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She’d hooked her seatbelt back once she stopped petting the dog.Now, though, Naomi unhooked it.With her gaze never leaving him, she inched forward.Then confessed, “I haven’t fucked anyone since Hudson died.”
His back teeth ground together.You shouldn’t have been with him.You should have been with?—
“I am very choosy about who I do and do not fuck.But I’m not asking you for a recap of your previous lovers, so how about we stay in the present, shall we?”She’d painted her lips a slick red.He’d retrieved her makeup from the main house for her.The makeup and her seizure medicine.The den had been a soggy wreck, and the whole house had reeked of smoke.
No way would they be staying there for a while.
And we won’t be in the guesthouse, either.Too many painful memories for her there.
She wanted to be in the present.Well, check.Presently, he wanted to fuck her.Right there in the car.There would be enough room in the front seat.He could spread her out or just lift her over his hips while he remained in the driver’s seat.
“You don’t want to hurt me.”
No, he wanted to fuck her until she couldn’t move.Taking her at the guesthouse had been a phenomenal mistake.Because there was a fantasy—imagining what sex with her could be like.And then there was reality—knowing just how mind-blowingly good the orgasm would be…and wanting that explosion again and again like an addict who’d just taken his first hit.
“You want to fuck me,” she whispered.
Yes.
“I’m not hearing a denial, Ebenezer.”
He should unclench his teeth and say something?—
“I want to fuck you, too,” she confessed.“I wasn’t prepared for how strongly I responded to you.Full truth be told, I’m not prepared for you at all.”
He was not prepared for the honesty she was giving him.
“I don’t really know what to say or do with you.I don’t want to mess this up.Whateverthisis.”She motioned between them.“I don’t want you to hate me.Because if you hated me while I was all twisted up over you and over what we’ve done together, that would just make everything a million times worse.”
I don’t hate you.He finally unlocked his jaw so he could say, “I’m not your enemy.”I’m your lover.
But sometimes, a lover was an enemy.
Her smile came again.One that lit her eyes.Made her even more gorgeous.Hell.He had to take control of the situation.Stat.“We need to get to Ivan’s.”
She eased back against her seat.Reached for the seatbelt once more.“Right.Check.”
“I want you to stay in the car with Henry when we get there.I’ll go in and grill Ivan.”It was still late afternoon/early evening.The full crew of wannabe thugs shouldn’t be at the place yet.Actually, maybeno onewould be there, and if that was the case, then Eb might do a wee bit of breaking and entering so he could search Ivan’s office.
“Didn’t you try to get me to stay in the car once before at Ivan’s place?”Naomi batted her lashes.“How did that work?”
Horribly.Hell.“If you’re not waiting in the car, then youstaywith me, every moment, got it?”Yeah, he wasn’t really fighting on the stay-in-the-car bit because he would feel better if he had his eyes or his hands on her at every moment.
The better to protect her, of course.
Not because he just liked having her close.
Keep lying to yourself.
“Every moment,” she agreed.
He sucked in a breath and got them back on the road.Soon they were pulling into the lot of Ivan’s bar.An empty lot.No long line of motorcycles.No music playing.
Nothing but silence waiting for them.
“I have his home address,” she told Eb when he killed the engine.
“Of course, you do.”Why wouldn’t she have a gang leader’s home address?This was Naomi, after all.