His hand curls around mine and he
drags it to his knee, and the way he’s looking at me, like the rest of the
room, no, the rest of the world, doesn’t exist, steals my breath. I
haven’t allowed anyone to really look at me in a very long time.
“Emily,” he says, doing whatever
he does to turn my name into a sin that seduces rather than destroys me.
“Shane,” I manage, but just
barely.
“Did you say yes to dinner
because you didn’t want to be alone?”
I am not sure where he is going
with this, if it’s about reading me or if he needs validation that I am here
for him, so I give him both. “I like being alone,” I say, and on some level, it
really is true. “I said yes to dinner because you are the one who
asked.” My lips curve. “Actually you barely asked. You mostly ordered.”
“I couldn’t let you say no.”
“I’m actually really glad you
didn’t.”
“And yet you say you like being
alone?”
“It’s simple and without
complication.”
“Spoken like someone who’s lived
the opposite side of the coin.”
“Haven’t we all?”
“Who burned you, Emily?”
I blanch but recover with a
quick, “Who says anyone burned me?”
“I see it in your eyes.”
“Back to my eyes,” I say.
“Yes. Back to your eyes.”
“Stop looking.”
“I can’t.”
Those two words sizzle, matching
the heat in his eyes, and my throat goes dry. “Then stop asking so many
questions.”
He reaches up, brushing hair
behind my ear, his fingers grazing my cheek, and suddenly he is closer, his
breath a tease on my cheek, his fingers settling on my jaw. “What if I want to
know more about you?”
“What if I don’t want to talk?”
“Are you suggesting I shut up and
kiss you?”
Yes, I think.
Please. But instead I say, “I don’t know. I haven’t interviewed you as you
have me. I know nothing about you. I want to know if you—”
He leans in, and then his lips
are on mine, a caress, a tease, that is there and gone, and yet I am rocked to
the core, a wave of warmth sliding down my neck and over my breasts. He
lingers, his breath fanning my lips, promising another touch I both need and
want, as he asks, “You want to know if I what?”
Everything. “Nothing.”
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