Page 34 of Savage Temptation
The look he gives me sends my heart aflutter. “Good. I aim to keep you that way.”
Stop reading too far into this, girl. It will be your own damn fault if that soft heart of yours gets broken.
While a part of me knows I should walk back what I said, I’ve come too far. I have to tell him exactly what’s on the line for me.
But when I open my mouth, the words refuse to come out. I may only get thirty days with the man of my dreams, and I’m already almost a week in. If I ruin this now, I’ll kick myself.
Instead of confessing my heartfelt feelings, I say, “You don’t have to get all slick with me. Dates aren’t necessary. Until the end of the thirty days, I’m yours.”
His face skews. “Why do you say it like that? Almost angrily.”
“Because I can forgive you for wanting to fuck me, but when you get all sweet, it makes me roll my eyes. I don’t like the feeling of being manipulated. You don’t have to pretend to have feelings to get the goods.”
“You think I have no feelings for you?”
“No…but with how you’re acting—”
“Tessa,” he cuts me off sharply. “Let’s not assume to know each other’s motivations.”
“I know the extent that you care for me. You’ve already told me you can’t trust women. Except me.”
“I can’t, but that doesn’t mean that’s the only reason I’m attracted to you. Yes, I can trust you, but there’s more to what you are to me than trust. You will always feel like home base.”
“Home base?”
“The place I want to go back to at the end of each day, kick up my feet, open a beer. Just being near you makes my life easier to deal with.”
Suddenly, I want to pound my fists into his chest for making this so complicated. This was supposed to be a friends with benefits situation. Feelings weren’t supposed to reveal themselves.
Atticus sucks in a breath and runs his fingers through his hair. “Look, I know this is only supposed to go on for thirty days, and I’m not trying to make this overly complicated, but I also don’t want you to think that all you are is convenient for me. The feelings I have are real, but my life is complicated.”
I nod, understanding his words. He has feelings for me, but he has no room for relationships. I’ll admit, this makes it better. He’s not trying to be deceptive or play up his feelings for a piece of ass. He’s being a version of himself he can’t be with anyone else.
How can I fault him for wanting normalcy?
I grant him a smile. “I appreciate your honesty.”
“If you’re not comfortable with this, we can call it off. I’ve had my driver tailing us and he’s just around the corner. He can bring you home, if you’d like.”
I shake my head. “No, but why don’t we have him bring me to your place?”
“You mean the apartment I share with your brother? If you want to live dangerously, sure. Why not? We were lucky the first time.”
My mouth falls open. During our conversation, the confession of all the turbulent emotions, I forgot one very important element to our coupling: that it’s forbidden.
“Then back to my place it is, but I must warn you, it’s a far cry from your modern fortress.”
Atticus stands and throws away the wrappings of our dinner, then extends his hand to me. “I was hoping you’d say that.”
CHAPTER11
TESSA
We’re barely a foot through the door to my apartment, and I’m already in Atticus’s arms, his mouth on my neck, finding sensitive spots I long to have explored.
Everything about this man is intoxicating, and while I understand many women would use him for his money, that’s not all there is to Atticus. In fact, that’s a very small part of what makes him desirable.
Teeth meet earlobe. I come undone. I’m fully clothed and only twenty seconds into having my neck mauled, and my panties are already embarrassingly wet.
