Her chest pulled tight and hard. “What do you mean, belong?”

He took another step closer. A breeze blew across them and rippled his shirt across his chest. A chest she knew firsthand was hard and strong with a strength she’d never felt before.

“It means, you’re mine. It means, you don’t leave without telling me you’re going somewhere. It means, you don’t wear,” his eyes slid down her body in a way that made her skin crawl, “clothes like that when I’m not around. You got that?”

She snapped her teeth together. That’s it. She was done. She turned and headed for the driver’s side, but he caught her. He grabbed her hand and tugged her back. His chest curled around her back, his hips pressed against her bottom. A fluttery sigh left her. He felt so good around her, safe and secure.

“I asked you a question.”

She almost laughed. “I know, and you got my answer.”

An arm, corded with muscle wrapped around her waist, pulled her back flush against him. Her breath caught as he lengthened, hardened against her bottom. “That’s not going to work, Vanessa. All it would have taken was a phone call. Did you ever think about that?” he said into her ear. Chills swept from her neck to arms making her shake. She didn’t know if it was the arousal slowly building inside her or the way his breath blew across her ear when he spoke that close.

Did she ever think about picking up the phone and calling him today? “No. No, I didn’t think about that. Even if I’d thought to call you, I wouldn’t have thought you’d pick up to answer me.”

His other arm wrapped around the top of her chest, shoulder to shoulder. For just a second his lips pressed to her neck. She heard him inhale and his eyes fluttered closed. This was the feeling she loved. Being with him, being in his arms, feeling his affection for her, almost as if he did really care about her. Maybe even loved her. Bitterness crept in at the thought. As if he would love her. No one loved her. Not now, not ever.

His arms were turning her to face him, his big hands, so capable and sturdy, tilting her face up. Lips passed across hers in a gentle swipe. “Open your eyes.” She shook her head and squeezed her eyes tighter. The pain in her heart was too much. He’d never love her. Never care about her like she did for him. “Look at me, Vanessa.” The command in his voice sent her eyes flying open. She hadn’t meant to do it, but he’d ordered and she reacted.

“Good, beautiful, good.” His eyes were warm, soft, and electric with intensity. “You call me, I’m there. You text me, I’m there. I answer. I listen. You mean something to me.” He blinked and his eyelids stayed low and soft. “Let me take care of you.”

A hard shiver racked through her. She blinked fast as her emotions created mayhem inside her. Her lips trembled. She reached up and twisted her hands into the shirt around his neck. What the hell, she’d go with honesty. “I want that. I want whatever’s between us not just to be...something physical. I want it all. And with how I already feel about you...” Her heart slammed to a stop in her chest. She squeezed her eyes shut as her hands clenched even harder. She hadn’t meant to say that. Oh, God. Oh, God. Maybe he hadn’t really realized what she’d started to say.

A soft breath blew across her lips, then firm lips covered hers, sweeping away all thoughts until she was engulfed in only beauty and pleasure. He curled her into him as if he couldn’t bear to have space between them. He tasted her, the kiss growing harder, hungrier. She kissed him back with fervent need, trying to express just how much she needed him in that kiss.

The honk of a car pulled them away. He was breathing just as hard as she was; his eyes glittered with something dark and smoldering.

“Get in the car and drive home. I’ll be right behind you.”

“Okay.” She couldn’t move, didn’t even want to leave the warmth of his arms.

He smiled a little, then took the keys, unlocked the door, and put her inside the car. “Drive. Remember, I’ll be right behind you.”

“Okay,” she said again and smiled back at him. She liked his smile. It warmed everything about him, made him look more approachable, which was some feat. She managed to start the car on her own and when he left and disappeared behind the rows of cars, she couldn’t hide her disappointment.

She pulled out of the parking spot and slowly left the lot; she perked up as the black SUV rounded in behind her. The windows were tinted too dark to see inside, but she smiled and waved at him through her rearview mirror.

She drove all the way back to Dmetri’s place with a goofy smile on her face and Brayden’s black SUV trailing her.

Vanessa hopped out of the car and tossed the keys to the nice valet standing nearby. She glanced down the driveway and saw Brayden’s black SUV coming up behind her. Her stomach rolled with nerves. She pressed a hand to it but it didn’t help. Something big was coming. She could feel it deep inside of her. His car came to a stop behind the Mercedes and as he pulled his lithe, strong body out, she tugged her lip between her teeth. His eyes met hers, still dark and sexy as they’d been before they left the restaurant. But this time something else lingered in his eyes, something breath-catching and incredible. This had to be the something big coming. Because her heart just stuttered and she fell more than a little bit in love.

His eyes never left hers as he handed the keys to the valet, thanked him, and came back to her, stopping right in front of her. She had to tilt her head back to look up at him. She was right. It was like something just clicked into place. His was the face she’d wake up seeing for the rest of her life. The hardened face with the dark stubble around his cheeks and chin, the curling brown hair atop his head, the piercing gray eyes. And the way he was looking at her...made her whole body feel way too warm.

“No one’s ever looked at me like that before.”

His eyebrows arched up.

She froze. She’d just walked into that awkward territory where she spilled some feelings, even minor ones, with someone she’d recently gotten to know. She braced herself. He’d either shut her down now with a harsh retort, or saying something appeasing like ‘that’s nice’. Her face flamed, but thankfully, the moon didn’t give out much light. Maybe he couldn’t see it.

She was saved, or maybe recued would be the better word. Christine threw open the front door and grinned from ear to ear, her clever gaze moving between her and Brayden. “Welcome back. I see you were found.”

Vanessa had to move away from him. Her mind was in turmoil. Had he realized just how much something as simple as the way he looked at her meant to her? She wanted the ground to open up and just sink into it, never to be seen again. Or maybe for aliens to fly by and beam her up into their ship. None of that would happen though, so she threw on a cheerful smile and met Christine at the front door. Christine’s thrilled chitchatting and probing questions about how was her time out was and where she’d gone, gave her time to cool her mind down a bit. She even heard Brayden come inside and close the door behind them without jumping.

“Great; drank a few of those strawberry margaritas. So good!”

Christine’s face pinched. “Ew, no, thanks. Tequila in anything is just gross for me. But give me a sweet wine, now that I can do.”

A deep voice sounded behind Vanessa, sending a wicked thrill down her body. “Excuse us. Vanessa and I have some business to attend to.” Brayden’s hand scooped her arm at the elbow and then he was leading her up the stairs.

Vanessa’s chest moved entirely too fast. She couldn’t let him know how nervous he made her. So she focused and slowed her breathing, in and out. In and out. He took her to the guest bedroom that she’d woken up alone in that morning. The soft click of the door closing felt like she was being locked in a steel vault in a bank...and alone with him.