reunion he’d been doing his best to hurt her, to give her a taste of his suffering.
Of course, healing their hurts meant he had to start by marching into the room and asking her to answer the question that’d eaten at his brain like a tumor since the day he’d received that wedding invitation in the mail…
He needed to ask her
Why had she done things the way she’d done them? Why hadn’t she treated him with a little more respect, a little more compassion? Hadn’t he deserved that?
And maybe after he’d asked those questions, depending on her answers—or perhaps her answers didn’t really matter so much as the act of
“Eve?” he knocked softly. “I…” He had to swallow the ton of sand that’d inexplicably taken up residence in his throat like the place was a friggin’ Saudi desert or something. “I’m coming in, okay?”
He didn’t wait for a reply, simply turned the knob and pushed into the room.
And there she was, sitting on the edge of the rumpled bed, Peanut curled up next to her, a loud purr rumbling from the big tomcat until he sounded like a furry, V-twin engine. Yes, there she was. The first woman to touch his heart. The only woman who’d ever broken it…
Her usually sleek, raven-black hair was a bird’s nest, the end of her perfect nose pink and shiny. And her eyes? Well, they were so puffy and red he was hard-pressed to make out the blue of her irises. And yet she was still, hands down, the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.
“I want to be alone, B-Billy,” she hiccupped, wiping the backs of her hands over her wet cheeks.
“That’s not what you told Ace,” he reminded her as he edged closer and closer to the bed even as the urge to flee in the friggin’ opposite direction grew stronger and stronger. Now that he was here, doing it, he wasn’t sure he was ready. It suddenly felt as if he was poised to pull the pin on something, and the explosion was going to be far larger than he anticipated.
“That’s because Ace isn’t…” She shook her head helplessly, looking up at him when he came to stand beside her, her eyes begging him for mercy. No doubt she expected more disdain and vitriol from him. Why shouldn’t she? That’s all he’d given her for nearly a year…
Once again, that soft spot inside, the one he’d thought forever hardened, took one long look at her there, expression meek and pleading, and immediately turned to goo.
“Ace isn’t what?” he asked, shoving Peanut back into the middle of the mattress, receiving a loud, disgruntled
“He’s not
“Comforting you,” he said, his breath sawing from his lungs at the feel of her in his arms again. So delicate and fragile. Like a very fine, very rare crystal vase that had to be protected at all costs.
“B-but why?” she stuttered. One big, sparkling tear leaked from the corner of her eye to trail down her perfect, pale cheek. He reached up to thumb it away, and her breath hitched in her throat.
So soft. That’s what he remembered about her. How soft her skin was. How good it smelled. Like handmade soap, designer lotion, and warm lace. He dragged in a deep breath. That lavish aroma would always make his dick hard enough to hammer nails.
Now being no exception…
He shifted, subtly adjusting himself into a more comfortable position. “Let’s just say I’m putting a little change in the karma bank,” he told her. “Besides, I think it’s time to let bygones be bygones.”
“Do you…” She licked her pale, peachy lips, and his eyes followed the dart of her pink tongue. The sexual beast inside him, the one he’d kept reined in around her since their reunion, began chomping at the bit.
Did he? If he was honest with himself, he wasn’t sure.
What he
Smudging her cookies indeed…
God, he remembered how she’d been all those years ago. So young and fresh. So eager to learn the ways of his body. So delighted as he learned the ways of hers.
She must’ve sensed the change in him because a subtle trembling shook her shoulders. Her pupils dilated until they almost eclipsed the blue of her irises. And staring at her lovely face, he couldn’t read her expression. Which was odd. Because open book or wide-open book, remember?
So call it Fate or bad luck or simply bad timing, but, in that moment, he couldn’t tell if she was inviting him to lay her back on that bed or sizing him up for a coffin—payback for all the hell he’d put her through recently. And the not knowing meant he had to rely on instinct. So before he realized he even moved, he was palming the back of her neck and dragging her forward for a kiss, the little head in his pants instinctively taking over for the big head on his shoulders.
And the instant their lips touched? Well…let’s just say he knew it for the mistake it was.
Suddenly, his big head was back online and shouting at him to
Which could not,
But he couldn’t make himself release her either. In fact, against all reason and good judgment, he did just the opposite. He slid his free hand down her arm, stopping to intertwine their fingers. Then he snaked their joined hands behind her back and pressed her forward until she was forced to scoot closer to him. She was trembling in his arms just as she had at eighteen, trembling with desire mixed with nerves. And just as he’d done all those years ago, he gentled his assault, kissing his way across her brow and then her closed lids, letting her lush lashes tickle his lips, sipping at the salty wetness that still clung there. Sliding his nose down the side of hers until their foreheads touched, he was surprised when she released his hand, grabbed his face, and angled his head, slamming her mouth over the top of his only to proceed to try to catalog his teeth with her tongue.
And just like that, all his gentleness vanished. Okay, and Ace was right. He not only wanted to smudge her cookies, he wanted to flick her bean and eat her cake, too. But first he wanted to kiss her. Kiss her like he hadn’t kissed a woman since her, with everything he had, with his whole body, with his whole…
He slipped his hand under her blouse, and the warm skin of her back was soft yet firm, covering supple feminine muscles. Eve might look fragile, but she did not feel it. What she
How had everything gotten out of hand so quickly?
Once again, his body acted before his brain. With absolutely no finesse, he jumped from the bed like the