Page 51 of Eye Candy

“I don’t want to. I like it here, with you.” Since I was laying on my side, it was easy to lift a leg and drape it over his. Well, over his thigh, really. It was so easy to feel small when I was with him, but I knew he’d never hurt me.

Mike swallowed hard. “You should go.” I didn’t know who he was trying to convince: himself or me. But it didn’t matter, because I wasn’t going anywhere. I was quite comfortable with him, and the only way I’d be taken out of this room was if I was dragged, kicking and screaming.

Or, I guess, if Mike got up, tossed me over his shoulder, and carried me to my own bed—which he could do easily. Hmm. I think I’d like to see him try.

“I don’t want to go,” I whispered.

“If your father catches you in my bed, he’ll—”

“He won’t do anything, because Sylvester’s support means more to him than I do.”

“I wish you wouldn’t say that.” The hand he’d placed on mine to stop me from tracing shapes on his skin curled around it. He was now holding my hand instead of just holding it down. “Your father loves you, just… in his own way, I think.”

The last thing I wanted to talk about was my dad, and I let out a long sigh. “Why do you want me to go so bad? Don’t you like me?” The question nearly got caught in my throat, but I managed to say it all the same.

Mike waited a moment before whispering, “You make it hard. You make everything so much harder than it needs to be.”

My eyebrows came together. I lifted my head up off his arm, propping myself up on my elbow to stare at him. “What does that even mean?” Of course, I had an idea of what it could mean, but I really wanted to hear him say it.

“It means—” Mike paused as the hand holding mine on his chest moved to cup my face. The very second his rough hand moved to my face, I let out a flutter of a sigh. “—you’re more tempting than you have any right to be, Laina. You’re infuriating, you’re brash, and you’re so young. Too young for me.”

“I don’t think I’m too young.”

“Okay, then I’m too old.”

I grinned. “I don’t think you’re too old.”

The hand on my face fell away as he sat up, causing the leg I’d draped over him to fall off him. “You’re a job. It’s never smart to get involved with a job. It makes people not think straight. It means more mistakes—”

Slow to sit up with him, I lightly touched his arm with my left hand. Gently, of course, because the ghostly sensations from my missing fingers bothered me more than I wanted to admit. The scab still itched too, but I tried my best not to pay attention to it. “Sounds like a whole bunch of excuses to me.”

His head whipped in my direction. Thanks to the lamp still being on, I could see the glare on his face as he huffed, “They’re not excuses. They’re facts.”

“Are they?” The question came out a lot breathier than I intended, but maybe that was a good thing, because after that, Mike just looked at me. He looked at me like he couldn’t figure me out, like he waged an internal war with himself.

“You only want me as a distraction,” he muttered. “That’s not why I want you… and that’s why going further than this is a mistake—”

“Who said you’re only a distraction? You’re strong and gentle and… and I feel safe when I’m with you, Mike. You’re not just a distraction. You’re notjustanything.” I moved around him, crawling onto his lap, and he didn’t push me off, didn’t turn away. I sat with my legs off to the side, gazing up at him, wanting to know what he’d say next.

He breathed hard. One of his hands ran up my leg, slowly curling around it to the back of my thigh, where my shorts ended just below the curve of my ass. “You have a problem with the word no, don’t you?”

I chuckled softly, unhurriedly moving my arms to drape them around his neck. “I am a politician’s daughter, so… the word’s not really in my vocabulary.”

“I should pick you up and take you to your room. I should put you to bed.”

Leaning forward, I pressed my chest against him as I whispered, “Or you could put me to bed right here.” My body was so warm, my nipples pebbled against the tank top I wore. Surely he had to feel them pressed against him like that.

“I can’t.” Even though his words said he couldn’t, it sounded like he could. Beneath his sweatpants, something had started to stir, so I’d say he definitely could.

Moving my legs so I could straddle his lap, I whispered, “You can.”

Both his hands found their way to my ass, each cupping a cheek. “I shouldn’t.”

Certain parts of me were aching with need; I didn’t know how he could hold himself back like this. I sure as hell didn’t understand it, given the growing hardness beneath me. “You should,” I whispered back. “I want you to.”

I wasn’t thinking about the future or what it held. Right now, I could only think about the man whose lap I was on, the way his hands massaged my ass, how he was looking at me like he still wanted to tell me no.

“What are you doing to me?” Mike breathed out the question.

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