“You didn’t call me.”

“What?”

She’d said it so low she knew he hadn’t heard her. “Nothing.”

He came over and sat on the sofa next to her. “Tell me what you said.”

She shook her head. This had been a mistake. “Nothing.”

“Elizabeth.” He tipped her chin and forced her to look at him. “Talk to me.”

“I got scared, okay? You didn’t come home and didn’t call that night. I had no idea where you were and what you were doing. And I started thinking about being in a relationship with a guy. I’d never done that before. All the expectations. God, I hate expectations. I didn’t want to be that woman.”

She stood, went to the oversized window, and stared out at the tree limbs blowing in the wind, reaching toward the window, seemingly mocking her, laughing at her.

She heard Gavin approach. He put his hands on her, and she inhaled, breathing in his scent, so crisp, like the wild outdoors battering the window.

A storm was blowing in.

“What expectations? You didn’t want to be what woman? I don’t understand.”

She crossed her arms, hating that she was here having this conversation with him. “I know you don’t understand, Gavin. Because it doesn’t make any sense. I don’t make sense. This doesn’t make sense. I need to go.”

She turned to leave but he grasped her arms.

“Don’t go. I want to talk to you about that night. After the game I got stuck in a meeting and left my phone in my locker. And since I’m a moron and don’t know phone numbers because they’re programmed into my cell, I couldn’t call you. When I got back, you were already gone. I tried calling you after the meeting to tell you I was on my way back. You didn’t pick up.”

“I know.”

“Why?”

Because she’d been hurt and felt stupid for staying as long as she had. Because she’d given him the power to hurt her and make her vulnerable for caring about him. Because she already loved him and it devastated her. She’d spent years guarding her heart around him, and it had been working just fine. Laying her heart open around him had been dangerous. She’d had to run.

“It can’t work between us, Gavin. You know that.”

He arched a brow. “I don’t know that. I thought we were having a pretty good time together. You just got bent out of shape because I didn’t call saying I’d be late for dinner.”

Her lips twitched. Damn him. She didn’t want to cave on this. She wanted to remain firm and distant. But his impish green eyes and his hair falling across his brow were melting her, not to mention the warmth of his hands squeezing her shoulders.

She’d missed him over the past few weeks, more than she wanted to admit. Her body missed his touch. She missed looking at him and sleeping next to him. And despite her resolve to shove him back in the “client only” corner, they’d crossed the bridge into something else, and she wasn’t going to be able to shove him back into where he had been before.

Shit.

“I might have overreacted.”

“Just a little. And so did I. Admittedly, I was pissed off when I came back to the house and you were gone. I should have called you again. And again. Instead, I let the radio silence continue because I was hurt you up and left me.”

“You were?”

“Hell yeah. I liked having you in Florida with me. A warm body to share my bed at night, a sexy, independent woman who has her own career and doesn’t look to me to see to her every need? It’s every man’s dream.”

Her heart did flip-flops. “I hardly qualify as every man’s dream, Gavin. You said it yourself. I’m a pain in the ass.”

“Yeah, you are. But for some reason I like you, Lizzie. Despite your attempts to piss me off.”

He pushed her jacket off her shoulders. It was warm in the room now, and she was comfortable in her sleeveless top. He skimmed his hands down her arms, and he drew her against him.

“I missed holding you.”

“I’m sure you haven’t been lonely without me.”

He stopped and pulled her back. “There hasn’t been anyone since I was with you. Believe that. All I did after you left was play ball and brood a lot.”

She stared at him, unable to believe the bad boy of baseball would go almost a month without a woman. She wanted to believe him, but the men in her life had never been honest with her.

Gavin, however, had never lied to her. Why would he now?

“The brooding part I can definitely believe.”

He smiled and grazed his knuckles across her cheek, then leaned in and brushed his lips across hers. “Hey, I’ve been busy. It’s not like I go out and randomly pick up women.”

She craved more of his mouth on hers. “Neither do I.”

His lips lifted. “You don’t randomly pick up women?”

She laughed. “No. That’s not what I meant. I don’t randomly pick up men.”

“Not even Ty Anderson?”

She laid her palms on his bare chest, loving the feel of his skin. “He’s a new client and nothing more. Wanted to see a game tonight.”

“He seemed to want to see more of you.”

She lifted her gaze to his. “Jealous?”

His gaze narrowed. “Hell yes.”

When he kissed her this time, his lips were firm and possessive. He wrapped his arms around her and crushed her to him. His tongue slid inside her mouth and sucked on hers, demanding she surrender.

No problem there. She’d missed him so damn much. Being in his arms still felt like a dream to her. Being with Gavin felt forbidden, as if he was something she wasn’t supposed to have. And no matter how many sweet things he said to her about how he missed her and how it felt right between them, she knew what they had was always going to be temporary, for so many different reasons. So every moment they had together felt stolen, and she was going to enjoy every second.

He swept his arms down her back and cupped her ass, bringing her closer to his erection. She whimpered, needing him inside her right now, feeling a burst of primal hunger and a desperate need to be satisfied.

