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His fingers wrapped around her arm as she moved by him, the hard depths of those light ice-green eyes glaring down at her.
"This was what you wanted," he rasped. "Don't deny it. "
"It was what I wanted, emphasis on the last syllable of that word, Chase. I'm not willing to risk this much, this fast, with a man who until two days ago wanted nothing more than a few casual fucks from me. A man who walked away when I all but begged him to spend the night with me. " She pulled her arm from his grip. "I don't want to lose you, but neither do I want to risk a broken heart again. Not this soon. Not until I know you want more than just the pleasure. "
"And I haven't shown you that?" He moved in front of her, his expression creasing with a flare of anger, of male arrogance. "What more do you want me to do?"
"I don't know, Chase. Try winging it. That's what I did," she said calmly. "Because until I feel more confident about whatever it is you want from me, then I'm not giving you any more of myself than I have already. You could destroy me. It's a risk I'm not taking lightly. "
He watched as she moved around him then, her chin lifted, defiance glittering in her eyes, in her expression, as he clenched his teeth and acknowledged she was right.
This was supposed to have been only for the pleasure. Now the pleasure wasn't enough for him, and she didn't trust his need for more. How the hell had he managed to fuck this one up?
Chapter 20
Chase escorted Kia into the lobby of her apartment building, his hand riding low on her back as they moved to the elevator.
He was aware of that glimmer of amusement and confusion that had filled her eyes at breakfast, that resisted his determination to get her to pack her bags and move in with him.
He didn't like it. Realizing she didn't trust him bothered him. He could feel the sexual tension building inside him, as she continued to defy him on a level he hadn't known existed.
He wanted her in his bed. His bed. He wanted her in the home he had been building for years, close to his brother, close to family. Where she would be safe. Where he could try to beat the odds and never lose her as he had lost his parents, as he had nearly lost his brother.
She didn't trust him enough to move in with him.
Damn her. He had no intention of walking away from her now and she should know it. At this rate, he would be the one moving in with her, and though he liked her apartment fine, something screamed out at him that she liked his a hell of a lot better.
"You know you're being stubborn just for the sake of being stubborn," he told her as the elevator made its ascent.
"I'm certain that's what you believe, Chase," she told him calmly.
Her tone had remained calm through every argument he had presented her with.
"Kia, if you don't sto
p using that patronizing little tone with me, we're going to have problems here," he told her, staring down at her, wishing he could be angry with her.
A part of him was amazed at how easily she had dealt with first his male outrage, and then his brooding silence through breakfast, and finally his arguments on the drive to her apartment.
"I haven't begun patronizing you yet," she pointed out, a hint of a smile curving her lips. "I can begin early if you like. I was waiting until you began pouting for that one. "
"I do not pout. "
"Of course you don't, Chase. " Now that was patronizing.
He grunted at the amusement in her gaze. "It's going to be damned inconvenient moving my stuff into your place," he informed her.
"You haven't received an invitation," she pointed out.
"I haven't received a refusal either," he growled. "And if I think I'm going to hear one, you may not be able to speak for a very long time, Kia. "
"You'll gag me?" Her brow arched.
"The idea has its merits, but I thought more along the lines of something more pleasurable. "
The elevator doors slid open. Chase kept his hand at her back, tensing as they started down the hall.
Something was off. He could feel it. He stared around the narrow hallway, the closed doors leading to her corner apartment.
