Page 102 of Colliding with Ten

“You know what I just realized?”

“What?”

“You gave me a tour of this entire house tonight.” I tilted my head. “And yet you skipped a room.”

His grin pulled tighter. “Did I?”

“You walked me past the bedroom like it was a closet.”

“I was being respectful.”

“Or maybe you have something to hide.”

“You’re right. I’ll be happy to fix that.”

He kissed me again, making a sound in his chest like relief that turned into a moan. Our lips broke apart. In one fluid motion, my feet left the floor, and I yelped in surprise. My legs wrapped around his waist, one of his arms under my thighs, the other at my back.

“I’ve wanted this,” he murmured against my mouth, “for I don’t know how long.”

I answered by pulling him closer. Finding the curve of his neck, I breathed him in as he carried us out of the living room, up the stairs, and deeper into the house.

The bedroom was dark except for the sky. That same wall of glass faced the hills from a different angle, and the city below was a scatter of light. Neither of us cared. We were too busy looking at each other.

He set me down on the bed with care. His hands stayed at my waist as he searched my face.

“Is this okay?” he asked.

Lennox was never careless with his words, and now I realized he wasn’t careless with me either.

“Yes.”

He began to unlace my boots. “I want to take care of you. Will you let me?”

My breath stopped. The words touched an old bruise. My mother had depended on my father to take care of her. We all had. Then every decision became his alone. My stomach twisted in knots at the thought.

I looked at Lennox. Was he asking to make my choices for me? My father had confused love with control. But Lennox’s eyes showed only kindness. I nodded, hoping I wasn’t making a mistake.

“And if we do this, I don’t think I can go back to pretending like this never happened,” he continued.

The intensity in his face made my pulse climb.

“I want to be with you tonight.” I paused. “I just don’t know how we play out the rest of this.”

Lennox nodded to himself, thinking. Maybe this wasn’t what he wanted to hear, or maybe it was what he expected. His face was unreadable.

“Can we talk about it later?”

I nodded. He reached up and slid the jacket off my shoulders. His hands moved to my hair, pulled the tie free, and let it fall. He watched as if he’d been thinking about doing that for some time. He took one curl between his fingertips, brought it to his nose, closed his eyes, and inhaled. He pulled back, his eyes glossy with enchantment in the moonlight.

“What’s that?” he asked. “It smells so good.”

I took a lock of hair and sniffed it. “It’s my shampoo.”

A smile played on his lips as he nodded.

I smacked him on the chest. “Stop being weird.”

I snatched his shirt, pulling him closer, and he groaned. He kissed me again, his tongue tracing the seam of my lips until I parted them, letting him in. He pulled at the neckline of my shirt, kissing a line down my neck and along the curve of my collarbone.