Page 67 of Putting Out
She teased him about being seduced, but thinking about it, he’d never really seduced her.
It was never a slow dance between them. Instead, it was always a sprint to the finish. Maybe along with everything else it was time to change that, too. He knew how to seduce women. He’d made an art of it with every other woman in his life besides Reilly.
“What?”
His eyebrows lifted. “What?”
“You’re looking at me funny.”
“Funny?”
“Not funny ha-ha.” Reilly took a step back. “I was joking about the seduction stuff. You told me we were done messing around. Right after you banged me against the window. Convenient strategy for you, by the way. Then you told me there was someone else.”
“That’s debatable. What I said and what you heard are two different things. The point is you’re here now and I’m here now.”
He moved forward crowding her against the large sleigh bed that filled the room. He bent down so his lips hovered above hers and watched her eyes dilate with anticipation. He could see her pulse beat fast against her neck. He could feel the puff of rapid breaths against his lips.
He could kiss her. He could probably fuck her. But that’s not what he wanted. Check that, it absolutely was what he wanted, but it wasn’t what either of them needed right now. Not if they were going to be in this for the long road.
Slowly, he backed off and watched as she fought her own need to reach out for him.
“I think I hear a car,” he said finally when he was a safe enough distance from her. “Dinner must be here.”
“Are you kidding me?” Reilly barked. Reaching for her neck as if to still her pounding pulse.
“What do you mean?”
Irritated, if the grip on her wine glass was any indication, Reilly reached out to shove at his chest.
“You can’t throw me out of your room, then come in here and start messing around only to leave me hanging. I’ve got a lot of shit going on right now in case you haven’t noticed, and I don’t need you trying to prove I still have the hots for you simply because it strokes your massive ego. Not when I know you’re not going to follow through. Not when I know…forget it.”
Never liking the feeling of being told what to do, Luke snapped before he thought about how he should respond.
“What are you saying? I’m in your room so I need to jump you? You want me to take you right here? Right now? The French doors look pretty sturdy, maybe I’ll just throw you up against them. Jesus, why can’t there ever be a little foreplay between us?”
Reilly looked as if he’d slapped her. Her mouth opened and closed and opened again but only air came out.
Finally, she managed to say, “There isn’t anything between us anymore. That was your doing, not mine. Friends, remember? Now if you don’t mind I really do have a few more reps to do. Why don’t you take the wine and I’ll meet you downstairs eventually.”
Luke frowned. Great plan. All he’d done was piss her off.
“Dinner will be cold.”
“I’ll live,” she said, dropping to her back and lifting her legs straight into the air only to lower them slowly to the floor and then up again.
“Fish is lousy cold,” Luke mumbled. “Look, can we forget this little incident happened? You’re right. You don’t need the distraction and I don’t want you wasting energy being pissed at me.”
“It’s forgotten,” she hissed through clenched teeth.
Her tone didn’t sound forgotten to him, but that could be because she was in the middle of one of her lifts. He shifted the two glasses in one hand and made his way to the bedroom door, but stopped.
“We are friends, Slice,” he said quietly over her grunts of exertion. “That isn’t going to change. No matter what.”
* * *
Reilly sat upas soon as he closed the door behind him, thinking about what had just happened.
He came in looking all sexy with this wine and his offer of fish. He’d teased her. Then he’d moved in like he was going to kiss her.
