Page 14 of Ignite
“Me?” Her eyeswidened.
“Yeah,you.”
“Well…” She thought for a moment. “I’d quit my job forstarters.”
“Not afan?”
“It’s…I don’t fit inthere.”
“Okay,” I said, sensing it was a sore point. “You’d quit your job. Thenwhat?”
Her gaze fixed on her drink, her lips curving upward slightly. She had a dreamy look about her as she thought about her heart’s desire. “I’d buy a little house someplace quiet. Something that didn’t need a lot of upkeep. Ahome.”
I frowned, wanting to wrap my arm around her back, but I curled my fingers into tight fistsinstead.
“A home?” Iprodded.
“I haven’t had one in a long time,” she replied,shrugging.
The gesture was becoming repetitive, and I knew it was one of her tells. She was cut up about something, and her default reaction was to shrug it off. Like no one had cared to listenbefore.
“You live someplace, though,right?”
“That’s the point,” she replied, picking at the label on her bottle of cider. “They’re just places I’ve lived. Nothingmore.”
I studied her, my mind ticking over. Most women wanted things like marriage, babies, a hot boyfriend, and a diamond engagement ring but not Ali. All she seemed to want was someplace to belong. Someplace that was hers. Ahome.
Her head dipped forward, and her hair slipped from behind her ear, covering her face. Reaching out, I tucked the strands back into place. My fingers brushed against her cheek, and her gaze metmine.
An overwhelming urge to comfort her rose, to pull her close and wipe away her tears and taste her lips again. Sucking in a deep breath, I turned away, my cock desperately needing to berearranged.
“If you want it bad enough, you’ll find a way,” I said. “It’s not always easy, but you’ll getthere.”
Silence opened between us, and we sat awkwardly. I didn’t know what to say after that, but finally, shespoke.
“So if you’re not fighting tonight, why are you here?” sheasked.
“I’ve got nowhere else tobe.”
“What, no girlfriend? No hotdate?”
I smirked at her blatant fishing. “No. Nothing likethat.”
“Whynot?”
It was the perfect question, really. I could walk out into the warehouse and take my pick of any woman, take her home or out back, and fuck until I was blind. If I wanted to make a long-term thing with any of them, they would bend over backward on my cock to please me, but it wouldn’t be real. They wanted what was on the surface. My body, my stamina…my money. They didn’t care about anything else. Finding someone who gave a shit about all the other parts over what they could personally gain…that was a rare birdindeed.
Turning, I plucked at the collar of Ali’s shirt, my hand coming dangerously close to her breasts. “Who knew what I would awaken when I teamed you up withFaye.”
“Too many questions?” she asked, her bodytensing.
“For someone who could hardly look at me a day ago…” I trailed off and reached for her cider. Lifting the bottle to my lips, her gaze locked onto my mouth as I downed amouthful.
If I wanted to kiss her, now was the perfect time. I would put down the bottle, grasp her face in my hands, and when she gasped, my tongue would plunge against hers, devouring her. I’d make her wet and wanting until she begged me to take her home. When we got back to my apartment, instead of going to the bedroom, I’d strip her naked, spread her over the kitchen table, take a seat between her legs,and…
I grunted, breaking away from her. Putting the bottle back onto the table, I felt like heading out back and taking a cold shower. There were women you could have a bit of fun with who wouldn’t fall in love with you the moment you kissed them, and then there was Ali. There was a wide-eyed vulnerability about her that was hot as hell, but I knew it would be wrong to takeadvantage.
If she was looking for romance, she wouldn’t find ithere.
