Page 50 of Hottie on Her Shelf
It wouldn’t be right to start off the apology by accepting false credit. “I peeled shrimp and arranged dinner to be cooked for you,” Fitz stipulated.
“Fine. But you were the perfect host. It was a warm, wonderful evening, one of the best I’ve had in a long time.” As she spoke, her hands molded the air as if holding an actual conversational ball. “You don’t need to apologize for anything.”
Confused as hell, Fitz was still determined to make this right. Two long steps brought him around the table to her. “I do. For God’s sake, Hallie, I made you feel so bad that you literally ran out of my house. I assume I crossed a line by kissing you, for which I’m truly sorry, but if it was something else—or something in addition—just tell me.”
She just looked at him. Said nothing.
“I don’t want you feeling so uneasy around me that you have to run away. It made me sick last night to realize I’d made you so uncomfortable. I—”
“Stop, Fitz. Just stop.” Hallie jumped up to put her soft palm across his mouth. “Will you be quiet? For a minute?” When he nodded, she dropped her hand. “This is embarrassing, but I’d rather be embarrassed than let you wallow in guilt.”
That’d be Fitz’s vote too. He didn’t risk saying it out loud, though, since he still didn’t know entirely what her reaction was about.
“Thank you, for bringing the dessert, for apologizing.” Her hand briefly touched his cheek. Then she clasped her hands behind her. “The thing is, though…I didn’t leave because you made me feel bad. I left because you made me feel too good. Too much. That’s what scared me.”
Well, well, well. Fitz shifted his weight back onto his heels, considering. That little revelation was unexpected. Both that it’d happened and that she’d admitted to it.
He mimed a semblance of the Boy Scout salute. Maybe. Close enough that Hallie shouldn’t know the difference. “You swear you’re not mad—or hurt?”
“Absolutely not.”
“I made you feel good, huh?” Yeah, that came out smug as all hell. In a world where everyone from car-share drivers to restaurants to movies pushed their good reviews out constantly? Fitz figured he was entitled to enjoy getting one himself.
Especially one that had zilch to do with his family, his name, his title, or his money.
That prim twitch to her lips that they must teach in Librarian 101 came back. “That’s a basic biological reaction. Don’t get too smug about it.”
Hallie tightened the end of her braid. Fitz was learning that she did it the same way Everett pushed his glasses up his nose, as a thinking moment. A three-second excuse to not respond, to not meet your eyes. It often made him wish he had a beard to stroke for the same ploy.
Aside from not liking the itch, or the way they caught food and kept him from feeling the softness of a woman’s lips on his chin.
“I’ll accept the dessert because it smells divine. But you see why I won’t accept your apology. Instead, I’ll offer one to you for running out so ungraciously.”
Fitz batted away her words with a lazy swipe of his arm. “Yesterday’s over. I’d rather focus on tomorrow.”
“What’s tomorrow?” Her skeptical squint was becoming familiar, too.
“We should go on a date. Not an apology dinner. Not coaching. A real, not masquerading as anything else, date.”
“Why?”
Fitz flipped through possible responses. Everything from the childish why not to a six-point explanation. But if a picture was worth a thousand words? A kiss was worth at least a million of ’em.
So, he simultaneously flopped into a chair and snagged her waist to draw Hallie onto his lap on the way down. Before his ass hit the seat, they were kissing. Kissing like they’d never stopped the night before. It was hot and wet and more than a little frantic, as if they both realized how close they’d come to never doing this again—and what a fucking mistake that would’ve been.
His hand moved up to curve around her cheek to gently adjust the angle until Fitz could’ve sworn there was a click.
Optimal position achieved.
Hallie’s hands were all over his head. That was fine. He let her drive the position. Fitz was busy running his hands over her thigh, down her calf, and up her ribs to knead at her perfectly plump breast.
Little huffs of need escaped from her mouth into his. Fitz provided growls of desire, while Hallie added near purrs of pleasure. The way her weight rocked back and forth on this cock was maddening.
And fantastic.
And Fitz never wanted her to stop—unless it was to get naked, which they couldn’t do right now. Talk about a slap of cold water to his libido.
He grasped her face in both hands and broke off the kisses. “That’s why. If you liked it so much last night, I’ll bet you’ll like it even more when we do it again.”
