Page 40 of Landry
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"I want you to come to me tonight." He was taking her home. In the early hours of the Monday morning, it was still dark enough for the street lights to be on and traffic a slow trickle.
"No."
His hand tightened on the wheel, and he had to take several breaths to calm himself.
"Why not?" he managed to ask quietly. She had awoken with his mouth on her flesh and flew immediately into desire. It had been very difficult for her to leave his arms. It was happening again and she could not stop it.
"I spent two nights with you, two nights I'd not planned on." She turned her head towards the window, staring out at the darkness. They were moving away from the urban area, going into the city and soon they would arrive at her apartment building. She was disturbed that her heart felt as if it was breaking.
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying..." She turned to face him as he braked at the lights. "We cannot simply pretend that everything is all right betweenus. It's not. The fact still remains that you left me. And you still have not said anything to me about that abrupt leaving."
"We need each other."
Ignoring the jolt at the words and his tone, she shrugged. "Need is a strong word."
"We need each other," he repeated more forcefully. "The two nights we spent with each other have proven that much."
"It's proven that we have a strong sexual attraction and nothing more." She jolted when he slammed a balled fist on the dashboard.
"Are you intent on being cruel?"
"Landry..."
"Damn you! How can you belittle what we have? Sex? You bloody well know that it's more than that."
He swung into the parking lot of her building and slid to a hard stop. Shutting off the engine, he unhooked his belt and turned to face her, his face hard and taut with temper.
Unhooking her own belt, she faced him mutinously, arms folded under her breasts. "I won't have you bullying me," she warned, eyes flashing. "I have the right to want answers to what happened all those years ago and a right to refuse to allow this to go anywhere without an explanation."
"I cannot tell you that." The anger left as quickly as it came and had him feeling weary. "I will one day, hopefully, but for now, I cannot and I would like you to trust me."
Her brows lifted. "Just like that?"
"Yes," he said quietly. When he reached for her hands, she did not resist. Something in his tone had her senses on the alert. There was something here, something significant, but she still could not simply fall back into a relationship with him. He had hurt her tremendously when she was a teenager and it had almost destroyed her. Linking his fingers with hers, he lifted their hands and placed the back of hers against his cheek.
Tenderness at the gesture warred with the wariness inside her. She loved him. It was that simple. She could fly to the ends of the earth and protest all she wanted, but the fact remained that sheloved him and always would. It was just him, had been just him back then, and it was the same thing now. No, she thought wryly. It was much more now.
"I'm not making any promises, and we still need to talk."
Hope flared inside him and had his head going light. "How about dinner tonight?"
"Landry..."
"Or we could dine in, if you prefer."
She nodded, not sure she was ready for the publicity. "All right."
"Shall I pick you up?"
"No. I'll come by when I get off. Landry?"
"Yes?"
"We really need to talk."
