“That’s exactly my point; I don’t want you thinking that we’re back together, because we aren’t. We’re just old lovers having an affair. Old lovers who may be interested in pursuing something more in the future. But this will take time. Time and diligence from you. In the meantime, you have your apartment, and I have mine, and only on special occasions might we . . . mix.”
And you’re going to have to fight for me if you ever want me back.
“In other words,” she finished, when he continued merely staring, “we’re no longer roommates, Andrew. If you want to see me, you’re going to have to pull out all the stops and ask me out like all my others admirers.”
The last was a stretch, but competition was never bad to begin with.
“So you will make it challenging then?” he said, sounding neither pleased nor displeased. Curious, maybe. Intrigued.
“What can I say, I like it hard,” she said, smirking.
“And I like finding myself in tight spaces.”
His words, and their sexual meaning, made her laugh. “This is just an affair, Andrew. All right? I don’t trust you anymore,” she said.
But she wondered who she was really trying to convince here.
The bedsheet wrapped tightly around her, she grabbed her dress from the floor and headed straight toward the bathroom.
He watched her the entire time, and the amusement in his voice wasn’t lost on her. “Delude yourself all you want, darling. But you trust no one else but me.”
She tried passing him on her way to the bath, but he blocked the door with a powerful bare arm clamped to the other side. The one he’d apparently been doing bicep curls with for three years—all day long.
“Do I get a kiss from my sweet lover?” He rolled the words on his tongue, and her body temperature rose a degree.
“When she brushes her teeth, you might.”
“Oh, there’s no might about it.”
With that, he dropped his arm to let her pass and she slid inside, closed the door, and locked herself behind it until she calmed herself down.
He just drove her too batty. Mad. Hot out of her ever-loving mind.
She didn’t even know how she was going to be able to successfully play hard to get with him, but she had no other choice after the way he’d acted for three years. As if she meant nothing. As if what they had together had meant nothing.
Angry in remembrance, she prettied herself with extra diligence, wanting to be sure he would want her badly when he saw her. And of course he would not have her today. Not today and not until he began proving his devotion to her again.
When she finally emerged decently pretty and feeling a bit ridiculous in a sparkly evening dress at this hour, she found Andrew partly dressed and knotting up his tie. She wanted to melt, he looked so beautiful. In fact, she’d always been turned on like crazy in the mornings when she watched him get dressed after a glorious night together. That’s what this man did to her. Crazy things. Melting things.
He spotted her and his smile appeared, slow as ice melting. “Good morning, lover.”
Okay. Was he mocking her?
His eyes certainly seemed a little mocking as he sauntered over, in those dark slacks and crisp buttoned shirt, looking not only beautiful but illegal.
He seized her hand and steepled her fingers with his. As he laced his long fingers through hers, their tattoos became aligned, and the heat of his palm seeped into hers.
Her heart ached.
He’d always done this . . . always in the morning, in bed, smiling.
The memory was almost too much to bear, severely making fun of her most recent proposal of this—whatever this catastrophe was called—being an affair of old lovers only.
“Good morning,” was all she could say, barely managing through the ball of need gathering inside her chest.
Glinting black eyes watched her with pure male humor. “I wish I didn’t have such a hectic day ahead, otherwise, I’d like to spend it with my . . . lover.” His voice was low and provocative, peppered with amusement. And even then, the silky timbre made her remember all of his intimate words of last night, and she could feel an instant surge of warm liquid pooling between her thighs.
“That’s all right, I actually have a packed day myself,” she purred sweetly, returning his charm with a little bit of hers. “Tonight’s another gala. This one’s in the aid of abused children, and I’m one of the organizers. I also have a board meeting at Donahue’s.”
“Ahh,” he said in answer, then he eased back and reached for his sable jacket. He studied her through thick, spiky black lashes as he rammed his arms into the sleeves. “You impress me, Whitney. You really do, darling.” He adjusted his collar, and it was all she could do not to fix it for him. “Jerry’s downstairs. He can take you anywhere.”
“Thank you, I’ll walk. It’s not far and I enjoy it. And don’t . . . call me darling, please. It’s an affair, remember? You need to earn it, Andrew.”
“I paid in advance, Whitney,” he retorted. She shook her head with a slight scowl, then leaned up to kiss him good-bye, purposely avoiding his mouth and heading for his hard jaw instead.
Andrew was quicker. He swerved his head to catch the kiss with his lips, and almost would have managed it if Whitney hadn’t jerked back.
Anger flared in his eyes. “Let’s do that properly now.”
Seizing a fistful of loose auburn hair, he pinned her head in place and swept down to crush her lips with his. She didn’t even know what happened, but she hadn’t planned to open her mouth—and yet it opened somehow because suddenly his heat spilled into her. She shuddered. And suddenly his tongue was plundering her. Pillaging her. She mewed softly and he responded with a groan that seemed to reverberate inside his body, and that raw sound of need almost thrust her over the edge. His mouth moved more firmly than ever, not hesitating to allow his teeth to also play. He was more dominating, and his merciless kiss shot her arousal through the roof.
He used to be so careful with her, but now she could taste his hard resolve in his kiss. Resolve to have her, tame her, and she pushed back just as hard, resisting his domination, letting him know she wasn’t a wallflower anymore, she wasn’t going to be taking shit from anyone anymore.
He left her quaking, her lips raw, her knees weak, but she fought like crazy not to let him notice.