Page 20 of Crashed
Memories swamped her of their night together six months ago. She hadn’t told him she loved him, but it had been there in every touch. She hadn’t had sex with him—no, after he’d made her scream his name, she’d pushed him back on the bed and made love to him. Humiliation heated her skin. Had he seen it? Was he using her feelings for him to get what he wanted? That thought hurt more than anything else.
“Talk to me,” he said, raising up on an elbow and brushing her hair back so he could see her face. She noted absently that whiskers had already sprung up, darkening his strong jaw. It suited him. A lot.
“If we’re going to fuck, you need to get on with it. I have to get back before Rusty and Piper wonder where I am.”
She was trying to draw Mr. Chill back out; instead he smiled down and brushed his lips against hers.
“We’re not fucking, Alex, not tonight.”
What? She could feel his giant boner against her hip, so she knew he wanted her. It’s not like he could hide it. What was he playing at? Had she done something wrong? Then she got pissed at herself for giving a crap. She rubbed at the sting in her chest.
“Right.” She tried to pull away, to get out of his bed, to get the hell out of there, but he held her tight against him. “I need to leave, Deacon.”
“Not yet. I want to hold you for a while.”
“That wasn’t part of the deal.”
“It is now.”
She squirmed, trying to get some distance between them, but he threw a heavy thigh over hers, tangling their legs together, trapping her. It was hopeless. “You can’t just change the goddamn rules.”
He nuzzled her throat and ran his hands down her body and over her hip to squeeze her ass. “They’re my rules. I can do whatever I like. Now shut up and let me cuddle you.”
“I don’t cuddle.”
“You’ll get used to it. I like to hold a woman after I make her come. Not that you’d know, since the last time I had you in my bed, you ran away.”
She didn’t want to think about that night anymore, and she didn’t like the fact that he’d brought it up and thrown it in her face, either. Then a vision of Deacon snuggling with the Barbie from his office flashed through her mind. He’d said he hadn’t slept with her. Was he telling the truth? Could she believe him? Had he had that woman here, in this bed?
Shit. She had to get out of here. She increased her struggle to get free, but he just held tighter.
“You’re not going to win, so stop fighting me. And for God’s sake, relax. Cuddling is no fun if the person you’re holding feels like rigor mortis has set in.”
He massaged her shoulders and nibbled behind her ear.
The bastard knew she liked it when he did that, had been using it against her all night. What was he playing at? His dick was still hard as iron and pressed against her ass through his trousers, but apparently, they weren’t going to have sex, and now he wanted to cuddle? “What are you doing, Deacon?”
“I already told you. Now shh.”
Legs still tangled with hers, he tightened his heavy arms around her, pulling her in closer. His belt buckle was hard and cool against her waist, a stark contrast to the heat of his bare chest. If this was going to be part of the deal, she had to think of a way to get out of it before it was too late. Her heart didn’t care about deals and casual sex, and she couldn’t afford to go there, especially not with him.
She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to control the flip-flopping in her belly. Who was she kidding? Her heart couldn’t be any more involved if she ripped it from her chest and handed it to him decorated with a big red bow. He owned it, had for the last nine years.
The only way to get out of this was to buy the building from him, and they didn’t have that kind of money.
She needed him to go back to cold and distant. At least then she could stay pissed and ignore how much she wanted him, how painful she knew it would be when all of this ended. Jesus, she was so far in over her head it wasn’t funny.
It seemed to take forever, but his breathing finally evened out, his big body leaning heavier on hers. She waited another twenty minutes to make sure he was asleep, then started to edge out from under him.
Her phone beeped on the other side of the bedroom, where she’d dumped her purse earlier, and Deke stirred beside her. Crap. The girls would be wondering how her date was going. She’d told them that much, so at least she could explain the late night.
If they had any idea she was screwing around with their brother or knew about this insane deal, both women would be pissed as hell. Deacon and his sisters loved one another to bits. The last thing she wanted was to cause a rift in their relationship. Deacon and his father had parted ways when he’d decided on business school instead of the business of cars. Jacob West had wanted his son to take over one day.
And he’d let his son know time and again how much the
betrayal had hurt him. Eventually, Deacon gave up trying to make him understand that he wanted something different out of life. They’d never had the chance to make up before he’d died. Since then, the only family he had was his sisters.
Alex understood the pain of not getting to say good-bye firsthand. Her heart squeezed. She knew Deacon struggled with it.
