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He sat up straight, seeming to tower over her. “You mean because I got you out of the house – off the estate for a while? Because ….?”
She put a finger to his lips as she shook her head. “I mean that I … I can’t keep trying to hide it from you, Xander. I mean …”
A small smile tugged the corners of his mouth upwards. “You mean …?”
She nodded again.
He edged closer and set his hands on the bench on either side of her hips. She felt as though she was surrounded by him as she leaned back to look up into his eyes. His smile lit up his face as he asked, “You mean I finally wore you down? Finally got you to accept that I might be worth taking a chance on?”
“No.”
His smile disappeared.
“I’ve always known that you were worth it. What I didn’t know was what on earth you might see in me – I still don’t. But …” She bit down on her bottom lip as she ran her hand up his arm. “But I finally reached the conclusion that that’s your problem. If you want to take a chance on me, then I’m up for it. I only have one request.”
“What’s that?”
“Let me down gently when you’re done with me?”
He moved faster than a guy his size should be able to. His arm snaked around her waist and pulled her to him. The next thing she knew, she was sitting on his lap with both of his arms wrapped around her. She let out a surprised little laugh, but he gave her a stern look.
“What?” she asked. “Are you saying that you won’t be my friend anymore when you’re done with me? I don’t think I could take that.”
His arms tightened around her. “I’m saying nothing of the kind. In fact – I’m saying the opposite of that.”
“I don’t get it. What’s the opposite of not being gentle with me when you’re done with me?”
He raised his eyebrows. “Think about it.”
“I am. I still don’t get it.”
He gave her a weird little smile. “You will. You can tell me when you figure it out. In the meantime, you don’t need to worry about it. All I’ll say is that I’ll always be gentle with you – in everything.”
That sent a shiver down her spine. She hoped he didn’t mean in everything. She kind of liked the idea of him being less than gentle in some things.
~ ~ ~
Xander didn’t know what the hell had changed – didn’t know what had prompted her after all this time to say that she was interested in him as maybe something more than a friend. But he wasn’t going to waste any time trying to figure out the why – he was just going to run with it.
He ran his hand up and down her back and had to shift his position when she shivered under his touch. She had the same effect on him. Her light blue eyes fixed on his and he could see a whole bunch of questions in them.
He slipped his hand under her hair and cupped her nape. “Don’t look so worried, it’s just taking me a minute to catch up. I’ve been working on this since the day I arrived in Nashville. I’ve gotten used to you shutting me down.”
She raised her eyebrows. “I shut you down?”
He chuckled. “Don’t try to look innocent. Yes, Tori, you shut me down. Like five times a day – every day.”
“You mean when you were joking around?”
He gave her another stern look. “I was never joking. You, little sprite, drive me out of my mind. I’ve tried being jokey, I’ve tried being subtle, I tried telling you in no uncertain terms, and every single time, you shut me down.”
She dropped her gaze. “I didn’t think you were serious – didn’t see how you could be.”
He tangled his fingers in her hair and tugged her head back so that she had to look into his eyes. “I was serious. I am serious.” He brought his other hand up to cup her cheek and dropped his gaze to her lips – her full, soft-looking lips that had haunted his dreams for months.
When he looked back up into her eyes, her cheeks flushed. “So, what do we do about it?”
He wanted to suggest that they seal it with a kiss – he’d love to suggest that he could take her home and seal it in bed, but now that the moment was here – the moment that he’d feared would never come – none of that felt right. He wasn’t just making his move on a woman he was attracted to – she was still Tori.
