“Not correct and irrelevant.”

He laughed, sinking his hand into her hair to cup her neck and guide her lips back to his. “All right,” he told her between mouthfuls of her sweetness. “I give in.”

“That’s the way it should be.” She slid her body over his, a devilish glint in her eyes. “You giving in.”

“Is it now?”

“Mm-hmm.” Her thighs eased open around his hips, and her mouth trailed down to his right nipple ring. When her tongue flicked it, his breath caught. Damn if his c**k wasn’t already swelling hard against the softness of her belly. “So do these really heighten sensitivity?”

He lifted his hips, pressing his erection into her. “What do you think?”

As she chuckled, a burst of her breath cooled the wetness she’d left at his nipple and he groaned. “I think I could look at you and get that reaction.”

She might just be right about that. “You interested?”

Her incredulous gaze lifted to his. “In nipple rings? Oh, hell no.”

A gasp escaped her as he flipped her under him, the movement causing the blanket to slip off their bodies. “I don’t pierce, anyway.”

“You don’t?”

“Nope. Purely interested in the ink.” Her skin was a delicious mix of sweet and salty as he licked the delicate curve where her neck met her shoulder. He knew from experience that flavor only intensified between her legs. “There’s so much I want to do with you.”

“As long as it doesn’t involve needles.”

“Noted.” He drew one pert nipple into his mouth, sucked it slowly as he skimmed his fingers down her belly. Her hips tilted upward in sweet invitation, and he accepted, sliding two fingertips on either side of her clit but not touching it directly. She gave a little mewl of distress…and then the words that stopped the world’s turning.

“Other than that, you can…do anything you want to me.”

The building could’ve caught fire, a tornado siren could’ve blared, or a f**king wrecking ball could’ve crashed through the wall, and he wouldn’t have noticed at the moment. But those words brought his head up.

“What do you want?”

He could practically see the blush rising in her cheeks. “I thought we were talking about what you want.”

“No, this is all you. I’d like to push you, but only to places where I’m pretty certain you’d like to go. I’m not going to cross any lines you may have all for the sake of getting myself off. So if there’s something you’re curious about, or you think you want to try, then you need to tell me.”

She averted her gaze from his, studying the portion of the ceiling just over his right shoulder. “I just keep thinking about what you said about your ex, about you staying around because she was crazy in bed. It was the first thing you mentioned when I asked why you were with someone like that for so long.”

“And if I’d used my brain, I would never have told you that, especially if I thought it would eat at you. Hey.” Gently, he stroked the hair from her forehead, drawing her attention again. “It might’ve kept me for a while, but it didn’t keep me forever, did it?”

“I don’t like the thought that I’m not the best you’ve ever had.” Wow. The fierce intensity of that statement took him by surprise, and for a moment, he wondered if he’d just gotten a glimpse of the pre-accident, always-gotta-win Macy everyone talked about. Also…what the hell?

“Now I f**king did not mean to give you that impression. Jesus, girl.” He sat up on his knees, rubbing a hand over his head. She followed, modestly holding the bedspread to the swell of her br**sts. “I wish I could even describe to you how I felt that first night we were together. I can’t, though, because the only words going through my mind were holy f**king shit. That’s it. Over and over. That you had even looked my way once, that you agreed to meet up, that you actually pulled the first move and didn’t tease or stop me—my life could’ve ended that night, Macy, and I’d have considered it complete. You are the best I’ve ever had. If all we do from now on is straight missionary sex at eight p.m. on Tuesday nights of months that start with J, you’ll still be the best I’ve ever had.”

If he’d expected her to look happy about all of that, he was disappointed. She lowered her head, still clutching that ridiculous blanket as if he hadn’t just had her nipple in his mouth. “Then I had to go and mess everything up,” she said at last, sounding small and dejected.

“Don’t beat yourself up. You explained. It’s forgiven. Come here.” Scooting to her on his knees, he wrapped her in his arms. Thank God, she finally dropped the blanket, going skin-to-skin with him, burying her face in his shoulder and squeezing him tight. “I’m the luckiest son of a bitch alive to be here right now,” he whispered. “Don’t ever think I don’t know it.”

“I’m pretty lucky, myself.”

Chapter Twenty

They’d gone out for sushi when the texts started. And then the calls.

Jared was pissed that she’d blown him off. She felt bad about that, having called him earlier and broken the news to his voice mail—honestly, in all her excitement, she’d damn near forgotten all about it—but he was overreacting. Apparently, he’d gone by her apartment because he wanted to know where she was. As if she had to answer to him.

When Seth asked her who the hell was trying to get in touch with her, she waved off his questions and silenced her phone. Dammit. She should’ve told him from the start that her own psycho ex might be hatching right before her very eyes. Ugh. Jared had never struck her as that type. Then again, Jared had never seen her getting seriously involved with someone else.

“Are you sure everything’s all right?” Seth asked, startling her out of her thoughts. They’d been lingering over their finished food for a while now. And still basking in the afterglow of everything they’d done just before coming here—or at least, she was. She quickly took a drink of her water.

“Oh, sure.”

“If something’s going on back home—”

“No, nothing like that. I do need to make a call though. Is that okay?”

“Sure.”

“Be right back.” She slid out of her seat and headed for the ladies’ room, jaw tight with all the words she wanted to fling. The simplest solution would be to turn her phone completely off, but he’d already pissed her off.

The restroom was empty, thank goodness, and hopefully she could make this brief. Jared answered right away.

“Macy?”

“What is your deal, Jared?”

“Why didn’t you come today?”

“I told you. I’m sorry, but something came up. End of story. Now stop this. Right now.”

“I don’t appreciate getting ditched at the last minute. This isn’t like you. What’s happened to you?”

Despite the flare in her outrage, his words stung. “I think you had it built up in your mind as more than what it was. It wasn’t a date. It wasn’t a door opening to you and me getting back together someday, no matter what you might have deluded yourself into believing. The more I thought about it, the more it all seemed like a bad idea, anyway.”