Page 48 of Designs on You

“If you can’t say it, Natalie, then you’re definitely not ready for it. I think I should just go home. I don’t want to force you to do something you don’t want to do.”

He didn’t seem upset at all, while she was very upset. With herself.

He started to pull his hand away, but she grabbed on to it. “Wait. I’m…scared.”

Now he frowned. “Of me?”

“No. I…” She looked around. “Look. Can we have this conversation somewhere other than my sister’s driveway? Like at my house?”

“Okay. I’ll follow you home.”

She nodded, got in her car, and started to drive, trying to calm down her rapidly beating heart.

They’d talk. They’d just talk. And she’d tell him what she was afraid of.

As soon as she figured it out herself.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Eugene was worried that maybe he’d stepped into something that he couldn’t handle. Natalie was obviously conflicted, and he should have said no when she asked him to come over. She needed time to decide what she wanted.

Then again, it also wasn’t his place to tell her what she should do or how she should feel, either. She invited him over, and maybe she just wanted to talk, so that’s what they were going to do.

He pulled into the driveway at Natalie’s house, waited until she drove into the garage. Then he parked and got out. She was waiting for him next to her car, so he walked into the garage. Without a word, she turned and headed toward the door leading into the house, so he followed, opening the door for her.

She waited while he closed the door behind him. He figured she was going to turn on the lights and they’d go into the kitchen, she’d brew some coffee and they’d talk. Instead, she backed him against the wall and pressed her body against his.

He inhaled the sweet lemony scent of her skin as she rose up to whisper, “Kiss me.”

Oh man, he really wanted to. But first—“You said you were afraid.”

“Yes. And, no.”

“You’re not afraid of me, are you?”

“Of course not. I meant…of this. I don’t want to get attached. I mean…” She drew in a breath and let it out. “I don’t plan on getting attached. I don’t want you to, either.”

“Okay.”

She shook her head. “I need you to understand that this is just sex. I’m not looking for a relationship. And my kids are always going to be my priority.”

She was undulating against him while she laid down her hard-and-fast rules. Kind of hot. “I get that. I’m on board, Natalie.”

“Okay. Now kiss me.”

His entire body went tight with desire. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her to him. And when he kissed her, it was like lights exploded inside his brain, zapping his nerve endings like fire.

She tasted sweet and sexy, and in the dark, he focused on the way her hands mapped his body. Across his arms, over his chest, and down his abs, lifting his shirt up to slide her fingers across the seam of his jeans. His breath caught as she rubbed his cock through his jeans. He was no novice at this but damn if Natalie didn’t make him feel like he was. His throat had gone dry, his heart pounded, and if she continued to rub his cock like that, this was gonna end before things got started.

He pulled back, swept his fingers across her perfect jawline,wishing there were lights so he could search her face, see what she was feeling. Because he sure as hell felt a lot.

“Let’s go to my room,” she said while at the same time rubbing her entire body against his.

He slid his hands alongside her ribs, brushing the fullness of her breasts. “You keep doing that and we won’t make it to the bedroom.”

“I don’t care where we do it,” she whispered, her voice slightly out of breath. “I just want to get naked. And get you naked.”

He definitely wanted that. “How far away is your room?”

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