Page 24 of Had to Be You

She’d spent the entire drive back to Whisper Lake carefully removing the emotional knives from her back, administered by her family. Her entire family, minus her father, who barely spared her ex a glance, welcomed Mario back into their family with open arms.

And now... Now, she was going to be spending the summer with G.I. Sexy Pants upstairs. How in the hell was she supposed to concentrate on anything except thinking of him naked in the shower above her?

Her hands were trembling as she lifted the keys to the lock. Irritated at her body’s traitorous reaction, she tried to hurry the process along, but in doing so, she fumbled the keys, and they dropped to the ground.

She bent over at the same time as Knox, and the two bumped heads.

"Ouch!" She rubbed her forehead as she stood.

"Are you okay?"

"Are you?" she asked as she winced.

That hadn’t been a tap; she was seeing stars and a little unsteady on her feet.

"I’m fine. I have a hard head."

"Apparently," she mumbled as she rubbed her fingers over her forehead to check and see if a lump was coming up.

He took a step closer to her, and the concern in his eyes had her feeling dizzy for a reason that had nothing to do with the collision. "Are you sure you’re okay?"

"I’m fine." She looked away and managed to get the key in the door and turn it.

The grand tour of the apartment was short and sweet. There wasn’t much to show in the 700-square-foot apartment. A small bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and living room rounded out the experience.

"Do you have any questions?" She turned back to him, wanting to get out of the small space as soon as possible.

With his wide shoulders, tall stature, chiseled tattooed arms, and commanding presence, Knox took up more room than any person had a right to, and it was making her feel claustrophobic. Well, actually, it was making her feel very aroused, but that was making her feel like the walls were closing in on her.

"Do you have ice?" he asked.

"Ice?" Laura repeated. "For what, a drink?"

"No, for the goose egg that is coming up on your forehead."

Laura lifted her hand to her face, and sure enough, there was a knot rising smack dab in the center of her forehead. Today was just not her day.

Laura sighed. "There’s an ice pack in the freezer, but I don’t need it. I can wait until I get home to ice it."

Knox was headed into the kitchen as soon as she’d said freezer and apparently ignored the rest of her comment. As he walked by her, the musky masculine scent that had tickled her nose yesterday on the dance floor drifted through the air. Her olfactory nerve triggered the memory of being in his arms, which wrapped her like a warm blanket.

Unaware of her trip down memory lane, Knox slid open the bottom-loading stainless steel freezer drawer. He grabbed the ice pack that had been part of a first aid kit that Laura had bought to keep in the rental.

She reached out for the pack, but he lifted it up higher, so she couldn’t reach it.

"Sit," he commanded gruffly.

"I’m not a dog," she said as she lowered herself onto the chair behind her.

The corners of Knox’s mouth tilted up. "Good girl."

Her mind knew that he’d called her that to tease her about her dog comment. But her body viewed the comment through an entirely different, teasing lens. It responded to the words like foreplay, and tingles erupted in her core.

Laura had never been submissive in the bedroom or gotten off on dominant men. But hearing Knox call her a good girl made her want to be Ana to his Christian Grey and roleplay Fifty Shades style.

Thankfully, all thoughts of red rooms disappeared when Knox crouched down in front of her and pressed the ice pack to her forehead. She hissed through clenched teeth at the discomfort. When she did, his hand wrapped around her neck to keep her head in place.

The warmth from his palm and the graze of his roughened fingertips overrode any pain she was in. All she could think about was how good his touch felt and how badly she wanted to feel it in other places on her body. She closed her eyes, unable to keep eye contact with him without melting into a puddle of lust.

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