She shook her head and rubbed her palm over her eyes. This whole conversation is ridiculous. I can’t even believe I’m saying this stuff. We don’t even know each other. It’s arrogant of me to even be telling you we don’t have a chance of anything. Who’s to say I’m anything more than an obligation to you?
As soon as she said it, she knew she’d made a huge mistake because suddenly she was being stared down by one big, pissed-off mass of seething male. His fury enveloped her. Oh yeah, he was angry.
He grasped her shoulders and hauled her toward him until there was no space between them and their breaths mingled hotly on her lips. His nostrils flared, and to her shock, he crushed his mouth to hers.
At first she was mortified that he was kissing her in front of Swanny and his brothers, but after only a moment she forgot everything but the feel of his lips against hers. The waves of emotion flooding her mind. He was angry, yes, but he was also frustrated. And worried.
He kissed her like he wanted to remove every bit of doubt crowding her mind. Like he was proving her wrong.
Then he gentled the forceful bruising of his mouth and stroked his tongue over hers, velvety rough and warm. His kiss turned from frustration and punishment to shivery seduction.
He slid his hands up her neck to delve into her hair even as he pulled her closer, impossibly close, until their tongues were tangled, mouths sealed, and her nostrils flared with the effort to take in air.
He stroked again with his tongue and then withdrew only to nip at her bottom lip, sucking it strongly into his mouth. He nibbled and toyed and then slid his tongue sensuously over the area where he’d bitten as if to soothe. When he finally drew away, his breaths were harsh explosions in the confines of the backseat, and his eyes were dark, nearly black, as he stared back at her.
You look at me and tell me you think you’re some goddamn obligation to me. You look at me and tell me that we’re pretending when the connection between us is the most tangible, overpowering thing I’ve ever felt in my life. If this is pretending, then I damn sure don’t want to know what reality is. Do you honest to God think I swooped in for a quick lay and to repay some debt to you and that I’ll go on my merry way once you and your sister are safe again?
She dropped her gaze as heat flooded her cheeks. The fury in his voice, the hurt evident in his tone, shamed her.
Goddamn it, Shea, you mean everything to me. You mean more to me than I have the words to explain. Is it normal? Who gives a damn if it’s normal? Fuck normal. You and I will never be normal people. If normal means I’m not with you, then I never want to be that man.
He nudged her chin upward as he said the last. Tears filled her eyes and then she threw her arms around his neck, holding him so tight as her body shook against his.
Oh God, his words scared her and filled her with such hope and longing all at the same time. She wanted to believe him. She wanted to let herself believe in the fantasy she’d built in her mind.
He tugged her gently away from his neck and kissed her softly on the cheek where it was damp with her tears. He stroked through her hair, all the while staring at her with so much…love…oh God, love.
We may not have the most conventional path that a couple has ever traveled to get together, but you’re here and I’m damn well not letting you go. And I don’t give a damn who knows it.
She leaned her forehead against his again and touched his cheeks with her fingertips. I want that too, Nathan. I swear to you I want it. I’m just so afraid that we’ll never have it. I’m afraid of what I’ve done by dragging you into this mess. I’m afraid of what it’s done for any chance that you and I have of being together.
He lifted the hair from her neck and let the strands run through his fingers as they stared at each other, so close that she could feel the light brush of air when he blinked.