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“Yes.” My voice was gruffer than I’d intended. I didn’t usually ask men what their intentions were, because mine were the only ones that mattered.
He considered me for a few seconds before he finally admitted, “I was in the moment.” His expression was so genuine I believed him.
“Why did you stop?”
He brushed a hair out of my face, his soft touch sending tingles down my spine. “The next time we kiss, I want it to be because you initiated it. Because you made the conscious decision to be with me.”
My skin tingled, and my insides felt fizzy with excitement even as I said, “That’s not going to happen.”
He cocked his head, and his lips twitched. “Are you sure about that?”
“Positive.” I drew on my MO with guys. I was the one in control. I liked it better that way. I refused to give in to the idea that I enjoyed how he’d initiated our first kiss or when he’d pulled me into that closet to pleasure me.
Silas stepped closer so that we were touching from thighs to my chest and then dipped his head to murmur against my jaw. “You’re a tough nut to crack, Gia Giovanni.”
The scruff of his day-old beard scraped deliciously across my cheek. I wanted to feel it between my legs. I wanted him to make me come apart again. My core ached to feel him inside me.
“It will be challenging but worth it.” Then he stepped back, the air between us cooling considerably now that he was standing a foot away from me and not touching me.
“We’re supposed to be working together. We’re professionals.”
Silas rocked back on his heels. “Is that how you want to play this?”
How was he so cool and seemingly unaffected when I felt like a bomb ready to explode? Could I erase the distance between us and kiss him? Would I give in and make that first move?
He’d issued a challenge, and I’d meet it with one of my own.
I shoved the idea aside that I might like giving in to Silas Sharpe. That I would most likely enjoy every minute of his lips and hands on me. But clinging to my way of handling things was more important.
I needed to hold on to control in this situation. My business and my future depended on it. Letting go with Silas might feel good in the moment, but the repercussions would be catastrophic. I’d never allowed myself to completely let go with a man, except for the times I’d been with Silas, and the implications scared me.
Who was I without my carefully constructed habits? I’d gotten this far on them, and I wanted more gains before I could relax and declare my business a success.
Silas sighed. “I like you. I want to spend time with you. But you have to make the next move.”
My jaw tightened under his scrutiny and his soft words. They were infiltrating my heart, curling around the frayed edges, and filling the empty chambers. “So you’ve said.”
Silas looked down at the ground as if he was trying to find his next words, and then he lifted his gaze to mine. “You are stubborn.”
“Everyone knows this about me,” I said softly, keeping my eyes on him.
“I’m going to figure you out. What makes you tick, what gets you soft.”
Something about the wordsoftbroke through my hard shell, splintering my carefully constructed walls. My face heated, and my fingers curled into fists by my side. “Why?”
“Because I like you.”
Tears sparked behind my lids because no one had ever made this much effort to pursue me. I was a shield, deflecting come-ons and requests for dates like I would change the channel on a TV. Men were usually easy to handle. Unfortunately, this one wasn’t. He was infuriating and relentless. I knew this about him in business, but I never considered what it would be like for him in this situation. “Nothing can happen between us. Have you forgotten about my brothers?”
“I’d never do anything to mess things up with your brothers, your family, or our businesses.”
“You can’t guarantee that.” Besides, he was worried about the external factors. He hadn’t mentioned the possibility of getting hurt. It was the single thing I’d avoided my entire life. I broke things off with guys first. I’d only felt the sting of a breakup once, and I vowed never to put myself in that situation again. I never let it get that far. And I certainly never allowed myself to fall for a guy. If I allowed myself to be vulnerable with Silas, it would be a mistake. He had the power to get under my skin, to infiltrate my walls, to make me feel.
“Everything about you drives me crazy, and I’m relentless when I want something.”
“I’ve noticed.” I ignored the first part of his statement for my self-preservation and focused on the second. He’d wanted Harrison’s arbors, and he’d gotten them. I didn’t even want to think about the financial deal he gave Harrison to get him to work with him.
“This isn’t over,” he repeated the message he’d sent me over text after our first night together.
