Page 22 of When We Dare

His smile was wry. “Same.”

“I’ll catch you around at the station. You’ve got my cell now,” I added. “Anytime you want to meet for coffee, or whatever, just text me.”

He clapped me on the shoulder before he continued walking. “Of course.”

A few minutes later, as soon as I pointed my vehicle toward home, Stella commandeered my thoughts.

My body felt drawn tight, leashed need rampaging through me as I tried to contain it. Stella stood before me, her riot of blond curls pulled up in a ponytail. She was wearing a big sweater that fell below the curves of her hips over a pair of fleece leggings and fuzzy socks. There was nothing particularly sexy about what she was wearing. But this was Stella. Everything about her was sexy to me. I wanted to smooth my hands over her soft sweater, knowing that what lay behind was beyond tempting.

“What’s your answer?” I asked.

“Huh?” An adorable little furrow formed between her brows.

It had been four days since our last encounter in the kitchen when I told her to take a few days to think about it. Ever since, I’d pondered what “a few” meant to her.

A pause stretched like elastic between us before snapping tight and drawing everything inside me to a shivering tension. “When I said I didn’t want to be friendly strangers and asked if you wanted more,” I explained over the echoing thud of my heartbeat.

Stella blinked and her fingers tightened around the edge of the counter. I heard her breath draw in swiftly before she replied, “Yes.”

My breath came out in a rush of relief at her answer. Obviously, I would’ve respected if she thought this whole thing was flat-out crazy. It was, but I wanted her too fiercely to think clearly.

Just now, my hands clenched into fists. I wanted to dive into the fire burning between us. Yet, I thought this warranted a little more conversation.

I cleared my throat. “Ground rules. This stays between you and me. There’s no sense in having it get messy as far as rumors. If you change your mind, at any point, all you have to do is say so. While this is happening, it’s just you and me. Any more ground rules?”

Stella’s teeth dented her bottom lip as she uncurled her hand from her glass on the counter and pushed it away. The claws of need sank more deeply, the sharpness keeping me on edge.

“I don’t think so,” she finally said. “Well, except birth control. You wear condoms.”

“Of course,” I said without hesitation.

“Anything else?” she prompted.

“Where are we sleeping?”

Her brows flew up in surprise. After a charged moment, she lifted her chin. “We sleep in our own beds.”

I nodded. “Anything else?”

Her ponytail swung as she shook her head.

“Do we start tonight?”

Stella’s hand dropped away from the counter, her fingers catching her sweater and sliding back and forth on the hem. The time between my question and her answer stretched as the tension ratcheted higher. The air around us felt heavy, reverberating with the force of a lit fuse.

“Yes,” she finally said, her voice a little forceful.

I’d expected her to say we should wait. While I grappled with that, she jumped in again, her words coming out in a rush. “If you want to wait, that’s totally fine. I just kind of wanted to get it over with and –”

“Wait.” I stepped closer.

Stella stared up at me, her cheeks stained a deep rosy pink and her lips slightly parted. When she slid her tongue across them nervously, need pounded inside of me, the driving pace increasing to the point of pain.

“Okay,” she said quickly. “We wait.”

“That’s not what I meant. I don’t want to wait.”

Taking another step, I stopped inches away. I could feel the heat emanating from her, along with a subtle sense of restlessness. I lifted a hand to brush a loose curl away from her cheek. Catching the end of it, I spun it around a finger as I drew it out. The silky curl bounced when I released it.

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