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But now the words rolled off his lips as if they’d just needed his muse there with him to conjure them. “You’re paying attention to the group, but you keep crossing and uncrossing your legs, making me wonder if you’re still thinking about what you saw in your office. If you’re slippery and hot beneath this neat little skirt, imagining people fucking, imagining being the one getting fucked, imagining people watching you take it. If you’re wishing you could get some relief.” He pressed a kiss to the spot behind her ear and whispered, “If you want me to be the one to give it to you.”
Her breath was a gust of air against his hair. “Shit.”
He massaged her neck and pressed his nose to her hair. “Are you wet, Marin?”
He could sense her tense, hesitate, but then her muscles softened beneath his fingertips. “Why are you asking questions you already know the answer to?”
It took everything he had not to drag her to his office, take her right there. But he forced himself to lean back, to look at her. To see the naked lust on her face and not let himself off the leash.
“If we’re going to do this, I want to know you’re choosing it with a clear head. I don’t want to be your Eli.” He let his hand slip away from her. “So go home, use one of those toys you’re researching. Give yourself that relief. And then if you’re still feeling the way you do now, if you still want to do this, meet me at my place at seven tonight. I’ll make some dinner and we can . . . hang out.”
“Hang out?” she asked, her voice strained, like it was taking everything she had to focus on the conversation. “Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”
“Yes. We’ll eat, talk. We don’t have to force this. Put us in the same room, and I think we’ll be all right.”
“You don’t hang out with the women you sleep with.”
She said it like a statement of fact. He hadn’t told her that explicitly. But she said it like she could read the truth about him as easy as picking up a book. And she was right. This was uncharted territory for him. He hadn’t had a “date” since he’d broken his engagement. He had roller-coaster stomach just thinking about it. “I hang out with you every day, Rush. I think I can handle it.”
“Right. Okay.” She scooted her chair back, like she needed to break that touch between them, but he helped her get to her feet before standing up with her. She smoothed her skirt and seemed to regain some of her calm. “You don’t have to feed me. I can come over later.”
He frowned, not liking that she was setting such a low bar for him already. He reached out and tipped her chin up. “Let’s get something straight, Rush. I’ve agreed to your terms, but here are mine. If you come over, you’re putting yourself in my hands. That’s the deal. And I will feed you if I want and taste you how I like and make you come in more ways than you can think of before this is all over with. So just be on time, bring your appetite, and I’ll worry about the rest, all right?”
The whoosh of her breath was all he needed. He pressed a quick kiss to her mouth and released her. “See you later, Dr. Rush.”
He walked out first, ignoring his throbbing erection and his pinging nerves, leaving her standing there in the group room alone.
He had to force himself not to look back.
To not think too hard about the deal he’d just made.
Marin would be in his bed tonight. That’s all that mattered. He’d figure out the rest later.
20
Marin was so distracted when she walked into the house after work that she managed to drop the mail, her work file, and her keys before she’d made it into the kitchen. Everything felt off balance, skewed. Like there were no straight lines to count on anymore. She didn’t know where the next step would lead. Maybe to someplace amazing. Maybe off a damn cliff. But right now, it was going to lead her right upstairs to put out the fire Donovan had stoked when he’d whispered in her ear with those words, that voice. Her blood was still pumping so hard, it felt like it was going to burst right out of her skin.
“Hey. Need some help?” Nate asked.
Hearing her brother’s voice was like a harsh record scratch scraping through her brain. She’d been lost in thinking about Donovan, and Nate’s voice ringing through that was like a bucket of ice over her head, making her feel like she’d been caught—like he could tell she’d been thinking about hot kisses and spread thighs.
She fought to find her voice, to keep it even.
“No, I’ve got it. I thought you’d already left for work. I didn’t see your bike.” Marin dropped the precariously balanced pile of crap onto the counter and looked up to find Nathan at the table with a pink-haired girl. “Oh, sorry, didn’t realize you had company.”
Great. Even better. Now she wouldn’t be able to escape.
“I parked the bike out back. You okay? You’re all red.”
Fuck her fair skin. Fuck it and all the ancestors who passed this affliction along. “I’m fine. It’s gotten pretty warm outside.”
“Oh.” Nate jabbed a thumb the girl’s way. “This is Blaine. She volunteers in the kids’ wing a few days a week. She saw me painting out by the pond and wanted to check out some of my stuff. She’s an artist, too—makes jewelry.”
Blaine gave a little wave and a smile. “Hiya.”
“Blaine, this is my sister, Marin. Or Dr. Rush, I guess, if you see her at work.”
Marin’s mind was going in ten different directions, and she had the instinct to say, Blaine? Her name is Blaine? But she knew the movie quote from Pretty in Pink would be lost on these two. “Nice to meet you.”
