Page 18 of Devil Inside: Green

My heart starts to break. I’m not asking for forever or anything. He’s Darry and I’m a preppy. WearetheOutsiders. I know I’m not the type of woman he’d ever consider for the long haul and frankly, I don’t know if I’d want that, either. Iwouldlike him to ask how I’m doing or something.

Come on—show me that you care a little.

Now that we establish where I stand with him, I reach over, turning on the radio to fill the silence, pull a three-point turn, and head back to the highway.

I merge us back into traffic, but I’m in the correct lane to take the exit he tells me to take. The one with the sign that lists off a bunch of hotels nearby.

Green seems to like the Hilton hotels. For a gruff man who just engaged in hot car hood sex, he certainly likes his comfort. I suppose spending six months locked up in jail would do that to a person. He points to the Embassy Suites.Points. No words spoken. And when we leave the car, he doesn’t drop his hand to his spot on my back. He keeps space between us.

When we stop at the desk, I fish through my bag to get my credit card. We should definitely keep separate rooms again at this point—but he pays for a room and grabs the handle to my bag, walking away with it.

Why? Why does he want to share a room again? What good will come from that? Rather than spill our dirty laundry in public, I follow him to the elevator because I’m apparently a glutton for punishment. Our room is on the fifth floor. Still zero talking between us. I follow him to our room and wait for him to open the door. I let him pick the bed first because he paid, then I set my suitcase on my bed, unzip it, rummaging through my bag to find clean panties and a pair of cotton shorts, and a T-shirt to wear. They join me in the bathroom, where I strip down to shower.

After I finish, I stall going back into the room by using the blow drier on my hair, moisturizing with the complimentary bottle of moisturizer in the bathroom, and then sitting on the closed toilet lid for a while.

This is ridiculous. I’m being ridiculous. I walk into the room. Green is lying on his bed, arms propped behind his head, but the TV isn’t on. He sighs when he sees me.

What now?

8

GREEN

She’s pissed and I can’t blame her for it. I punked out back there. I need to say something to her. The silence makes me want to punch something. One thing I’ve learned about Danni is she’s not giving in. She’s not begging. If this ends, then I have to be the one to make the first move, but how do you tell a woman you’ve known for days that the sex that started out angry meant more than you wanted it to? How do you tell a woman that she’s the first since your murdered old lady to make you feel alive?

Danni does that. She makes me feel alive in ways I never thought I’d get back. Ways I never thought I’dwantto get back. She must have put lotion on because the smell of her is driving me out of my fucking mind. This one is different, flowery, but mixed with Danni’s natural fragrance, it does everything to me. My dick feels the same. It’s twitching in my pants like a virgin seeing his first pair of naked boobs.

I’m aware of every move she makes now. Every damn breath in or sigh. I know what her face looks like when she orgasms and I’d kill to see that again right now. Danni sits on her bed, fluffs the pillow behind her, and lies back, staring at the television.

Damn—I’ve really screwed this up. I shoot up from the bed, my vision filled with nothing but Danni. She gasps as I slide my arms under her knees and around her back, lifting the woman to deposit her on my bed next to where I was lying.

“What are you doing?”

“Wrong bed,” I reply.

“What?”

“Wrong bed. We’re sleeping here.” I drop her gently on her side of the bed.

“We’re—what? Please explain what the hell is going on here, Green.”

“What’s going on is we fucked, we fucked hard, and now you’re just going to ignore me like it didn’t mean shit to you? Naw, baby. We aren’t playing it that way. You walked into my club. You thought you brought me into your world but, Preppy, you werewrong. You walked intomyworld and now we’re playing by my rules.”

“I… uh… I…” she stutters, unable to string a thought together and it’s cute as hell. Finally, she narrows her eyes at me, knowing exactly what to say. “You didn’t say a word. You threw the condom down and climbed into the car. How exactly didIdo anything wrong?”

“How many women you think I fucked since Dela?”

“Must I remind you that your bed was pretty rumpled when we went in there to discuss the trip?”

“She was the only woman I fucked and I did it thinking of you.”

Her mouth falls open.

“Yeah, babe. Only way I got off was by picturing those tits bouncing, by hearing your sweet, husky voice calling my name—and now that I know how that sounds for real, make no mistake, mine’s the only name you’re calling for the foreseeable future.”

“What if I don’t—”

“All that sweetness and you lit up for me. On fucking fire. Letting me have you exactly as I wanted you. That little moan you made at the back of your throat every time I thrust in—goddamn, I had a hard time holding back. That was just about the sexiest sound I’ve ever heard.”

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