to say that you didn’t like it? Because I’ll have to prove you wrong if you try to say that.”
Jade reached down for her clothes,