Page 109 of Delinquent Daddy (Banks/Kincaid Family 2)

"Boston," she said, trying to sound reasonable, when she just wanted to toss all common sense into the wind and drag him by the front of his shirt back to her room. "Will you just step back and look at what you're trying to do here? This"—

she motioned between the two of them—"is a bad idea. I mean, aren't you the one who told me you didn't do long distance relationships? And if a relationship's not even what 254

Delinquent Daddy

by Linda Kage

you're after, then that's even worse. Everything was bad enough when it ended the first time."

"Ellie, you started this," he growled through the dark and reached for her again. "You called me back onto this porch.

You—"

She evaded him. "I know, and I'm sorry. Now please, just go. I...this was a bad idea. I'm sorry, but I don't want it to happen again."

"What are you so afraid of?" he demanded, his voice impatient and frustrated. "Do you honestly think it would end the way it did last time?"

"I'm not afraid," she told him. "I'm just not interested."

"Not interested?" he echoed incredulously. "Not interested?"

Ellie gasped when he snagged her arm and yanked her close. She didn't have time to rebuke him because he covered her mouth with his before she could speak. The sensation rippled a path clear to her toes. She was just starting to arch against him when he pulled away.

"Still not interested?" he snarled in her ear.

Off balance, Ellie reached out blindly and caught stability on the closed front door. She leaned there, breathing hard, as she lifted a hand to her swollen, tingling lips.

"Damn it, Ellie," he groaned. "Someday you really ought to stop lying to me. I could have you right here, right now, and we both know it."

Spine straightening, Ellie pushed from the door and stood erect. "Fine," she said, gathering her pride around her like a 255

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cloak. "You're right. But I think...I suggest we just...ignore it.

For Cassie's sake."

He snorted. "Sorry, that's not working for me."

"And I'm sorry, but that's not my problem. It's working just fine for me."

She turned and reached for the door handle, but a large hand slapped the surface closed just as she started to open it.

Crowding her against the door, he moved up behind her, intimidating her as much as he was enticing her with his hard, powerful body.

"The day you cut down my tree you said you'd wouldn't maul me anymore," she reminded him, biting her lip as soon as she said the words.

He went still for a good thirty seconds. She braced herself, expecting him to lose his temper. But he threw her completely off balance when instead he leaned in and smelled her hair. Too startled to even breathe, she stood there passively as he nuzzled his face against the back of her shoulder.

"I won't ever hurt you again, Ellie. I've spent all these years wishing I'd done things differently. If I could take it back, I would. When I started pursuing you, I already foresaw an end. And that's the worst thing a person can do in a relationship. But this time, you're the one anticipating an end.

And this time, you're the one who's wrong. You hurt me too, you know. You purposely kept Cassie from me.

"Just think about that, Elora. I'm willing to work past this, and I've been wronged a lot more recently than you have.

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