Page 152 of Simon Says

Something was wrong, damn it. She had to know what.

“SIMON?™

Their heartbeats mingled. Like the brush of velvet, he felt her warm inner thighs still around his hips.

His sperm was inside her.

Simon felt sick. At himself and his weakness and what he’d just done. He never took chances, damn it, yet he’d just made love to Dakota without protection. “What?”

“I need to tell you something.”

She wasn’t going to blast him for forgetting the condom? “What is it?”

She pushed to sit up on his lap. “But first, I want you to tell me what’s happened, why you’re acting so distant.”

He was still inside her, and damned if her shifting around didn’t stir him. Again. Would it always be that way? Would she keep him on the edge with that unfamiliar, emotional, overblown lust?

Her beautiful breasts were right there, her nipples now soft, her skin dewy from exertion. But more than that, he was aware of her face, of her uncertainty mixed with sated pleasure.

God, it was too much.

To close her out, Simon shut his eyes. But that didn’t help much, not with the taste of her still on his tongue, the scent of her in his head, her warmth wrapped all around him. What was it about her? Why did she have this god-awful effect on him?

He’d walked out on Bonnie without a qualm.

With Dakota, he felt so connected, walking away would leave him permanently hollowed.

But he would not, could not, tolerate deception. “I didn’t use a rubber.” Damn, but he was a fraud.

Time stood still. Dakota said nothing until he opened his eyes and looked at her.

Her small, cool hand cupped his face. Appearing introspective and solemn, she said, “Don’t worry about that now. It’ll probably be okay. The timing is wrong.”

“But you’ll let me know?”

“I wouldn’t keep something like that from you.”

She’d kept other things from him. Important things. Determined to get it together, Simon braced himself. “Did Barnaby call you?”

Caution kept her still. “When?”

That made him laugh, but not with humor. He could see it in her eyes; she planned to hedge, to continue with her manipulations. “Let’s start with recently. Like today.”

“No.”

It was odd having this conversation with her straddling him, totally naked while he wore his clothes. He wasn’t inside her as deeply now, but they were still joined.

Very odd.

But then everything with Dakota had been that way. “Are you sure, Dakota? And before you answer, let me tell you that there’s no reason to lie. Not anymore.”

The acceleration of her heartbeat left her trembling. She licked her lips. “Someone said something to you. Barber? Did he tell you everything?”

“No.” Barber knew everything? He should have assumed as much.

Dakota didn’t seem to hear him. “I wanted to tell you, Simon, I really did. I planned to. But we kept getting off track. Like now. I was going to tell you as soon as you walked in, but then you looked at me and you wanted me, and I can’t seem to resist you at all.”

“Convenient.”

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