“If you knew you wanted me two weeks ago, why didn’t you act on it then?”
Nodding at the board, he encouraged her to take her move. “You needed time to settle in. To get over the death of your friend and find your feet… And it’s not my nature to take anything at face value.”
“You thought I might be conning you?” she asked on a laugh. “If I knew how to do that, I might have done more than bite you.”
Horrified, she slapped a hand over her mouth. Her attention flew to the liquor. She’d only had a sip, yet the words had tumbled out like her inhibitions didn’t exist.
“Shyla—”
“I’m sorry,” she said, her hand only just leaving her lips. “I’m so sorry. I’ve always had a habit of speaking before I think, but to say something brazen like that and you told me to be patient. I—”
“Shyla,” he said, obviously trying to calm her. “Stop apologizing. You don’t have to apologize to me, not for anything.”
So far, he’d proved that through his actions. At interview when she babbled about her lack of experience, he’d given her a chance. After getting drunk and screwing up, he’d given her a pass. Even when she made mistakes, he didn’t expect her to grovel.
“Did Siobhan ever apologize or Parker?”
A deeper frown set on his face. His concentration fell to the game. “We’re not getting into that tonight.”
It was a major topic, and a personal one; too much to broach this early in their path. He’d never mentioned anyone from his past around her. But he wouldn’t be surprised that his history wasn’t a secret. Even though most of her knowledge hadn’t come from the media, he probably assumed that she’d done some research. The details were all out there, that’s what Fish had said.
“Sorry,” she murmured.
His eyes jumped to the top of their sockets, surprising her. “No is an acceptable answer, for either of us. It doesn’t have to be followed by an apology. This will only go as far as we want it to.”
Agreeing with a nod, Shyla was pleased that he wasn’t mad at her for asking.
Getting away with that question prompted her to ask another. “What exactly is… this?” she asked, wondering how far he wanted them to go.
Straightening up, he took a breath. “I won’t know until I know how far you want to take it.”
With certainty, she confessed in a rush. “I want to have sex with you.”
As soon as the words were out, she wanted to snatch them back, but settled for rolling her eyes and cringing at her own idiocy.
“Good,” he said. “But I wasn’t talking about sex.”
Again he left her confused. “I… I don’t understand.”
“If I want sex, I can get it on any street corner or in any club… This should be something different, or, to be honest, it’s not worth my time.”
So she wasn’t worth it for sex alone? Shyla could understand that. She wasn’t the hottest woman in the city and didn’t have any special moves.
“What will make it worth your time?”
“I want you to share everything with me, Shyla. Everything.”
Nodding, she was compliant. “I can do that.”
“No,” he said, slowly shaking his head. “You don’t get it. There’s a reason I’m taking this so slow. It might frustrate you. Might frustrate me too. But I have to know you’ll give me all of yourself before I’ll let this complicate our lives… What I want us to build is a trust deeper than either of us have had before, deeper than people have after a lifetime together. If it doesn’t happen, we’re both better off leaving it alone.”
After what Siobhan had done to him, it was no surprise that he wanted to be sure about a woman’s character before jumping into bed with her.
More than that, from her point of view, it was an incredible opportunity. A powerful, enigmatic man who enflamed her hormones was offering her the chance to get closer to him than anyone else had ever been.
“I’d like that.”
Peering closer, he seemed to be trying to read her mind. “Do you understand what that will involve?”
“I think so,” she said and then smiled. “I trust you to guide me… Like I said, I don’t have much experience with men; I need you to lead.”
He considered her for another moment, giving few hints about his thoughts in the way he scrutinized her. “Good,” he said and took his turn. “I’ll just listen while you tell me everything you can about your life, from the very beginning.”
Shyla took a deep breath. “That’s not a lot,” she said. “My brother and I were raised by my grandfather after my parents died. When I was sixteen, Bernard, that’s my grandfather, he fell and broke his hip. I had to do everything for him while he recuperated. It was one health issue after another until I was about twenty. That’s when Stan had a stroke. We couldn’t afford the house we were renting, so Bernard and I moved in with Stan and I cared for them both. My grandfather died three years ago, Stan three weeks ago.
“As for my brother, Wyatt, he got in with the wrong crowd. Went to prison for the first time when he was nineteen, just before my grandfather broke his hip. He’d already moved out by then. Really, that’s it, my whole life.”
They made another couple of moves before he stopped to relax against the couch, laying his arms along the back. “I didn’t think you understood what I meant by everything. Now I know you don’t.”
“I do…
