Page 37 of Hell Bent
“Right,” he said. “Because vulnerability is such an attractive quality in a man.”
I was furious, suddenly. “You bet it is,” I said. “You bet. Who told you it isn’t? They were wrong.”
“I don’t need you to feel sorry for me,” he said, losing a little of his calm. “I’m fine. I’m more than fine. I’ve had thirteen years of good luck, and I have a great life. I even have a dog. I don’t need pity, from you or anyone else.”
“Oh, that’s great,” I said. “That’s just great. You tell me something like that, then you get mad at me because you told me. That’s really emotionally mature.”
He braked to a stop beside my space and put the car in Park. The lights came on, which meant I could see him glaring at me. I was pretty sure I was glaring, too, as I unfastened my seatbelt. Until I laughed.
He said, “And now you’re laughing at me.”
“No,” I said. “I’m laughing at us. This is not the way it goes in the movie when the hero opens up. I’m supposed to snuggle up to you, hold your head in my hands, kiss your mouth, and tell you how impressive you are to have overcome all that. You’re making that hard. Just saying.”
“How about if you snuggle up and kiss me because I’m good at ping-pong?” he said. “I like that better.” His hand was at the back of my neck, and now, his seatbelt was off, too. He didn’t pull me, though. He leaned halfway over, and I must have been leaning, too, because both his hands were on my head and his mouth was closing over mine.
Fire.That was the only thought in my head, or maybe it wasn’t a thought at all. Something dark and hot leaping inside me, my hands on him, finally able to touch him the way I’d needed to, thrilling to the shift of muscle under mypalms. His mouth was insistent, but gentle, and his hands held me not so much tightly as tenderly. My hands were moving, his weren’t, and suddenly, my eyes were full of tears.
He stopped kissing me, pulled back a little, and ran a thumb over my cheek. “Alix,” he said. “What’s wrong?”
I shook my head, feeling stupid. Feeling confused. “I … I don’t know. Emotion, all of a sudden. Sorry.” I sniffed, wiped my hands over my cheeks, and said haltingly, “It’s that you’re so … so sweet.”
To my shock, he groaned, pulled away, and banged his head on the steering wheel. I didn’t know what to think, and then I realized he was laughing, and so was I. Reflexively, I guess. “What?” I asked.
“That is not,” he said, “what a man wants to hear.”
“Oh,” I said. “I got it wrong. Oh, well. I told you, I’m romance-challenged.”
He was still smiling, and he had his hand on my face again, too. I said, feeling shy, “Does it help if I tell you that you, um …”
“I’m liking the sound of this much better,” he said. “Go on.”
I turned my cheek into his hand, just so he’d caress it some more. That felt good. Comforting, and weirdly erotic. “Can your whole body be an erogenous zone?” I asked.
He exhaled. “Yeah. Yeah. Want me to kiss you some more?” But when my hand closed over his wrist and I kissed his palm, he didn’t ask again. He just kissed me. For a minute, or possibly for ten, I couldn’t even have told you. His hand at my mouth, then moving over my cheek to my neck, and oh, hell, yeah, that wasdefinitelyan erogenous zone. It was like I had a nerve going from there directly to … well, you get the idea. It wasstabbingme. His scent was swirling through my head, all leather and wood smoke and man, my entire body was lit up, and I was shifting in my seat, wanting more of him.And still, his hands weren’t moving. They were, in fact, wrapped in my hair, and the possessiveness of the action, the thought that he couldn’t get enough of me, made me squirm more.
Bright lights behind my closed eyes. I opened them and saw another car edging around us on the narrow road. Sebastian must have felt the change in me, too, because he stopped kissing me and asked, “What?”
“I should go inside,” I said, hardly trusting my voice. “I have work.”
He said, “I guess that’s not an invitation.”
“No,” I said, but now, my hand was onhisface. “I don’t want to make stupid decisions,” I tried to explain. Every window in this car was steamed up. How long had it been since I’d kissed a man in a car like this? How long since a man’s kiss had felt this good?
“Ah,” he said, and smiled, a twist of a thing. “I don’t want you to make stupid decisions either. Much.” I laughed, and he said, “I have a home game next Sunday at one. That’s your day off, I know. Want to spend some of it watching me? Sounds conceited, but that’s the best I’ve got, because my day off is Tuesday. We could go out Sunday night after the game, though. What do you think?”
“Do I get to see Lexi?” I asked.
“You get,” he said, “what you want.” And kissed me again.
It wasn’t easy to go inside.
Man, maturity sucks sometimes.
16
ANOTHER BEND IN THE ROAD
Sebastian
