Page 12 of Devil in Disguise

“Ooh. Do you have stories?”

“Not that I’m going to tell you.” He was pulling on his boots again, all his body language saying,Well, that was fun. Time to end it.

“You realize,” she told him, adjusting her thong and noticing how extremely stimulated she still was, and probably would be for about a week, “that if your big idea was not to get me all sexually wrapped up in you, you pretty much failed. Nobody else is going to do it like that, and I know it.”

“I realize it. Could be why I did it. Seems I’m not as noble as I thought.” He got up and put out a hand for her. “Come on. I’ll take you back to your room.”

She eyed him from where she was. Which was on her own knees this time, which gave her an excellent view of exactly how much he should be making a different decision here. He had a whole,wholelot going on there. He had to be hurting. “You’re just determined not to give an inch, aren’t you?”

“Honey,” he said, “I think I gave about a yard there. I’m not about to give the whole field.”

7

A Different Trajectory

He tookher down to the SUV to get her graduation presents and her sandals, because they’d both forgotten about them—he hadn’t been as cool as he’d thought, obviously—then headed back up to her room with her via the stairwell. His jacket and hat were still there, fortunately. He didn’t kiss her again on the stairs, which took some self-control, but this evening had to endnow.

When they were standing outside her door, though, he did set down the bag and kiss her. How many doors had he kissed Dyma in front of? Way too many, and not nearly enough. Always the same way. His hand up under her ass to pull her higher so he could reach her, his other hand at the back of her neck, his tongue in her mouth, and his whole body pressed as close to hers as it could get.

Hehurt.Dane was right. This was crazy. And then Dyma got her mouth up close to his ear and whispered, “I thought I’d get to show you all my piercings tonight.”

His mouth stilled on her neck. “What?”

She kissed his own neck some, then, her hands stroking over the back of his head where his hair was cut short, her fingers trailing over his skin, moving to his jaw, where he’d trimmed his beard today for her and shaved extra-carefully around the edges. His skin wasn’t sensitive enough to feel those soft fingers, he’d have said. He’d have been wrong.

She said, her voice a breath, “Want to change your mind?”

He didn’t know how to say that having sex with her on the night she graduated from high school felt all the way wrong, or that he needed to know whether they had what it took to do a long-distance relationship, because every relationship was long distance when you played in the NFL. He definitely didn’t know how to say that the heart he was guarding might not be hers at all, so he set her down before he could lose his good intentions and said, “No. And I’m flying back early tomorrow. So … I’ll call you when I get to Portland for minicamp next week. Let me know when you’ll have a couple days off in a row on that job, too, and we’ll figure something out.”

“Owen …” she said.

“I’ll call you,” he said. And walked away.

He was leaving her alone. But he’d always be leaving her alone.

* * *

Annabelle was awake.Not even dressed for bed yet, sitting against the headboard and watching a movie. “Hey,” she said when Dyma came in and set the bag with her new computer on the dresser. “Did you have a good time?”

“Yes,” Dyma said. “No.” She dropped her sandals by the bed and pushed a hand through her hair. “What time is it?”

“Uh …” Annabelle checked her phone. “Ten-fifty.”

“Want to go hang out with the friends?”

Annabelle was looking at her too closely, and Dyma looked away and said, “I’m not ready to go to bed yet, and I miss my friends.”

She saw the look on Annabelle’s face and tried to figure out what was wrong with that.

Oh. She added, “Even though you’re awesome. I guess we both left a lot behind, though.”

Annabelle said, “That’s OK. I know I’m not good at geeking out.”

“But, hey,” Dyma said, trying to make it bright and unconcerned and normal, so Annabelle wouldn’t see what was behind it, “you’re in the same boat. I’m not good at sports, and you left all your friends behind, too. So come hang out with mine.” She struggled a moment, then said, “I’d like you to. It would help.”

Annabelle got off the bed like the good friend and almost-sister she’d become in about six weeks, but said, “Did you and Owen have a fight?”

“Not exactly.” Dyma wasn’t used to keeping secrets, but any way she could say this would sound trivial, and sort of … betraying Owen’s confidence. Like what was between them was just physical. Not that itwasn’tphysical, because she was still throbbing, and half of her wanted to crawl into bed, close her eyes, and remember the thrill of Owen’s hands on her. Of hismouthon her, with that rasp of close-cropped beard and that insistent tongue. How careful he’d been, and how … not. And how it hadfelt.