Page 73 of After All

“But,” he said, putting a finger under her chin and tipping her head up to look at him again. “I felt that for about three minutes.”

She shouldn’t ask. She should keep her mouth shut. Or kiss him. Use the sex thing as a distraction.Thatshe was really good at. But she heard her voice say, “So what did you feel?”

“Fascinated. Drawn in. Impressed.” He paused, then said gruffly, “Addicted.”

Peyton felt her heart warm and swell in her chest, and she fought not to let that all show on her face. “A cop who has a thing for bad girls. A little cliché, Officer.”

“You think that’s what it is?”

“Maybe.”

“I don’t think so. I’ve known bad girls before. And good girls. And I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want you, Peyton.”

She didn’t know what to say to that. This was so much more than chemistry or even them being friends who wanted to sleep together or sort-of friends who liked to fight and wanted to sleep together.

“And you let me take care of you because you knewIneeded that,” he said, almost to himself. He moved his hand to drag his thumb across her lower lip.

She wanted to suck it into her mouth so bad. But she made herself sit perfectly still.

“I did need that,” he said, a moment later, his eyes still on hers. “I needed to do something for you that you couldn’t do for yourself. But I’m starting to think there isn’t anything like that.”

For some reason, Peyton felt tears stinging at the back of her eyes. Yes, she was self-sufficient. But she couldn’t deny feeling like sheneededScott.

“Just because I can clean gutters out, doesn’t mean I don’t need anything from you.” She was going down. She was losing the game of chicken. And it was going to be glorious.

He gave a single nod. “And just because my gutters are already clean doesn’t mean I don’t need anything fromyou.”

“What do you need from me?” she asked.

“For you to let me handcuff you to my headboard.”

Want shot through her so fast and hot that Peyton actually felt a little dizzy. “You want to handcuff me to your headboard?”

He shook his head. “It waswant toa week ago. Now it’sneed to.”

“I’ve been sweet,” she said softly.

“Yep. I’m pretty sure it was the sticky notes that totally did me in.”

She’d felt silly about those more than anything. “Yeah?”

“I was in trouble when you made me breakfast even that first time. Then it got worse when you started texting me. But then you left me sticky notes and I was done for.”

Peyton grinned, pleasure spinning through her. This was a new kind of pleasure though. She wasn’t sure she’d ever felt anything like it. “Those were okay?”

“Those were very okay,” he said gruffly.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, feeling almost giddy. “Well, then, Officer Hansen, I really think I need to be handcuffed. For beinggood.”

He gave her a naughty, very bad-boy grin. “Imagine that.”

Then he kissed her. And Peyton actually felt her toes curl. She didn’t know that that could really happen, but right there in her tennis shoes, Scott Hansen curled her toes.

His mouth was hungry on hers, his tongue hot and possessive, as were the big hands that scooped under her butt and pulled her off the ladder. He set her on the ground and then cupped her head, holding her still while he kissed her as if he’d never get enough.

Peyton found herself gripping his biceps and going up on tiptoe to get closer. This was why she wore heels. She was too damned short for this.

He pulled back as she made a sort-of-turned-on, sort-of-frustrated groaning noise.

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