Page 51 of Danger Close

Four Days Before the Wedding

The noise outside subsided. Dinner was over. Looking at the clock on the nightstand, I realized that it was past midnight.

“Would you spend the night?” I wasn’t usually so brazen.

I had been so lonely for so long, and here he was. Joaquin Guerro. An antidote. Or maybe he was more like a drug. A temporary high that would ease my pain for just a moment. Was I wrong to lighten my load for just one fleeting instant? To feel as irresistible as he’d once made me feel?

“Do you want me to?” His question was a rejection.

I shut my eyes, feeling the warmth of embarrassment flood my cheeks.

Perhaps I was not so irresistible after all.

“No,” I said, closing the door on hope once more.

Bitter hope. Insidious hope. Heartbreaking hope.

“You’re lying.” I squealed, feeling his breath on my ear. When had he moved?

I jumped, flying back, kicking away from him until my back pressed against the headboard. Surprise had turned to fear, my mind unable to distinguish between the two emotions. All surprises, anything unexpected, brought terror.

“I’m not!”

My protest just made him chuckle, as he boxed me in, one hand on either side of my head as he ran his nose up my neck to kiss my jaw.

“I want you, Teri. I really,reallydo.” Then he dropped his hands, leaning back as his gaze fell to my lips. “But this thing between us?” He gestured with his finger to the space between his chest and mine. “It comes with a lot of baggage. It comes with a full-grown kid, and I’m going to take a wild guess… years of unresolved resentment.”

I would change every fiber of my being if only you loved me. I would change myself, if only you loved me.

“Are you a shrink now?” I tried to sound scornful, but failed.

“If I was, I’d know what to do right now, but I don’t.” He bit his thick lower lip, his white teeth grazing the pillowy flesh. “I’m fighting this, baby. I’m fighting it hard. I thought I knew why. All those reasons have flown out the window right now.”

He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing. When had that simple gesture become so fucking sexy? I wanted to kiss his throat and drown in his scent.

“I want to be a good guy, and give you space. But I’d love tonotgive you space as well.” His eyes darkened, hooded with unmitigated lust. “I’m willing to be a very,verybad guy, and not give you space, and claim you as mine. I’m willing to make your body sing and help quiet your mind.”

My thighs clenched. I was sure I had soaked through my sleep shorts. My chest heaved, and I swallowed, my lips parted as I struggled to draw in breath.

“Just say the word, and I will take whatever you offer, Princess.”

He leaned down and kissed a small, exposed part of my chest.

“I know what I want,” he said, placing a hand on my bare thigh. His tongue darted out, moistening that beautiful lower lip. “The only question is what does Teresa Louise Guerro want?”

I wanted to be touched. I wanted to be loved. I wanted to lose myself in another person, but I couldn’t. Every time the moment of intimacy came, I was wracked with panic and fear. Ever sincethat night, ten years ago, it was as if my body stopped reacting to erotic stimulation, and all I felt, instead of pleasure, was fear.

It was the terror that came when you went up a roller coaster and felt that petrifying weightlessness before the fall. Except that fear never turned into exhilaration. It only led to more fear.

“I’m no Princess. I resent that you call me that.” Bitterness broke my voice. If I was a better woman, I would push him away. I would make him go far, far away, and never return. “I am an old, broken woman. I will bring you nothing but trouble and pain.”

He pinched my chin in his hand, forcing me to look at him. His unique eyes made me weak in the knees. I would do anything to protect him.

“You should run.” I tried to pull away, but there was no strength in me. “Run far, far away from me.”

“You’remyPrincess…” he crooned, his voice sending pleasant shivers over my skin. “Lean on me, baby.”

He gently grazed my cheek with the back of his hand. I leaned into the warmth of his touch, unable to resist. He was the Cobra, and I was the mouse trapped in his hypnotic gaze.