Page 70 of Oh, Hell No

We stayed that way for a moment before he pressed one more kiss at the pulse in my neck, then lifted his head until his eyes met mine. “I missed you.” There was a fierceness in his tone as he said the words.

“You did?” I asked, wanting it to be true, not something he said to every woman he slept with or was planning on sleeping with.

The corner of his lips quirked, and he brushed my chin with his thumb. “You have to ask after that kiss? Clearly, I need to up my game.”

A laughed bubbled out of me. I was deliriously happy. That was what he did to me.

“Your game is strong,” I assured him. “I just…well, I wasn’t sure if that was it. I mean, the other night. You were moving on or whatever.” I shouldn’t have said that. I was going to ruin the mood. My words had decided to tumble out all on their own.

His brows lowered, and he pinched my chin, holding my head still as his eyes bored into mine. “Moving on?” His tone had taken an edge.

Yep, I’d ruined it. He was mad.

Grasping at an explanation to fix things back to the hot andwild kiss he’d just given me, I blurted out, “I’m not being needy or anything. I just meant, we haven’t exchanged numbers, and I get it. That’s a step you don’t take. And I haven’t seen you since Wednesday night, and I didn’t lose my job. They found out who had lied about the pregnancy and fired everyone involved. I was just going to tell you, but again, we hadn’t shared numbers…so I thought…” I wasn’t sure that made anything better.

God, why am I so bad at this? Shut up, Winslet.

Oz let go of my chin and slid both his hands under my butt, then pulled me closer to him until the hard bulge in his jeans pressed between my open thighs. “Let me clear some things up for you, darlin’,” he said as he leaned close to my ear and pressed a kiss to the area just below it.

My body shivered.

“My number is in your phone. You want to talk to me? Call. You need me? Call. As for your job, I’m real happy for you. That’s wonderful news.”

My brows drew together. “I have your number?”

He nodded his head slowly.

“Since when?”

His tongue slid over his bottom lip as he licked it. “Since I put it in there when I had you in Louisiana.”

“Really?” I asked in surprise.

“Yes,” he confirmed. “I haven’t called or texted you because I was waiting until you were ready for that step. If I’d known you were, I’d have called you yesterday to check on you. Make sure you were okay. I had to leave town and handle some business, but I got back here as fast as I could. Because I wanted to see you.” He put emphasis on that last word.

As wonderful as all that sounded and as much as I wanted to wrap myself around him and hold on for dear life, I was now going to need a little clarification. Because what I thought this was for him and what he was saying were not the same.

“Are we—I mean, this thing—is it not one of your flings? Thehave sex and move alongthing you said you do? Because, well, I’ve never done that, so I’m not sure how it works and if I am reading into things wrong.” My face was getting warm.

His eyes locked on me, as he seemed to hang on every word out of my mouth, made it hard to make sense. I was getting flustered.

“Why don’t you tell me what it is you’re reading into?” he urged. There was a flicker of amusement in his expression, but he didn’t smile.

I shook my head. “No. It’s—I’m not saying any of this right. Just forget it.”

He squeezed my bottom. “Oh, no. You aren’t stopping now.”

I sighed. “Fine. I have never just had sex with a guy. I was always in a relationship. There were feelings involved. We were together. Committed. I don’t know how to tell the difference between that and no-strings-attached sex. You…you confuse me with all your sweet words and the way you look at me. I start to believe there is more than just the sex we’ve yet to have, and when I’ve convinced myself that I am wrong, that I’m reading too much into it, you do something like this,” I said. “Kiss me like you can’t get enough and tell me you missed me. Because until the other night, we had been…well, nothing. You were in my fantasies only.”

When I stopped—afraid if I kept talking, I would embarrass myself—he leaned in, and his teeth grazed my earlobe, causing my nipples to pebble. “Are you done?” he asked in a low, raspy whisper.

I nodded, and he pulled back to meet my gaze.

“We were something before the other night. We’d been something for two months, and this won’t ever be just sex. Not with you. I’ve never taken it slow with a female in my life because I have never cared to find out anything about her. Withyou, I can’t seem to get enough. I want to know every fucking detail. What you’re thinking, what it is you need, what you want, what makes you smile, what makes those gorgeous eyes of yours fucking twinkle,” he said as he tucked hair behind my ear.

“I don’t say shit I don’t mean. I’m blunt. We have a beginning that isn’t pleasant, and if I let myself think about what I did to you, I start to get edgy and unhinged. The idea of it makes me want to rage and break shit.”

He moved his hand up to cup the side of my face. “I wanted to give you time to see past that guy. The one I was. The man that didn’t know you. That hadn’t spent time with you. Heard how musical your laugh was or been weakened by your smile.

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