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“So obviously we need to agree to stop these silly revenge games and keep our interactions and relationship cordial and professional. Not personal.”
He stepped closer, unable to help it. Damned if he’d be reduced to being Caroline’s associate. He’d rather be her enemy.
Bullshit.He wanted to be the man who shared her bed.
He could have been. Could have done that easily Thursday night, with a flick of a few buttons and some maneuvering on the chair. But he hadn’t.
You jackass.
“You really think we can be business associates? Keep it professional and nothing else?” he asked, his voice low and intense with knowledge that what she suggested was impossible.
She cleared her throat. “Yes, I do.”
“You’re delusional, Caroline.”
“Why? People do it every day. Just because we share a past doesn’t mean we have to let it determine our future.”
She sounded so reasonable, like she was laying out a perfect argument to her boss at the studio, or someone on the set of her show. Which really torqued him off.
He stepped close, crowding her, putting both hands on the counter behind her until she was caught between his arms. “We can never be just associates. And even though we were once friends, we can’t go back to that either.” He stepped closer, wanting her to admit the truth. “We’relovers, Caroline. We always have been. We can’t be anything else. Whether we’re making love these days or not, that’s the only word to describe our relationship.”
Color rose in her cheeks. She parted her lips, which still had the tiniest bit of ice cream in the corner. He wanted to taste it. Wanted to sample its flavor combined with the taste of Caroline’s mouth. The sight was simply irresistible…so he didn’t resist.
He dipped his head, kissed that creamy sweetness, and licked it away.
She remained frozen, not moving a muscle. But he’d swear he heard a soft, helpless whimper in her throat as he ended the brief kiss and looked down at her. “We’re lovers, Caroline.”
She shook her head.
He lowered his mouth to hers again in another soft, intimate kiss. This time he stepped closer, until their bodies met. He brushed against her in a deliberate, seductive invitation. She answered it with a deep, throaty moan.
Then he lifted his head, held her chin in his hand to force her to look at him and whispered, “Lovers.”
Something flashed in her eyes. “Then why didn’t you make love to me Thursday night?” She instantly bit her lip, as if cursing herself for saying that out loud.
He’d been asking himself the same thing for days. How could he explain that he’d been trying to protect them both? Would she appreciate him trying to prevent them from falling back into the same pattern: her not trusting him and not being satisfied with the world he wanted? And him watching her walk out of his life again?
Somehow, though, resisting her now seemed harder than it had Thursday night when he’d been going crazy with lust for her. Because tonight had suddenly flamed with more than lust. It now involved something he’d almost forgotten about.Emotion.
They’d spent a couple of exciting and productive days together, working as a team. He’d remembered how much he liked and admired her, and she’d begun to trust him again.
And just now…well, he’d just admitted she’d wounded him. And she’d visibly displayed her hurt. They had begun to open the floodgates on emotion. Mick honestly wasn’t sure they would ever be able to close it again.
But he had to try to make her understand. “I’m not going to be a diversion for you,” he finally replied, keeping his voice as even as he could given the storm of intensity raging inside him. “I can’t be a distraction for you while you’re in town.”
Her jaw dropped. “Funny, that sounds like just the kind of thing you would have liked, once upon a time.”
He didn’t even deny it. “Exactly. And if I didn’t give a damn, if Ionlywanted you for sex, then we wouldn’t have left my bedroom since Thursday night.” He knew his tone held supreme confidence, almost arrogance, but it was merely the truth.
She rolled her eyes, which made him tense with the need to prove it to her, even if only with his words.
“I’d have made love to you dozens of times.” He stepped closer again, crowding her back against the counter. “I’d have loved you once for each birthday I’ve missed. Once for every Christmas Eve I didn’t spend with you.” His voice grew husky. “I’d have made up for all the mornings I didn’t wake up with you next to me and all the nights I was in bed with someone else, wishing she was you.”
She drew a shaky hand to her heart, obviously shocked, but Mick couldn’t stop his mouth. “I’d have licked every bit of your body to remind myself that nothing ever tasted as good as you. And I’d have buried my cock inside you as often as I could just so I could lose myself, remembering how tight and hot and perfect you always felt. I’d be insane and inside out and helpless and stupid.”
True. All of it true. But so was this. “And so wouldyou, Caroline. So would you.”
She said nothing. There was no response she could make when they both knew he was right. They both continued to breathe raggedly, a sea of unspoken words churning in the few inches between them. All one of them had to do was keep talking.
