Page 38 of Close Pursuit

“Katie,” he mumbled, “we shouldn’t?—“

“Why not? Who’s going to judge us?”

She had a point. Still…

“Kiss me, Alex. I need the distraction. And the sense of human connection.”

Who was he to say no to a sweetly delivered request like that? He would be a cad to disappoint her and leave her hanging. Right? Very slowly, he slipped his right hand around the back of her neck under the weight and warmth of her thick hair.

Her held tilted up and her lips parted slightly as she stared at him. Desire flared in his gut and an urge to make her his roared through him.

“Tell me what you’re thinking,” she whispered. “I can’t read you.”

Hehadto step back from her. Save her from his brand of corruption. Protect her innocence and purity and goodness. But damned if he could make his feet move an inch back or force his hands to slip off her satin flesh.

Time for Plan B—get her to back away from him. Fast. Scare her. Find a way to warn her off of his brand of corruption.

“I’m thinking about all the twisted ways I’d love to fuck you and use you,” he replied baldly.

She did tense. For just a moment. But then, dammit, she relaxed again. Looked up at him as trustingly as a lamb.

Worse, she had the colossal foolishness to whisper, “I don’t have much experience with…with that. But I’d like to learn. I’d like you to show me.”

His eyes widened in genuine shock and he flung himself backward. He staggered a half-dozen more steps back before bursting out, “You have no idea what you’re asking. I told you before, I’m not a good guy. I’m not Joe College or an all-American boy.”

“I know.”

“For the love of God, if you know what’s good for you, don’t get anywhere near me.” He stabbed a hand into his short hair and whirled away from her, desperate to distance himself from her.

He heard her take a step forward and he fled to the far end of the bunker, stopping only when his thighs bumped into a wooden crate. He looked left and right fast for an escape route and spun to face his pursuer, as panicked as a cornered animal. She took another step toward him.

“Stop right there!” he barked.

Blessedly, she did.

“I spent the past five years in jail,” he blurted. “I’m a convicted felon. I did hard time for DUI, reckless endangerment, possession of controlled substances, resisting arrest, and a few other charges.”

The other charges were mostly related to taunting the court and baiting the judge, who’d steadfastly refused to throw the book at him until Alex finally broke down and asked the D.A. to convict him for his own safety. It had taken his lawyer some brilliant maneuvering to convince the judge to sentence Alex to four years in jail at his client’s own request without ever revealing the real reason for it.

“Sit down,” he ordered Katie. “Over there.” He pointed at a crate far across the space from him.

She sank onto the edge of the crate, but damned if that determined look still wasn’t gleaming in her baby blues.

“You’re innocent. Inexperienced. Naive,” he explained carefully. “I’m the complete opposite. I’m neither decent nor good nor respectable. Do you understand what I’m trying to say?”

“No. Explain it to me.”

He huffed. “My father was arrested when I was twelve. I got sent off to boarding school and then to college while he was very publicly tried and convicted of treason. People treated me as if I was a criminal, too. After a while, I got so sick of trying to prove them wrong that I changed tactics. Tried to livedownto everyone’s rotten expectations of me. I was not immune to teenage angst, and I was a kid living in a world of adults.”

“And?”

She was going to make him spell it all out. Every last sordid bit of it. Unreasoning anger at her rattled in his gut. Maybe that was why he didn’t pull any punches with her. “After medical school, I started to party. I drank and used drugs and gambled. I went into full rebellion against my father and carried it to its logical extreme.”

“And there were women?”

“Yes. There were women. Older than me. Experienced. I sought out women on whom I could work out my many issues and who wouldn’t expect any kind of a relationship with me.” He stared hard at her, willing her to hear what he was leaving unsaid.

But damned if her eyes didn’t light with unwilling interest. Answering lust surged into his loins, but he suppressed it brutally. “Katie, as pleasurable as I might find it, you do not want to explore my world.”

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