Page 34 of Hard to Handle
My sex-starved brain instantly thought about him showing me his sexy, naked body, but I shook off the thought.No way was I going that route.Not with Lynx.Certainly not until he held up his end of the bargain.Although two days wasn’t a long time, it was still necessary.Once his divorce was final, I would consider an alternate ending, but until then, I had absolutely no desire to get mixed up with the notable bad boy of Embers Ridge.
No matter how much I found myself wanting to.
Half an hour later,after I finished eating and Lynx paid the bill—despite my loud refusal—I was pulling into the parking lot of the warehouse where Lynx and his cousin spent their days building furniture.I had adamantly refused to go, but Lynx had turned on that damn charm and I found myself following him.
It still pissed me off that my heart wasn’t doing what my brain wanted it to.I should’ve been heading home, not willingly spending more time with Lynx, yet here I was.
“Come on, girl,” he said, opening my truck door.
With a sigh, I hopped out and did my best not to look Lynx in the eye.
It took a minute or two to get inside because he had to unlock the door and disengage the alarm, then turn on the lights.Once that was done, that damn tension had returned to my shoulders, only this time, it was threatening to steal my breath from my lungs.It was one thing to go out in public with this man, something else entirely to follow him into an otherwise empty warehouse.
“I wanna show you somethin’,” he said, nodding toward the far end of the building.
Reluctantly, I followed, doing my damnedest not to pay attention to the play of his muscles across his back as he walked.I battled the urge to glance down at his ass or his long legs.I was sure the way the man filled out a pair of jeans was a crime in some countries.
When he stopped suddenly, I plowed right into his back.
“Shit.Sorry.”
He turned around, and I had just enough time to jump back.Of course, I couldn’t do it gracefully.No, I had to stumble, which then had Lynx reaching out, steadying me with a hand on my arm.My skin heated where he touched me, and my breath locked in my chest.
Why was this a good idea again?
“Do I make you nervous?”he asked in that raspy tone of his that made goose bumps form on my arms.
“What?”I rolled my eyes.“No.”
Not that he would believe me since I was suddenly imitating his same raspy tone.Damn it.
When I thought he would pull away, Lynx took a step closer, forcing me to crane my neck to look up at him.My heart thumped painfully hard against my ribs.
When his hand cupped my face, I had to fight the desire to press against it, to press againsthim.He was so warm, and he smelled so good.I just wanted to lean into him, to press my lips to his, see if they were as soft as I remembered from all those years ago.The memory of the other night assaulted me, the way his mouth had brushed against mine…
“Do you know how fuckin’ long I’ve waited to get my hands on you again?”
His words were a dark, guttural rasp that had me clenching my thighs together.
“Ever since that night,” he continued, “out by the lake.Damn, girl.”His eyes dropped to my mouth, then lifted to my eyes.“I’ve dreamed about you, Reagan.”
I knew I was supposed to pull back, to break the spell he seemed to have on me, but my feet wouldn’t listen.Instead, I continued to stare up into his eyes, and I knew for a fact he could see how much I wanted him.It was hard to deny, especially when we were that close.
I was a fraction of a second from throwing caution to the wind, to taking what I'd wanted for so long.When I leaned in, it seemed as though Lynx did, too.My heart skipped a beat.Hell, it skipped a whole series of beats.
“God, Reagan…”
I was breathing roughly, my hands trembling.I wanted this man to kiss me, to touch me, to erase the last ten years of my life and put me back on even footing.I'd wanted him for so damn long and now he was here, so close?—
“But I made a promise,” he said, pulling away quickly.
It took a second to see he was smiling.
No, wait.
He was laughing.
At me.
