Her hands slid from my shoulders and I crawled up her body, staring down into her flushed face. “You’re a liar, Miss Carly.” I drawled her name, reaching for my defensive sarcastic humor.

Her lashes barely fluttered. A weak smiled curled her lips as she murmured, “Um?”

I kissed the corner of her mouth. “You said you didn’t like it. I’ve got scratches all up and down my back that say otherwise.”

Carly curled her arms around my back and brushed her lips across mine.

I was prepared for her to turn away as soon as she realized why my mouth was wet. Not every woman liked to be kissed after a man had gone down on her. If she didn’t want me to kiss her, that was fine. But when I licked at the entrance to her mouth, she let me in with a sighing little hum.

After a moment, she started to rock against me, her nipples hard points against my chest. The only thing separated us now was a wish and a prayer and when she lifted her hips, either the wish or the prayer slid away.

Fuck. I had to stop us.

“Carly, I don’t have a rubber with me.”

She bit my lower lip. “Do you need one?”

I groaned and closed my eyes.

“Current medical opinion says yes.”

She arched against me again, and my eyes rolled into the back of my head. Slick, wet satin slid along my cock, and I clenched my hands in the cushions to keep from saying the hell with it and driving into her.

“I’m on the pill.” She pulled her head back, and in the dim light coming from the kitchen in the back of the house, she stared up at me. Her eyes were wide, dark.

I was staring into the face of temptation.

The face of seduction.

I was lost, found, and lost again.

Then she lifted a knee and pressed it to my hip.

“You’re clean.” She grinned at me, a grin that was all wicked heat and wild promises.

My surprise must’ve shown on my face because she looked slightly embarrassed as she continued.

“See, well, when you started working for me, you did a physical. There was blood work...and I’m nosy enough to check.”

Blood rushed up my cheeks. Maybe if it had been anybody else, I’d have been aggravated at the invasion of my privacy. The physical had been for insurance reasons, not to make sure I was clean for sex. I knew I should’ve been aggravated, but something inside me was pleased that she’d wanted me enough to check.

Sliding one hand into her hair, I tangled my fingers in her curls. “You frequently check out the health status of your employees like that, Carly?” I whispered, pressing my mouth against her ear.

“No.” The word came out breathless. “Only for you. Are you going to yell at me?”

She did that thing with her hips again, and I swore.

Fuck it.

“Can we just pretend I was pissed?”

“Yes. And I’ll pretend I’m sorry. Now damn it, Bobby...I need–”

The rest of her words were lost in a wail as I thrust into her, hard, deep, not stopping until I was buried in the welcoming wet heat of her pussy. Even as her wail faded into a whimper, I flexed my hips and rocked, felt the knot of her clit. Her nails sank into my shoulders as I pulled out. I hissed at the sharp bite of pain. I drove back into her again, flexed and rocked.

She clenched down around me as I withdrew again, and I had to force myself past the tightening grip of her pussy. She shoved her hands into my hair and dragged my mouth down toward hers.

We were greedy, desperate, our bodies taking, needing...

I was fucking crazy to think I could live without her.

Everything else seemed to disappear. Nothing mattered but her body beneath mine, the wet glide of my cock inside her, the way she moaned as we drove each other straight into madness.

She orgasmed, and as she twisted and bucked beneath me, I turned my face into her hair and gave in to the primal need inside me. My entire body felt like it exploded as I emptied myself into her.

While we clung to each other, I mouth the words I knew I had to hide from her.

I love you.

In the moments that followed, I shifted on the couch and pulled her until she was cuddling with her back to my front. As we settled, I had to acknowledge the truth of it. I didn’t think I could just walk away. I’d leave if I had to. If I knew there was no other way. But until I knew that was the only choice, leaving Carly Prince just wasn’t an option.

I’d only been half-alive before I met her.

Leaving her would probably be the end of me.

Chapter 15

If I’d been smart, I would’ve gotten up in the middle of the night and done something about the boxes and suitcases, especially since I’d come to the brilliant revelation that I was a dumbass. I wouldn’t have been able to unpack completely, but I could’ve at least gotten things out of sight and avoided a whole mess of issues.

But I wasn’t smart. Not even a little bit.

And my wake-up call didn’t help my brain function at all.

I went from semi-erect to dying in the blink of an eye as the wet heat of Carly’s mouth closed around my cock. Within seconds, I was awake and gasping for air. I opened my eyes to see her dragging her head back up, taking her time circling the tip of her tongue around the crown of my throbbing cock.

She stopped long enough to shoot me an impish grin, and then she returned to the business at hand. When she slid her way back down, I closed my eyes and grabbed the cushion beneath me. This was one morning I had no intention of rushing.

***

We moved from the couch to the shower, and while I was done far sooner than she was, I still wasn’t fast enough. She walked in while I was still scrambling to shove boxes and shit into the closet.

“What’s...?”

She stopped in the middle of the floor, the words dying in her throat as she took in the empty suitcases. I could only watch as everything fell apart. Her gaze slid to me and I readied myself to see anything there – pain, surprise, shock, anger.

I saw nothing.

“You’re leaving.” The words were flat, emotionless.

Shit.

“No,” I said, moving toward her.

She backed away before I could touch her, her hand held up as if she intended to slap mine away. I would’ve deserved it if she had.

“You’ve got suitcases out, boxes packed. That’s usually a sign of somebody leaving.”

“I’m not.” Dragging a hand through my hair, I fumbled for something to say. Bullshit and sarcasm just weren’t going to cut it this time. If I didn’t want to lose her, I had to be real. “Look, I thought for a while it was the best thing to do. Me being here...there’s some crazy fuck after you because of me and–”

She laughed. The sound was brittle, cold. It reminded me of chunks of ice breaking after a freezing winter.

“Has it dawned on you, you bastard, that maybe some crazy fuck is after you because of me?”

I came up short. No. Actually, no. That hadn’t dawned on.

She smirked, reading my answer in my silence.

But as that silence stretched out, I knew she was wrong. Knew that whole idea was wrong. I’d been getting by on my wits and instinct for as long as I could remember. I’d had to. Living with a mean drunk, I’d learned to gauge things fast. After my mom died and I ended up out on my ass, alone in the streets, I’d had nothing else but my wits and instinct to survive on. I trusted them, even when I trusted nothing and nobody else.

She was wrong. She didn’t want to hear it and maybe she didn’t need to, but this was about me.

“I’m not leaving,” I said softly. “Like I said, I was going to, but I changed my mind.”

Carly sneered at me as she strode by, clutching a towel to her breasts. I watched as she shoved my closet open and grabbed the closest shirt. I got a little weak in the knees watching as she pulled the black dress shirt on and let the towel fall. Fuck. My shirt, over her naked body.