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She wrapped her arms around herself again.It was clearly a gesture of self-comfort, so I did my damndest not to stare at the way the motion plumped up her breasts.“Oh.That.”
“Yes, that.I thought you wanted to take a step back.”
“I did.”
“Do you still?”I said carefully.
She shook her head.“I’m so tired of you toying with me.”
My surprise came out on a puff of breath.“I’m not toying with you.”I’d never been more serious about a woman in my life.
“You’ve been hot and cold with me since the beginning,” she said, pointing at me.“We’re sitting on the porch of my dad’s house and you scoot away from me like I’ve got the plague.The next time I see you, you kiss me in front of your whole family.You seduce me in the woods--”
“Iseducedyou?That’s not how I remember it.”
Color flushed her cheeks, but she wasn’t done.“And then you acted like none of it ever happened.”
“You asked me to!”I pressed my fingertips into the side of my head.“You said you needed to focus on my mother’s care.”
“I asked you to take a step back, not ignore me completely,” she said.This time, she was the one to step closer.“Do you have any idea how weird it is for me to be here?Micah is great, but he doesn’t answer any of my questions about the history of your clan.”
“He’s never cared much about that stuff.”
“Well, I seem to care about it a great deal.You promised you would answer my questions.But I guess that was conditional on getting in my pants.”
My eyes widened.The spark of temper felt better than the confusion and angst.“Oh, I’m sorry, I’m only trying to run a business short-handed because my mother is sick.Not to mention trying to keep the clan from revolting while this whole place is blowing away.”As if to punctuate that sentiment, a gust of wind made the small cabin shudder.The aspens out back were thrashing.“Is that why you were flirting with Dr.Barnes?Did you get tired of waiting?”
“I wasn’t flirting with Dr.Barnes!”
“Oh yeah?”My turn to step closer.“That’s not what it looked like to me.”
Her breath was coming faster now.“What do you care anyway?You won’t even tell me how you feel.You’re always asking me what I want, and you never tell me what you want.”
I narrowed my eyes.“I’m giving you space to decide on your own.”
“Decide what?You’re not giving me enough information, Jasper,” she said when I pressed my lips together.“I can’t get a handle on what you want from me.If you’re looking for something casual, okay.If you’re looking for something more…” she trailed off.“Well, casual is all I can offer you, since I have to go back to Baltimore.”
The absolute certainty with which she said it nearly brought me to my knees.I wasn’t doing a good enough job convincing her to stay in Twisted Pines.Stay with me.
Frantically, I searched for a reply that would strike just the right note.“If casual is on the table, that’s what I’ll take.”
She sighed heavily.“Jasper.What.Do.You.Want?”
Why was it so hard for me to answer?I’d spent so much of my life doing things for other people that I hardly even knew how to decide what I wanted for myself.My voice came out gravelly with the effort.“I want you.I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anything.”My hands lifted of their own accord, and I had to force them back to my side.“Stars, Edie.Do you know how hard it is not to touch you?”
Her pulse was fluttering in her throat, and my mouth was dry with thirst for that spot.“Yes.”
“I want to stop trying,” I said in a rush.“Please.Let me touch you.”
Breath dragged out of her lungs.She was the one to take the final step in, but I met her mouth with mine.
The stone on my wrist flared, hot as the burn of the Hen’s Teeth.I clamped her to me, wanting to hold her so close that she’d never be able to pull back from me again.It was all so right--the feel of her hands clutching at the muscles of my back, the softness of her breasts as they pressed against my chest, the sweetness of her mouth as it opened to mine.It felt like my whole life had been leading to this moment, this woman.
She yanked my shirt out of my trousers and burrowed her hands beneath it, trying to get to my skin.Impatiently, I loosened enough buttons to pull the shirt over my head and toss it aside.With her hands in my hair to ensure that my mouth stayed clamped to hers, she swirled us down the hallway to the bedroom, not stopping until she’d tugged me to the bed.
Between the both of us, we got her naked, or close enough.She was still scrambling her way out of her shirt when I simply yanked down the cups of her bra.I nibbled at her pert brown nipples as I unhooked her pants, then yanked them and her panties away in one swift movement.She was left in socks with her tits propped up in a lacy bra, all chestnut skin and jiggling flesh.When she raised her arms to me, I thought she was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen.
I knelt over her, my knees on either side of her hips.When I leaned down, she rose to kiss me, then giggled when I slid her glasses off her face and stretched to set them on the bedside table.“You’re so considerate,” she said, like it was a surprise.
