Page 30 of Love Finds Home

“Do you need the reminder?”

I see the purse of her lips. She’s trying not to smile. “Maybe I do.”

“Fuck me. I’m trying to say I’m sorry for pulling a runner on you. But maybe also that we shouldn’t have done that, and I don’t want you to think I was taking advantage of the situation.”

She opens her mouth only to snap it closed, a look of confusion on her face. “You’re apologizing for taking advantage of a situation that I was basically the aggressor in? How fucking typical.”

“I’m only trying to apologize, alright? If you’re going to be a bitch about it, just forget it.”

“Is it always going to be like this?” she asks.

“Like what?”

“Me being a bitch to you and you wanting to kill me for it?”

“It would be nice if we could be in a room together without me wanting to either kiss you, fuck you, or strangle you.”

“Good luck with that.” She smiles my way.

“Are you always a smartass?”

“Pretty much. Does that lessen how much you want to kiss, kill, or fuck me? And which one do you want to do the most?”

“It’s a three-way tie, Tink.” It’s always all three. Everything about this woman lights me up from the inside, and I haven’t felt that way in a long time. She ignites a fire that I’m at war with myself over. Feed the fire or extinguish it?

“I happen to like two of those options,” she quietly admits, still not making eye contact with me.

It’s those words that put me in motion. I push off of the wall and stand in front of her. Close enough I can feel her tits brushing against me when she takes a breath. I grip her chin with my thumb and forefinger, tilting her head up before I plant my lips on hers. I don’t mean to be aggressive or forceful or dominant, but one taste of her lips and all that goes out the window. I want her. I need her. Naked and in front of me right now. After two quick moments, I pull back, both of us now staring at each other, panting.

“Can we get out of here?” she asks, her voice husky with need.

“Abso-fucking-lutely.”

“My place,” she demands.

“Sounds like a plan. Let’s go. Now.”

And that’s the end of my plan to stay away from Elle Workman.

Chapter 11

Elle

I’m sitting in Ranger’struck for the five-minute ride to my place. He hasn’t said a word, but his hands are speaking volumes. Gripping the steering wheel so tight that his knuckles have turned white and I’m almost afraid he’s going to pull the whole damn thing out of the truck.

I don’t know why we’re doing this. It’s obvious that it’s just the idea of being with him I like. And he hates me. Yet here I am, sitting in the passenger side of his truck, letting him drive me to my apartment, where, if there’s a God, he will walk me to the door, walk inside with me, and get naked. Lord, let him get naked. Soon. Until two weeks ago, it had been months since another man had touched me, and that touch absolutely doesn’t compare to Ranger’s.

“We don’t have to do this is you don’t want to,” I quietly say, giving him the out I hope he doesn’t take.

“Shhh.”

“Did you just…” I stop talking when his eyes cut to me, silencing me.

“Stop talking,” he growls at me.

“Well, maybe I don’t want to do this with you anymore. Where is the guy from the bar ten minutes ago who wanted to try being in the same room without wanting to kill me?”

“It was kiss, kill, and fuck, Tink.” He pulls out the horrid nickname. “Get it right.”

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