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He grinned as he came back to the sofa and settled in beside her again. “I do. Sorry. I’ll behave if you want me to.”
“I really don’t want you to. But I think it’s better if we wait a while before I take you to bed.”
His eyebrows rose. “You’regoing to takemeto bed?”
She laughed. “Yeah. Not tonight, but … Why? Isn’t that what we’ve been talking about this whole time?”
“We have, but …” He looked more serious now. “I should come clean with you about a couple things.”
“That sounds ominous.”
He shrugged. He was still smiling, but he looked uncomfortable. “It’s nothing terrible.” He smiled through pursed lips. “I’m not going to tell you that I’m married or anything.”
She let out a short laugh. “That’s a relief. What do you need to tell me then?” Her heart was hammering now. She needed to hear whatever it was that he felt he had tocome cleanabout. Right now, she was grateful that he’d encouraged her to take her time. She’d hate to have slept with him and then found out about some deal breaker. But looking into his eyes, all she saw was honesty. He wasn’t about to tell her anything that would put her off him, she could tell.
“I’ve taken a lot of women to bed.”
She shrugged. “I don’t think that’s anything out of the ordinary. I think anyone who’s still single at our age has had their share of test drives.”
He chuckled. “I love the way you put it so delicately.”
“I’m not trying to be delicate. I’m just saying. Some people get lucky and find their person early in life. They settle down with them and that’s it. For the rest of us, we take longer. We have relationships that don’t work out. We get over them and move on and try again.” She rolled her eyes. “Sometimes we have to try again and again and again. I’ve had plenty of relationships.” She smiled. “I think I might be coming off as a cynical woman who’s been around the block one too many times. Sometimes, I feel that way. I’ve probably had more than my fair share of bad relationships.”
He took hold of her hand and looked into her eyes. “You don’t come off as cynical. Not one bit. You’re awesome. But we’re very different. I said I’ve taken a lot of women to bed, you automatically assumed that means I’ve had a lot of relationships – because to you, the two go hand in hand.”
“Oh!” Now, she felt really stupid. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have assumed that you want …” She couldn’t finish that sentence because she had assumed that he wanted a relationship and not just sex.
He squeezed her hand. “You didn’t assume anything. I said, we agreed, that we want to explore what might happen between us. What I’m trying to do – and fucking up royally – is to tell you that I haven’t had a lot of relationships. When you said that it’s better if we wait before you take me to bed, it made me realize how off I’ve been with all of this. I never thought of a woman taking me to bed before. To me, being with a woman meant me taking her to bed. Sex was the end goal and the only point.” He cringed as he looked her in the eye. “I’m not saying that’s what I want with you. I don’t. I like you, Hannah; the more I get to know you the more I like you.” He ran his hand over his face. “I’m already scared that I’m going to screw up somehow and you’re going to kick me to the curb. That’s why I’m trying to tell you anything that might put you off me right now. I’m excited to get to know you better, to spend more time with you, to let Ava spend time with you. I would hate like hell for us to get close and then down the road have you discover something that puts you off me, so I’m trying to lay it out for you right now.”
She put her free hand over her heart and leaned in to kiss him. It was just a brief meeting of lips, but it felt like it sealed something between them. “You’re awesome, Grady.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Because I used to be a bit of a dog?”
She laughed. “No, because you’re honest.”
“You don’t mind what I just told you?”
She met his gaze. “It scares me a little bit. If you’re not used to being in a relationship, then we’re probably going to hit a few issues. But now that I know, I’ll be prepared.”
He smiled. “I’m not a complete dweeb. I’ll figure it out. I just … I spilled my guts because when you talked about taking me to bed … that was the first time it ever occurred to me that it could work that way around.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Please tell me you don’t have some kind of caveman complex?”
He laughed and beat his chest. “Me man. You woman. We fuck?”
She had to laugh with him. “Err, yeah, sorry. That’s not going to work for me.”
“Well, shit!” He slid down off the sofa and onto his knees on the floor, looking up at her with big sad eyes that looked a lot like Scooter’s. He took hold of both her hands and kissed the backs of them “I’m not too sure what whipped looks like, but will this do, to start with?”
“Oh, my God! You’re pushing it now. Do you honestly think that if you’re not dragging your woman to your cave tofuckher, your only other option is submissive at her feet?”
He chuckled and kissed her hands again. “Nah. I’m just playing with you.”
“Good.”
He put his hands on either side of her hips and kissed her, slowly rising up off the floor and moving forward until she was lying back on the sofa, and he was hovering over her. Her whole body quivered in anticipation, and her arms came up around his neck, pulling him down to her. The moment he lowered himself onto her, she wondered why she’d wanted to wait. He felt so right. She tried to wrap her legs around his, but he pulled back and sat up, bringing her with him.
He gave her a rueful smile. “I’ll be good, sorry. But damn, Hannah.” He adjusted his pants, and she couldn’t miss just how eager he was. “We’re going to set the world on fire when we go there.”
