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“You looking for something?” he says, his tone cool, calm and collected.
Yet I can see the color red racing up the column of his throat as I discreetly touch his stomach and abs. He has goosebumps on his neck and I feel powerful, knowing the effect I’m having on him.
He lowers his face to catch my gaze. “What is it, Nadia?”
“I like…” I shouldn’t say this. IknowI shouldn’t say this. “I like the way you feel. Your body. It feels…good.”
“Thank…you, I guess?”
And since I’m on a roll, admitting things I shouldn’t, I might as well get this next bit off my chest, too. “About earlier…”
He cocks a brow. “What about it?”
“In the car…when I…when I mentioned feelings…”
His head gives a slight nod and his eyes bore into me, waiting.
“I like you, okay?” I blurt, my gaze shifting to his chest because his stare is just too intense. “I wish I didn’t. But I do.”
Harry gasps dramatically. “Why don’t you want to like me?” he asks, acting deeply offended. “I’m a nice guy. Some might even say that I’mlikable.”
He’s joking. I think. It’s hard to say for certain since I won’t make eye contact.
“You’re completely different from other guys.” I reach up and skim my fingers over his stubbled jaw. I can’t resist. “Part of my brain is screaming that you are too good to possibly be true,” I admit.
“I’m true, Nadia.” He steals my hand and pauses to press his lips to my fingers. “Everything I’ve said to you is true. And I know that actions speak louder than words, so I’ve tried to prove it with my actions, too.” He inhales harshly. “I really,reallylike you. What’s it going to take to get through to you?”
I shake my head. “I wish I knew the answer.”
Despite everything Harry’s ever done…
Despite all the times he’s asked me out…
Despite all the sweet things he’s said…
I’m still so afraid to trust him. Deep down, I want to. If I could put my trust in someone else, that would be such a weight lifted off me. But letting my guard down just doesn’t feel familiar to me. It doesn’t feel safe.
His voice is low, cracked and rough like gravel when he speaks again. “I’d give anything to kiss you right now.”
His hypnotic stare refuses to let go of mine. And everything is going blurry. An invisible eraser is slowly blotting away the list of reasons we shouldn’t kiss again.
We’re in a room full of my business associates. The whole town is watching. I should be saying ‘no’ to Harry.
Instead I find myself rationalizing, looking for a way to make this okay. “This isn’t real…” I whisper, my voice scratchy and hoarse. “If we kiss, we’d only be pretending. We’d be putting on a show for Luke. That’s all.” I say the words more as a reminder to myself than to Harry.
His hand rises to my face, brushing back a loose curl hanging over my cheek. His voice is so rueful it cracks my heart. “You’ve already made yourself clear, Dream Girl. You don’t see a future for us. When you look at me, all you see is our differences. But when I look at you, I see all the magic we could make…” He lowers his lips to my cheek and I feel his warm breath whirl across my exposed neck and shoulder when he deposits another soft, lingering kiss there. “Come on, Nadia. Make magic with me.”
Something ripples through me at those words. It’s more than lust. It’s more than wanting.
It’s hope. It’s anticipation. It’s a silent wish for something forbidden, something deeper.
“You’re delusional,” I say weakly, my voice trembling with desire.
He captures my tiny hand in his large hand and brings my palm to his lips. “Maybe…but this…us—” he gestures to the space where my chest is pressed to his. “—makes perfect sense to me.”
I lean back to search his eyes. There’s no bullshit there. This man means every word he just said to me.
I thought my walls were made of some pretty tough stuff. Boulders and steel and concrete pillars and the like. But this man is taking them apart like Lego blocks and I have no defenses left.
