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“How can I understand you when I don’t even really know you, Archer? We’ve never been close.” Her gaze drops to my lips, lingering there. “Despite what... happened between us last time, there’s nothing between us.”
I feel like there’s too much between us, but I won’t go there now. “You’ve been a part of my life for a long time. You’ve known me since I was a teenager. Before I became... this.” The consummate playboy who can have any woman I want at any time. The workaholic hotelier who throws himself into his business until all he can do is live and breathe Hush. And now there’s Crave...
“Yeah, well my feelings still haven’t changed about you. I think you’re crazy.” She gasps when I lean in and brush my lips against the right corner of her mouth. That quick sample of her soft skin makes me ache for more. “Wh—why are you kissing me?”
“Because I need to.” I kiss the left corner, moving to capture her upper lip between both of mine, nibbling a little bit before I release her. “I need your help, Ivy. I can’t get the resort ready without you.”
“Stop it.” She’s pushing at my chest, but I’m not going anywhere. “Don’t say things you don’t mean.”
“You really think I don’t mean it when I say I need you?” I’m incredulous. I sure as hell need her. More than I care to admit.
I have to convince her to come back into my bed. At least one more time—possibly a few dozen times before I let her go back to her world and I go back to mine. She was there the night of Jeff and Cecily’s wedding reception. All that pent-up chemistry swirling between us, exploding the moment my lips first touched hers. She knows how combustible it can be between us.
So why is she full of so much doubt?
“You don’t need me. You just want me to bail you out of trouble. I’ve never mattered to you. Not really.” She tilts her head away from mine when I lean in for another kiss.
“Damn it, Ivy,” I start, but she cuts me off.
“You abandoned me, Archer.” Ivy’s voice is so soft, I can hardly hear her. “I know we agreed our having sex was a mistake, but the way you touched me in the suite at Hush right before Gage texted you, I was so confused. I thought you wanted... oh my God, I don’t know what you want. Not really. I don’t get you. Since I left you that afternoon,you haven’t called. I haven’t heard one peep out of you—not that I expected to.” She takes a step back, withdrawing from me completely, and my arms feel empty without her in them. “This back and forth between us is... difficult. I can’t risk getting close to you again only for us to end it before we really gave ourselves a chance. Not that there’s an ‘us’...” Her voice trails off and her cheeks turn pink. She probably didn’t mean to admit such a thing.
Her small admission gives me hope.
“I won’t touch you. Unless you want me to.” I smile, but she doesn’t return the gesture. Heaving a big sigh, I cup her cheek, briefly sliding my fingers across her soft skin before I let my hand drop away from her. I can’t help but touch her, but if she doesn’t want me to, I won’t. “I promise.”
Pressing her lips together, her hazel eyes go wide as she trembles. I draw her back into my arms, protecting her from the cold. She has to be freezing since she left her coat in the restaurant. “Let’s get out of here and you can come back to the hotel with me downtown. I have the penthouse suite and the view of the city is amazing. It’s too damn cold out here to talk.”
Ivy stiffens in my arms just before she withdraws from me yet again. “Come with you back to your hotel room? I don’t think so. Next thing I know, I’m flat on my back and you’re all over me.”
I smile. Damn, that sounds amazing. “And that’s a bad thing, why?”
“Stop, Archer. I already told you I refuse to let that happen again.” She crosses her arms in front of her, contemplating me with her shrewd gaze. “Besides, if we ever did have sex again, you’d run like you always do.”
When shit gets serious, I definitely run. But not anymore.For once, I don’t want to bail. “I can’t run any longer, Ivy. This is it. I need the new resort to open with a roaring success. I need those suites to look amazing. Together, I know we can do it.”
“Fine.” She sighs. “We need to come up with a budget. A timeline.” She taps her finger against her pursed lips, driving me wild with wanting her. Damn, she’s beautiful. Even shivering in the cold, angry with me and most likely thinking I’ve lost my damn mind, she’s gorgeous. Fucking amazing, really.
I don’t deserve her help. I don’t deserve Ivy Emerson whatsoever.
But I still want her. Desperately.
“We can plot and plan back at the hotel, Ivy,” I tell her. “Come on. I won’t try any funny business.”
A perfectly manicured brow lifts at that remark. “Promise?”
Nodding, I make an X on my chest with my index finger. “Cross my heart.”
“You swear? I can’t think when you push yourself on me, Archer. And if you want my help in figuring out how we’re going to do this, then you need me to be able to think.”
Is it wrong that I’m pleased with her remark? That she can’t think when I’m around? I love that, especially because I feel the same way.
“Come back to the suite with me, Ivy. We’ll figure this out.”
“Fine.” She offers a jerky nod. “Let’s do this.”
Sweeter words were never spoken.
Chapter 11
