“And why’s that?”
How could I tell him? He was the only man I’d ever loved. I couldn’t have amazing sex and cuddle with him afterward, no matter how much I wanted to, and expect to stay immune.
I frowned. “It’s just not, okay?”
He flung the covers off and was up out of the bed so fast, it was stunning. His palms were warm as he held my arms and pulled us chest to chest.
“Remind me,” he demanded. “What was the line you made me add to our agreement?”
I sighed and stared up into his eyes. Why did he look worried? “Fine, you want honesty? Your agreement doesn’t say shit about getting into bed with you after we’ve . . .” Did he understand what I was trying to say? “I can’t shut off my emotions completely. You put in the final paragraph, so if you want this to work, I’m going to need distance after we’re together.”
He blinked slowly, and then had the fucking nerve to laugh. It was a warm, deep sound.
“What the hell is so funny?”
His palms coursed down my arms so he could pick them up and sling them over his shoulders, forcing me to hang them around his neck. His smile was brilliant.
“I thought you were pissed about what we did. What I did.”
“What? No, I—” He distracted me by planting his lips on mine, and I turned to the side. He didn’t seem to care. His mouth continued to find places to kiss me. My voice was hushed. “I liked it a lot.”
His words dripped with seduction. With persuasion. To emphasize his request, his hands trapped my waist. “So, stay.”
“I just told you, I can’t.” Yet I made no effort to escape from him.
His eyes gleamed with arrogance. “If you feel like you can’t handle it, that’s fine.”
The asshole was challenging me on purpose, and his words made my face grow hot. I bit back my knee-jerk reaction, which would have been telling him I could handle anything he threw at me.
It was good I didn’t say it. It would have been a lie.
I centered myself and plastered on a smile. “Okay, thanks for understanding.”
He so rarely gave himself away, it was a treat when his expression turned into a scowl. I hadn’t given him the answer he expected. Would he try to talk his way into getting what he wanted?
I’d do everything to make that impossible. I moved quickly to my pants and retrieved them from the floor. “Thank you for dinner.”
“Stop.”
He used the same tone from before, the absolute one which made me want to do anything he said. Since my back was turned, he didn’t see my eyes fall shut, but he had to have seen my shudder.
“You don’t want to spend the night,” he continued, “that’s fine. But you’ll have a conversation with me first. Don’t just fuck me and leave.”