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She cupped his face. “No, and my bruise is fine. I’m all warmed up now too.” Mostly.
His eyebrows dug deeper. “What’s the problem then?”
She propped herself on an elbow and adjusted the silky comforter. “About that kiss tonight…”
A muscle in his jaw worked, and the heat coming from him hardened like a sword being hammered into shape. “Do I need to apologize?”
“I thought I should.” She studied the angles of his face, his flattened mouth. “I started it.”
“I kissed you back. At least, that’s what I remember?”
Vividly. She shrugged a shoulder. “I thought it was good.”
His face relaxed. He traced her eyebrow with a fingertip. “It was a lot better than good.”
“I felt so alive. Which is crazy. We could have been shot and killed at any time.”
“I’m pretty high right now too.” He tucked her hair back, and the top of her ear tingled. “The adrenaline rush is life-affirming.”
But a little more affirmation couldn’t hurt. “Would you…” She tugged away the blanket barrier. All her previous lovers—all two of them—had assumed, and well, she hadn’t had much of a backbone then either. “I want…” How to ask without begging? “I shouldn’t, of course, but…”
“Stop.” He laid his fingers over her mouth. “It’s okay to want.”
She made her living talking, but she sure struggled for words now. “This is so awkward.”
He frowned. “What is?”
“Us.”
“I don’t agree. We fit together perfectly.” Mitch curled an arm around her shoulders, pulling her on top of him.
He wanted her. She took the free pass and locked her knees around his hips. “Life-affirming is a pretty highfalutin word.”
“For your information, many Southern gentlemen have highfalutin vocabularies.” He swept his hand up from her waist to brush a thumb under her breast.
She held her breath against the intense sensations and traced the arrow of silky hair down his abdomen to the top of his towel. “Why haven’t I heard more of these fancy words?”
“You haven’t been around me enough.”
She laughed. “I’ve been living in your pocket.”
“That’s still not close enough. Not by a long shot.” He grinned. “Can we be serious for a minute?”
She bit her lip. Hadn’t they both agreed to “do” it? “Are you having second thoughts?”
“I’m definitely having those, and they’re all good.” His deep voice rumbled under her hand on his chest. The smile lines bracketing his mouth suddenly vanished, and a tightness caught in her chest. “But I don’t want any misunderstandings, Cathy.”
Cathy? No one had ever softened her name like that. Not even her mom. “I think I know where we’re headed.” She lifted her eyebrows. “I’ve even opened the door.”
“A Southern gentleman waits for an invitation.”
“Thanks for the reminder.” His arousal pressed against her damp private parts through his towel, and she untied the knot. “Consider yourself invited.”
“We can stop any time.” He rested his hands on her hips. “If I do something you don’t like, tell me.”
“And what? You’ll try something else?”
His thumbs swept across the apex of her thighs. “If you want.”