“Don’t.” He lifts my chin. “You do the same to me.” He places my hand over his racing heart. I look up and meet his eyes. They are soft with desire. He removes my hand from his heart and laces his fingers with mine. “You have to know the effect you have on me. I thought it was obvious.”
I take a deep breath to clear my head. “Colt, you’re probably effected like this by any girl that walks into the room.”
“Not like this.” He shakes his head slowly as if he’s in disbelief. “You do this to me, Taylor. Just you.” His voice is soft and it washes over me. “With you, it’s different. I can’t explain how, it just is. I never know what to expect with you.”
My heart squeezes tightly in my chest. “Maybe we could try some sort of compromise then?” I offer. That is so the hormones talking.
“Compromise?” He tips his head.
I imagine it’s hard for him to concentrate with all the blood rushing to a certain part of his body. I let a giggle escape.
“Tell me what you mean,” he coaxes.
“Well, some of what I want…and some of what you want.”
He smiles.
I continue, “For instance, hanging out…that’s suitable to me.”
“Me too.” He brushes the hair off my neck, and trails his fingers over my throat, grazing my collarbone, down to the edge of my shirt.
My hormones riot, silently begging his hand to continue south.
“Me touching you?” he asks, huskily.
“Yes,” I whisper. “That’s suitable.”
He grins and kisses my jaw. “Good girl.”
I suck in a deep breath, desperately trying to keep a level head. “But no sex.”
His lips freeze momentarily on my neck. Then he recovers and places another kiss, near my ear this time. “Okay.”
“And no sex with anyone else either.”
He stops his assault on my neck and meets my eyes. “No sex at all then?”
I nod smugly, feeling clever.
His jaw drops.
Crap. Maybe I’ve gone too far. I look down, staring at my hands.
He lifts my chin and kisses me swiftly. “You either then.”
Now I’m the one with my mouth hanging open. He uses my position to his advantage and leans forward, running his tongue along my bottom lip. “Any more rules?” His mouth still rests against mine.
“Just one.”
He pulls back just a bit.
I feel kind of dumb at this last one, maybe I’m crossing the line into girlfriend territory even asking, but knowing it’s what I want, I press on. “Dates. I like you taking me out.” I look down. I know I like it because it makes me feel different and special. MJ said he never dated before me. I like that this applies only to me.
“No.” He shakes his head, his expression firm.
“No?” My stomach drops. I guess he wants to keep this as far from a real relationship as possible. That thought hurts.
“I do want to take you out, but not because it’s part of some agreement. So can we just leave that out of this? You just have to trust me.”
I nod eagerly, suddenly at a loss for words.
He leans in to kiss me again while my head swims with what we’ve just agreed to.
Chapter 45
It doesn’t matter how I feel about Taylor. Our days are numbered, because once she discovers McAllister is my father, she’ll split. And even though I know I should tell her, I’m not ready for this to end when things are just getting good between us.
Our compromise, as she calls it is working amazingly well. The last week has been incredible. She’s still on her mission to get to the bottom of McAllister’s motivation to crash the tanker, but she also lets me distract her with…playtime, as she calls it. We hang out at night in my room, where we cuddle, give each other massages, play games and take things slow.
Today we’re sitting in the common room, which is thankfully empty watching a movie. Taylor is wrapped in my arms, leaning against my chest. I haven’t been paying attention to the movie for the last fifteen minutes. Instead I’m enjoying just holding her. Something I never thought I’d feel. But then again, she does provoke all kinds of new feelings inside of me.
I notice things about her that I guess I’ve never taken the time to notice with other girls. Like the way her shampoo smells, her contoured ankle bones, her cute earlobes, and the collar bone framing her chest. I run my hand up the back of her neck, into her hair. “You’re so soft,” I whisper, kneading her neck.
She grins at my distraction from the movie. “You’re not watching this at all, are you?”
“Nope.” I kiss the side of her neck. “You’re too distracting.”
She laughs. “I don’t see how, I’m just sitting here.”
“Just trust me.”
“I do,” she says meeting my eyes.
Those blue eyes stir something inside of me. She shouldn’t trust me. I push the thought away, and lean in to kiss her.
Taylor turns off the movie and a few minutes later, she’s straddling me on the couch, kissing me hungrily, making those soft groans and gasps I love.
I can feel her heart beating against my chest, its steady thrumming insistent and certain. I love how alive I feel with her. Her softness, and the fact that this is all still new for her makes me want to be careful with her, to take my time, which is something I’ve never felt before.
She kisses me deeply, and works her hands under my shirt, running them along my chest. Okay, forget taking my time. I pull her closer into my lap, my jeans straining between us.
The door flies open and Taylor leaps off my lap, straightening her shirt.
I turn back to glare at whoever the hell just interrupted us.
It’s MJ, grinning like a damn fool. “Well it’s about fucking time,” MJ says, chuckling to herself.
I shoot MJ a look, imploring her to leave. She exits the room with a huge grin on her face. Taylor blushes, smoothing down her hair, and pulls away from me on the couch.
Playtime is over.
“Don’t go. MJ saw us, so what?” I kiss her hand.
She smiles lightly. “I have homework I should be doing anyways.” She squeezes my hand. “Later?”
“Later,” I confirm.
Chapter 46
Later finally arrives, and I’m back in Colt’s room. My nightly solace from the horrifying truth of my last assignment.
I’m still racked with guilt over the oil spill, the baby seals I see on TV covered in the sticky soot, the huge ship resting unnaturally on its side against the reef, and the millions of gallons of black oil lapping at the once
