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The back of the main building incorporated a large garage with two overhead doors. He unlocked the person door set between them and led her into a mechanic’s shop.
“Let me guess.” She waved at the tools, the half-built engine on the wooden workbench, the dismantled bike surrounded by parts standing on an ancient tarp. “This is your domain.”
He jerked his shoulder in a self-deprecating motion. “It’s what I do. Another volunteer takes them canoeing on the lake that’s on the other side of the dorms. Another teaches them how to cook. The counsellors do the heavy lifting with group therapy, anger management, that sort of thing.”
“It’s good to give them options. Exploration gives kids the chance to discover likes and dislikes. They learn that failing isn’t an end, just a step along a new path.”
She’d been idly prodding the bits and pieces lined up next to the engine on the worktop. Strong rough fingers gripped her chin and tilted her head. Cash regarded her with an expression in which wonder, hunger, and power mixed.
Warmth spread through her, flushing her cheeks. Her breath lodged solidly in her lungs.
“I really want to kiss you.” His hoarse voice ruffled her skin like sandpaper.
The desire stoked by the long ride pressed up against him and the vulnerability he’d expressed earlier flared, dazzling her. She licked her lower lip, accidentally brushing his thumb. His pupils, already dilated in the dim light, expanded further and he growled.
He growled.
Penta Unleashed, she reminded herself. She licked her lip again, this time deliberately swiping her tongue against his finger. “Why don’t you, then?”
Chapter Thirteen
Cash’s stormy gaze welded itself to Penta’s, his light clasp on her chin tightening. She held herself still, waiting like a mouse in a trap. A willing mouse in a pain-free trap, but caught all the same.
“I didn’t think that was part of our agreement.” The words ground out from between his tightly pressed lips.
“We didn’t say it wasn’t, either. We never discussed”—she swallowed and then made herself continue—“t-touching. And k-kissing.” Damn it. She hadn’t meant to stutter. But locked in the intensity of his expression, she was surprised she could form complete sentences at all.
“What we have isn’t real. Touching you like this”—his fingers left her chin to trace the column of her throat in a fiery line—“shouldn’t be allowed.”
She knew it wasn’t real. Could never be real. Being caressed by the tattooed hand of a hard but handsome man after breaking all sorts of speed limits on a motorbike and sneaking into a youth camp wasn’t real, not in Penta’s world. But she couldn’t squash the wish that it was. That adventures with this man could be her reality.
“What if I want you to?” With great care and even greater bravery, she laid her palm flat on his chest. The metal zipper of his jacket was cool and sharp, the leather warm and supple. “It d-doesn’t have to m-mean anything.” Cash would never take her seriously if she kept stuttering.
“You don’t sound too certain. Are you sure you’re ready for casual sex?” Grim amusement flickered in his smoky eyes.
All she’d wanted was a kiss. An honest to God, proper kiss. She should have guessed his thoughts would leap to sex. Her courage fled. “Never mind. Forget I said anything.” Cheeks hot with humiliation, she attempted to spin on her heels. Before she could do more than twist her shoulders, his hands clamped onto her hips and held her in place.
“I can’t forget it. Give me a minute.” He fell silent and she waited, staring fixedly at the pull tab on the zipper of his jacket.
Finally, he sighed. “I’m not good at this relationship thing. I just don’t want you to do something you might regret later.” His hands kneaded her flesh, insistently exploring. “ I like that you ask for what you want even when it scares you.”
She peeked up, wary. “You do?”
“I do. Let’s go back to where this started.” His growl had softened to a purr. A dangerous purr, but one that promised dark delights. “I really want to kiss you. Do you want me to, Penta?”
She considered his question carefully, trembling as his thumbs traced circles on her waist, his fingertips pressing the tops of her buttocks. “No.”
His caresses stopped immediately and he put an arm’s length gap between them. “I see.”
“No,” she repeated. “I don’t think you do.”
She stepped forward. He stepped back. She followed him, stride for stride, until he was pressed up against a workbench.
Penta Unleashed. “I don’t want you to kiss me, Cash. I want to kiss you.”
His mouth, encircled by his luxuriant beard, opened and closed. Satisfaction rolled through her at reducing him to speechlessness.
The seconds ticked by and she clung tightly to her daring. “Well?” she prodded.
