Carly’s eyes widened, and then fell away from my face. “I...” She pushed a few damp strands of hair from her face. “Bobby, you don’t need to worry about any of that. It’s just...hell, it’s bullshit. I get threats all the time. This is just some loon out there. This one’s fixated on both of us this time. That’s all.”

“That’s all?”

She gave me a nervous smile. “What else could it be?”

Instead of saying anything, I just stood up and left.

I needed to think, and I couldn’t do that with her around.

***

Just like the other night, when the knock came, I ignored it.

I hadn’t unpacked. The only thing I’d done was push boxes and suitcases out of the way so I didn’t trip over them if I had to get up in the middle of the night to take a leak.

Then I’d sprawled on top of my bed and stared at the ceiling.

The knock came again and I shot a look at the clock. It was nearly eleven. If Ryan was here to chew my ass again, I just might pound on his.

Kicking my legs over the edge of the bed, I moved through the house without hitting the lights. I’d spent a lot of years making do in poor lighting, and my eyes adjusted to the faint lights that streamed in through the blinds.

There was another knock, softer...hesitant.

I frowned. That wouldn’t be Ryan. Instinct told me to be careful, so I glanced through the blinds.

Light fell on pale hair, turning it silver.

I jerked open the door just as Carly started to turn away. She spun around, staring at me. I opened my mouth to talk, but she beat me to it.

“You hid stuff from me too!”

I’d spent half a year with Carly at this point, and I knew almost all of her moods. If I was being honest though, I could spend a hundred years with her and not know all of them. That both awed and aggravated me. Sometimes it felt like she invented a new mood just to fuck with me.

But this wasn’t one of her new moods.

This was an old one. The first one of hers I’d gotten to know. Pure, pissed-off woman.

There was only one way to handle this sort of thing. I snapped my mouth shut and shoved my hands into my pockets. In the dim light, she advanced on me and drilled a finger into my chest.

“What...don’t you have anything to say about that?”

I looked down at her index finger. Her nail was painted white with little black flowers on it. I didn’t understand how women could do that, or why they’d want to. But she was about ready to splatter that little black flower with red if she drilled that finger any deeper into my chest. I didn’t touch her though.

“Are you trying to poke a hole in me?”

She made a growling noise deep in her throat.

“You are such an ass, Bobby Cantrell!”

“I know.”

“Don’t agree with me, dammit!” she shouted. She shoved me.

I let her. In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have because it ended up with us both inside my house.

“Are you going to argue with me or not?” Her eyes were snapping, brilliant.

“It seems to me like you’re perfectly happy to handle all the arguing yourself,” I pointed out.

Her eyes narrowed and I almost took a step back.

“You bastard!” Her breasts rose and fell as she stood there, glaring at me.

It was insanely distracting because all I wanted to do was cup those sweet curves in my hand and taste her, feel her, push her up against the wall and fill her with my cock. Comfort her. Fuck her.

All I knew for sure is that I wanted her.

“You pushed me away as soon as Jake got hurt and then he...and I needed somebody...”

Her voice cracked, and my heart did too.

“I didn’t push you away.” Helpless to stop myself, I lifted a hand.

She smacked it away. “The hell you didn’t. Any time I tried to touch you, you backed away.”

I gritted my teeth and gave her the truth. “That’s because I can’t have you touching me without wanting you naked.”

“I don’t have a problem with that!” She jabbed me with her finger again, or tried to.

This time, I caught her wrist. “I made a promise to Jake. And he wasn’t wrong to ask me.”

She jerked on her hand.

I could’ve said that the devil made me do it, but in reality, it was just plain need. I jerked back and she ended up sprawled against my chest.

I didn’t know which one of us moved first, but in the next second, our mouths were fused together, and it was like the past six months hadn’t happened.

Or maybe they had. Those months had served to make me want her more, need her more, and if the way she was tearing at my jeans was any indication, the same could be said for her. Her passion fueled mine and I had her naked in no time. My clothes quickly followed, and then it was skin against skin.

Even as my tongue explored her mouth, her hand closed around my dick, dragging it up and down in a fast, heavy rhythm. My sac drew tight up against me.

I tore my mouth away from hers. My voice was hoarse, rough with need. “If you keep that up, I’m going to come all over you.”

“Do it,” she said, the words low and husky. “I don’t care.”

I all but went to my knees, whimpering. Some day I’d take her up on that, but there was something else I wanted more. I crowded her up against the back of the couch until she ended up sprawled over the long flat surface. Grabbing her knees, I pushed them high and wide.

“I’d rather have you come all over me,” I said, kissing my way down her torso.

Her voice tripped as she said, “Bobby...no.”

I looked up. Memory hit me. She’d stopped me before. I looked up, but didn’t move. “Why?”

“I don’t...I don’t like that.” Her entire body flushed.

I kissed her navel. “Why not?”

“I just...” Her breath skittered out of her when I traced my finger around the wet entrance of her pussy. “I’ve never liked...”

I smiled at her. “But you’ve never had me do it.”

Her lashes fluttered when I pushed my finger inside. “No.”

“Let me try?” I asked. I kissed her hipbone. Part of me needed to try. I didn’t know who had given her the bad experience, but I mentally cursed him. Even if he hadn’t known what he was doing, if he’d loved her, he would’ve made it right. “If you don’t like it, just tell me to stop and I will.”

The hands she’d fisted against my shoulders relaxed, just a little. “Promise?”

I turned my head and kissed her knuckles. “Cross my heart.”

When her hands fell to the curved back of the couch, I nuzzled her belly and then kissed my way down to the place I’d wanted to be from the moment I first met her.

I took my time. Kissed the insides of her thighs, lightly kissed the sensitive skin between her legs. When I took my first tentative lick, she whimpered. I smiled. Damn every other man she’d been with who hadn’t done this for her.

Screwing two fingers in and out of the slick wet heat, I listened as she gasped and whimpered. She lifted her hips beseechingly, and then cried out when I blew a puff of air against her clitoris.

Damn, she was responsive. This time, I flicked my tongue across her clit.

She climaxed, hard and fast.

It should have made me feel like the biggest damn man on the planet, making her come from something she said she didn’t like.

How could I feel humbled instead?

Why did the feel of her clutching me closer send a shudder through me?

Why did the sound of her voice breaking as she gasped out my name make me feel like I was going to break?

Emotions, too messy to think about, tried to well up inside me, and I shoved them all down.

Sex, bringing a woman pleasure, that was one thing I understood, something I was good at. So I focused on it and made her come again. She was salty against my tongue as I licked and nuzzled her, dipping inside her. Used my teeth on her clitoris, tugging on her gently until she was so sensitive, even the lightest brush made her shiver.