Page 5 of Taming Bull

I wanted her.

Hell, I couldn’t even remember why I hadn’t carried her up to my bed and given her what she wanted.

Her hand squeezed my thigh, and I about jumped out of my seat to escape. Angling my legs to press against my bench and save them from her touch, I took a deep breath and tried to get myself under control.

“What’s wrong, Bull?” she asked, her eyes full of mischief.

I tilted my head to the side and gave her a hard look. “You know damn well what’s wrong. Stop that.”

“Stop what?” She rested her head on her hands, the very picture of innocence.

I didn’t buy it for a second. Desperate for a distraction, I sucked down another drink and tried to figure out why she’d amped up the game to full blast. Lily hadn’t hit on me in months, and I’d been hoping she’d finally accepted the lie that I wasn’t attracted to her. She’d invited me out to drink as friends, and I hadn’t thought anything of it. We did shit like this all the time. My guard was down, and I wasn’t expecting the little vixen to hit me with everything she had.

If the booth was a boxing ring, I’d be lying on the floor, staring up at the ceiling, and wondering what the hell had just happened. I’d tap out if I thought it was wise, but the smile she flashed me held no mercy. This girl would be the death of me.

The room was too damn hot. Had she somehow fucked with the heater, too? No. It was her sweater. Why was it hanging off her shoulder like that? I could see too much of her soft, silky skin. She needed to straighten her damn clothes and wear them the right way.

Fuck!

My cock had grown so goddamn hard it was painful. I adjusted myself again and rubbed at the back of my neck. My hand came away damp with sweat. “It’s warm in here today.”

She grabbed at the laminated menu and started fanning herself. “Yeah, it is.” Tendrils of her hair flew outward, framing her face. Little beads of perspiration formed on her neck and exposed chest and shoulder, making her skin glisten. I had the craziest desire to lean across the table and lick her clean. Hell, I could almost envision myself doing it. But then my gaze drifted back up to her face, and I reminded myself of all the reasons why that would be wrong.

This was Lily.

She was so far off limits she might as well be in a foreign country. And I lacked a passport and was on a no-fly list. There was no reality in which I’d allow myself to get into her pants.

Lily picked up her beer and put it to her lips. Her pink tongue darted out and licked a drop of pale liquid from the neck, and I about creamed my boxers. She was fucking with me. I knew she was fucking with me, but I couldn’t look away. She had my full attention, and she damn well knew it. Her lips wrapped around the bottle and she met my gaze as she drained it. She tugged the bottle from her lips with a pop, and a sexy little moan escaped from the back of her throat.

I was seconds from snatching her out of the booth and dragging her next door to my room. I had to resist.

“Stop that,” I said. My voice sounded so low and rough I barely recognized it. I took a sip and tried to calm the fuck down.

“Stop what?” She licked the mouth of the bottle. “This?”

“Yes. Please. For the love of God, stop that.”

“Why?” Flattening her tongue against the neck of the bottle, she licked upward to the top, maintaining eye contact with me. “You could always give me something else to lick.”

My cock wanted to take her up on that offer so desperately it throbbed, begging. “You know that’s never gonna happen.” I refused to go there with Lily. No matter how much I wanted her, it could never happen.

She leveled a stare at me. “Why not?”

I shrugged and looked away, trying to come up with a reason she’d accept.

“I want to be with you, Bull, and I know you want me. I can see it in your eyes. I’ve given you time. I’ve tried to be patient. Why are you fighting this so hard?”

The determination in her eyes had me second guessing my motives, but I had to stay strong. Nothing good could come from us hooking up. Lily was a lifer, not a temporary fix, and I couldn’t promise her forever. Shit was too complicated for that, and I couldn’t explain why. But I needed to give her some sort of reason.

“You’re like a little sister to me,” I blurted out.

“Liar.”

“You are. You’re like a little sister to all of us. I don’t wanna fuck that up.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Oh, come on. That is some horse shit. A sister? Is that your final answer?”

Sitting up straighter, I dug my heels in. I needed to sell this lie. I needed her to believe it so she would give up on me. I couldn’t give her what she needed, and I didn’t want her wasting her life waiting for me. “Yes. I can’t see you as anything more. I’m sorry.”

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