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Cadence bit her lower lip, but she still didn’t try to take her hand out of mine. “I’m sorry I tried to push you away, too.”
“You are?”
“I am. Because it was the exact opposite of what I should have done. I realize that now.”
All the hyperactivity going on in my body slowed to a trickle. I was fairly certain I knew where she was headed with this, but I didn’t want to jump to conclusions. I needed to hear the words straight from her mouth. I needed it as much as I needed air.
“You do?” I said. “And what do you think you should have done instead?”
She started to shrug but stopped herself, visibly forcing her shoulders down. “I should have run to you, not away from you. I should have recognized that you’re nothing at all like Guy, at least not in any of the ways that matter. I should have figured out that instead of pushing, you were letting me take things at my own pace. You were already giving me time. Giving me space. Letting me figure it all out on my own, even when I was being an idiot.”
She inched closer to me, closing the space between us. Then she took my hand and lifted my arm up and over her, wrapping it around her shoulders. She burrowed into my side, letting her head drop back onto my ribs. If she were taller, she might fit against my shoulder. This felt right, though. It felt so damned right I thought I might burst.
“Cadence?” I asked, hesitant because I didn’t want to spoil the moment.
“Hmm?”
“What does all this mean?”
“All this?” She lifted her head away from me for a moment, and I thought I’d gone and fucked everything up. I should have kept my mouth shut.
But I hadn’t, so now I had to fix it. “This,” I said, using my free hand to gesture toward the way she was snuggled up to my side. “What’s happening here? Because to me, this feels like more than something we’d do if we were still only friends, like we agreed.” A hell of a lot more, actually. I’d been very careful all along to keep my hands to myself. To avoid touching her even though it was one of the few things I was capable of thinking about when we were together.
Gradually, she nestled against me again. Then she lifted her chin to stare at me. Her eyes weren’t moss green anymore. They were dark green with golden flecks making them appear to be on fire. Alive. There was so much life and energy flowing through them it floored me. Bedroom eyes—that was how I’d thought of them before. And that was definitely what they made me think of now. She was back to being the sex goddess of my dreams.
“You still want this to be more?” she asked. Slowly, but not like she was afraid of my answer.
“More than I could ever put into words.”
“Then maybe we should be more than just friends.”
Addictive warmth shot straight out of my belly and spread through to all my limbs in no time. “Like what? Are you ready to be my girlfriend?” Because Lord knew, I was a hell of a lot more than ready for that.
She bit that lower lip again, and my eyes were glued to that spot. I wanted to taste her there. If I had to guess, I’d think she tasted like fire, too.
“I think so.”
Fuck me, that wasn’t good enough. “You only think so?” Talk about a guy deflating like a flat tire.
But she smiled, and it lit up the entire room. A real smile. Not one of her fake, forced ones. It was like she was coming alive in front of me. Before I had an inkling of what to expect, she put a hand on my jaw and turned my face toward her. And then her lips were on mine.
They were like molten silk, heated and smooth and so fucking perfect. I breathed in the scent of her, clean and feminine, and held it deep in my lungs so long I might have passed out if not for her gliding her tongue along the seam of my lips, begging entry.
She tasted like sweet cinnamon candy. I wanted to devour her, but I forced myself to hold back. To accept what she was giving instead of taking what I wanted.
She twisted and tucked one leg underneath her. Almost greedily, she moved her hand behind my head and dragged me down. Down. Down still some more until I had to brace my arms on either side of her to avoid crushing her. She wrapped her thighs around my waist and tugged me closer, like she wanted to be crushed.
“Not so fast,” I murmured against her lips. Not that I wanted to stop what was happening—I’d have to be a crazy man in order to avoid reveling in the sensation of having her beneath me, writhing against me—but this was taking things from one extreme to the other.
Cadence dug her fingers into my hair. “But I want—”
“Not so fast,” I repeated. I pushed myself up to keep from continuing. “You’ve had a lot happen in the last couple of days. The last thing you need to do is jump into something without thinking it through.”
“I have been thinking it through, though.”
“I know. But one day we’re only friends, then the next you need space and can’t even be friends with me, and now you’re mauling me on your brother’s couch with his kids sleeping upstairs. Not that I mind being mauled.” I couldn’t stop myself from grinning. “I actually like it way too much. But I still think it’s better if we take things one step at a time like we were before.”
She pouted. It looked so damned cute I wanted to nip her nose.
