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From the way he’d been with her this morning, she had to know he was having a harder and harder time resisting her. Resisting what he wanted more than anything. With each beat of his heart, the idea of taking her back upstairs and tumbling her into his bed seemed less like a huge mistake and more like the right thing to do.
Walk away.
“What are you going to do?” he asked, knowing that prolonging this conversation was the height of idiocy. It would only make going back to bed alone that much harder.
“Sit here.”
“I won’t be able to sleep knowing you’re down here in the dark.”
A small smile filled her voice as she said, “You’ve never had trouble putting me out of your mind before.”
If she only knew. “You weren’t sitting on my couch in your pajamas before.”
Her sigh was barely audible over the blood thundering in his ears.
“Good night.” Calling himself every sort of fool, he headed back upstairs. Leaving his bedroom door open in a halfhearted invitation, he fell onto the mattress. Hands behind his head, eyes on the ceiling, he strained to hear footfalls on the stairs. The house was completely silent except for the breeze stirring the curtains on either side of his window.
His nerves stretched and twisted, but she didn’t appear. He caught himself glancing at the doorway, expecting her silhouette. As the minutes ticked by, Nic forced his eyes shut, but he couldn’t quiet his mind and the past two days played through his thoughts with unrelenting starkness.
With a heated curse, he rolled off the bed and stalked downstairs. It didn’t surprise him to find her exactly where he’d left her.
“You are the most stubborn woman I’ve ever known,” he complained. “I don’t know what the hell you expect from me.”
Even his mother had given up trying to keep him in Sherdana when his heart belonged in an airplane hangar in the Mojave Desert. But for years Brooke had relentlessly pushed herself into his life until he couldn’t celebrate achievements or face failures without thinking about her.
“My expectations are all in the past,” she said, pushing to her feet.
And that’s what was eating him alive.
They stared at each other in motionless silence until Brooke heaved a huge sigh. The dramatic rise and fall of her chest snagged Nic’s attention. The tank top she wore scooped low in front, offering him the tiniest hint of cleavage. Recalling the way her breasts had tasted this morning, he repressed a groan.
“Brooke.”
“Don’t.” She started past him. Nic caught her wrist. At his touch, she stilled. “I thought I was pretty clear this afternoon when I said that I’ve given up on you.”
“Crystal clear.” Nic cupped her face, his fingers sliding into the silky strands of russet near her ear.
“Then what are you doing?”
“Wishing you didn’t have to.”
He brought his mouth down to hers, catching her lips in a searing kiss that held nothing back. She stiffened, her body bracing to recoil. He couldn’t let that happen. Not now. Not when he’d stopped being principled and noble. Not when he wanted her with a hunger that ate at him like acid.
Taking a tighter grip on her wrist, he slowly levered it behind her back, compelling her hips forward until her pelvis brushed against the jut of his erection. The contact made him moan. He deepened the kiss, sweeping his tongue forward to taste her. Her lips parted for him. A soft whimper escaped her throat as she writhed in his grasp, but whether she fought to escape or move closer he couldn’t be sure.
“I want you,” he murmured, setting his mouth on her throat and sucking gently.
Her body trembled, but her muscles remained tense. Labored, uneven breaths pushed her breasts against his bare chest.
“Damn you, Nic.” It was in her voice, in the way she tilted her head to allow him better access to her neck. She was furious and aroused. “It’s too late for you to change your mind.”
“It’s too late when I say it is.” He released her wrist and cupped her small, round butt in his palm. The cotton pajama bottoms bunched as he gave a light squeeze.
She gasped, set both hands on his chest and shoved. It was like a kitten batting at a mastiff. “This isn’t fair.”
“Fair?” He growled the word. “Do you want to talk about fair? You’ve tormented me for five years. Strutting around the hangar in your barely there denim shorts. Coming to peer over my shoulder and letting your hair tickle my skin. How hard do you think it was for me to keep from pulling you into my lap and putting my hands all over you?”
“You never...” She arched back and stared up into his face. “I had no idea.”
