Page 37 of Fire
Beside me, Evan snuggles into me and practically straddles my hips to bury his face into my neck. My cock, which was already straining my yoga pants, goes fully hard beneath him.
Evan tenses and stills. His eyes slowly open, and I can tell from the pretty blush on his cheeks he is very much aware that it was my erect cock that acted like his own personal alarm.
“Good morning,” he croaks out, and if he hadn’t already told me he didn’t want me, I’d swear the sexy burr in his throat was more than just sleep-roughened vocal chords but desire.
It’s time to retreat—now—before I can convince myself that last night I didn’t hear him tell me he didn’t want me. I roll out from underneath him so fast he makes a little cry of surprise. “I’m going for a shower,” I grind out and head for the bathroom, where I let myself fantasize how different this morning might have been if Evan Kelly wanted me.
Chapter 15
Evan
I think I hurt Luca’s feelings.
He’s been avoiding me since this morning when his glorious erection had woken me up. He’d booked it out of bed, and the few times I’d managed to share a sentence with him, he’d been short and found a reason to go do another security check around the perimeter.
The last thing I would ever want to do is hurt Luca. I’ve gone over the last twenty hours with a mental magnifying glass, and the only thing that possibly causing the hound dog face he’s been wearing is me telling him I didn’t want to have sex with him.
That can’t be it. Can it?
He was the one going out in below-freezing temperatures to sleep just to avoid my seduction techniques.
But what if I have it wrong? For the last several weeks, I feel like I’ve been strapped into a renegade Tilt-a-Whirl and never let out again. I’m not sure of anything right now. Well, except maybe one thing. If Luca Doran truly does want me, I want him right back.
I don’t know how long we’ll be staying in this cabin, but I do know that with the Reivers being dismantled piece by rottenpiece, I may not need a bodyguard much longer. A lightning-like strike hits my chest at the thought of Luca leaving me again. I rub my chest and ignore it. I know I can’t keep Luca, but if it’s true he wants me, I won’t walk away from the unbelievable experience of having him as my lover again.
Now, all I have to do is figure out if I’m right.
It shouldn’t be that hard. I’m a journalist, for fuck’s sake. I know how to ask an interrogative question.Do you want me?
But the outright rejection of a “Hell no” would decimate me. Not to mention, Luca and I would be stuck with the awkward aftermath in this one-bedroom cabin together for who knows how long.
I need to approach the question in a subtler way.
The answer comes to me in a flash. I make my plan of attack and hope I’m not wrong.
It takes me until dark to get Luca to sit down long enough to enact my plan. We’re eating dinner, and a thick, moody silence has filled the room since we sat down to eat.
I clear my throat, and he looks up from the plate he’s been staring at. “I think we need to go over a few what-ifs.”
He frowns.
“You know, for security purposes and all.” Security is the magic word. He’s all in. He starts to speak, no doubt about to start firing a non-stop barrage of questions at me, but I interrupt him.
“I think it would be more helpful if I were one to ask the questions.”
He frowns again but nods his head. “Go ahead.”
I start out easy, sticking to security questions while trying to get him to answer them in an easy rhythm.
“What if someone shows up at the cabin?”
“Depends on what threat level I assess them at.”
“What if they’re carrying weapons?”
Anger flickers into his eyes at the imagined threat. “I’d neutralize them.”
I remember the way he took down my captors at Freedom Fest, and I don’t doubt his claim.
