Page 87 of Slumming It

"Because I'll break you."

I considered all those rumors. "You mean, um…physically?"

To my surprise, his mouth lifted at the corners. "No. That's not what I meant."

Great. And now I felt stupid."Then whatdidyou mean?"

"I meant," he said, "that a week from now, a month from now, hell maybe tomorrow, you'll wake up thinking, 'That fucker took advantage.' And you won't just hate me. You'll hate yourself."

I stared in disbelief. "You don't know that."

His gaze remained steady. "I know enough."

It slowly dawned on me that we were no longer dancing. Even worse, the music had changed. It was back to the pulsing dance music, but Reese and I were standing utterly still.

With increasing awareness, I glanced around. On the rest of the dance floor, bodies were gyrating and moving in time with the music. But other bodies – far too many for comfort – had stopped to stare as our little drama played out in public.

Could people tell that I'd just propositioned him?

I gave a hard swallow.Even worse, could they tell that he'd turned me down?

My eyes scanned the faces, not just on the dance floor, but beyond. All too soon, my gaze landed hard on Morgan and Nikki, glaring at us from the sidelines. They weren't dancing. But of course, they weren't standing on the dance floor, so they looked perfectly fine.

Actually, they looked more than fine. With their pricey jewelry and sleek dresses, they looked like they belonged here, which they totally did.

Ididn't. And suddenly, I was feeling just a little foolish.

Okay, a lot.

When I looked back to Reese, he asked with surprising concern, "What's wrong?"

I forced another laugh. "Aside from the obvious?"

"Which is…?"

"Oh, come on. Are you gonna make me say it?"

"I'm not turning you down if that's what you think?" His gaze burned into mine. "I want you more than you know."

"Oh, yeah?" My breath caught. "Then prove it."

Chapter 32

Reese

Prove it?

If she wanted, she could feel the proof pressing against her, hard and unrelenting, ever since she'd given me that look – the one that had sent a rush of blood straight to my cock.

Fuck.

I'd never been aroused by alookbefore. I mean, yeah, I had no problems getting it up – or keeping it up until well after the girl was satisfied. But this was something new, something raw and primal that was wreaking havoc on my control.

I had warned her.

Repeatedly.

I hadn't been lying.I wasn't a nice guy. As proof, I yanked her close and claimed her mouth with mine.