He backed her up against the wall next to the windows and tore her top from the waistband of her skirt. She kicked off her shoes and held up her arms while he lifted her blouse over her head.

Lightning flashed outside. She felt the electricity inside, too, when Gavin swept his hands over the bare flesh of her belly, then around her back as he unzipped her skirt and pushed it to the floor. She brushed the skirt to the side and reached for his sweats, pushing them down his hips. He stepped out of them, and she couldn’t help but look down and admire the power of his body.

His eyes were heavy lidded with passion, which fed her own need. She thrust her fingers into his hair and pulled him toward her for a kiss that blazed as hot and furious as the growing storm outside. Thunder rolled outside and rain lashed the windows. Lightning lit up the living room like daylight and the power flickered.

Gavin pulled back only long enough to sweep his hand over her bra-clad br**sts while she was illuminated by the lightning.

Elizabeth took a few moments to catch her breath, to watch Gavin’s face as the lightning bathed it in on-and-off shadow. She gasped when he released her bra clasp and held on to the cups to pull her to him, then bent and sucked a taut bud between his lips.

The power of the storm outside only intensified her arousal, made her grab his hair and draw him closer to her breasts. Watching him lick and suck and bite her ni**les made her cl*tand pu**y tingle, made her want to feel him inside her pounding away.

God, she really needed him to f**k her, wanted to come so badly she could touch herself right now and go off like the lightning arcing across the dark skies.

“Gavin, f**k me.”

He lifted his head and bent to remove her panties, sliding his hands slowly down her hips, her thighs, her calves. She shivered at the feel of his fingers on her skin. And when he kissed his way up her legs, she parted them, knowing where he was going and wanting him there so desperately.

“Lean against the wall, Elizabeth.”

She leaned back and spread her legs. Gavin kissed her thighs, cupped her butt cheeks, and put his mouth where she needed it—right on her pussy. Seeing his lips on her cl*tmade her shudder. Feeling his tongue rolling over the bud made her legs weak. She palmed the wall for support, closed her eyes, and let the sensations wash over her.

It had been so long since she’d had a cl**ax, she came with a wild, surprising rush, letting out a cry and tightening her hold on Gavin’s hair. He rose and slid his c**k inside her while she was still coming, intensifying her already insane orgasm.

Elizabeth laid her hands on his shoulders and dug her fingers into his skin, focusing her gaze on his eyes. She couldn’t even come down off the high of her cl**ax, because he thrust into her, rolling his h*ps over her already sensitized sex and taking her right back to a fevered state. She wound her fingers around the nape of his neck and drew his lips to hers.

He kissed her, and thunder rolled outside, shaking the foundation and the walls, making her crazy as the storm intensified inside her again, too. Gavin didn’t stop, just continued to pummel her with the slow, steady slide of his shaft in and out of her. It was the sweetest torture, and the way he kissed her was maddening, taking her breath away with his lips and his tongue, nipping at her, licking at her, demanding she give him all she had.

It was a total bombardment of her body, her senses, her heart, and she shook her head, finally pulling her lips from his as he pummeled her beyond reason, his chest scraping her nipples, his pelvis rocking against her clit, and his mouth nuzzling her neck.

“Gavin.”

He didn’t answer, just dragged his tongue from her neck to her shoulder and bit down on her.

She shuddered, felt the rising storm of another cl**ax building inside her, felt her pu**y tightening around his cock. He stilled, and she felt him swelling impossibly thick inside her. She knew he was ready to come inside her. And when he gripped her buttocks and lifted her, she wrapped her legs around him and let go.

He let out a guttural cry and slammed her against the wall, found her mouth and drove his tongue inside. She moaned into his mouth when she cl**axed, drinking in his groans as he came with her.

They sank to the floor together, Gavin holding on to her with his hands and pulling her on top of him. He held her, stroked her back, and swept her hair away from her face, but he didn’t let her go, though she was certain she had to be heavy. After a while, she lifted her head, afraid he’d fallen asleep. His clear gaze rocketed to hers.

“I thought you were sleeping,” she said.

“No. Just enjoying touching you.”

“Are we going to stay like this the rest of the night?”

“I thought about it. I like listening to the storm.”

She shook her head and pushed up to sit on him.

“I like this view even better.” He grabbed her h*ps and lifted his, rocking against her.

She laughed, pushed against him, and stood. “I need to go.”

He sat up and watched her get dressed. “Why?”

She grabbed her panties and bra. “Why what?”

“Why do you have to go?”

“Because I have my own place.”

“I know that. But why can’t you sleep here with me?”

She stepped into her panties. “In the dungeon?”

“Ha-ha. Seriously.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m thinking we should maybe keep things light and easy.”

He stood, and she found it utterly, deliciously disconcerting that he seemed content to stand there na**d. “So, you just want to get together and f**k on occasion, and then go our separate ways.”

She fastened her bra and lifted her gaze to his. “Something like that. It’s less complicated that way.”

He came toward her and pulled her into his arms. “You could hire a prostitute to f**k you. Or find any number of willing guys.”

She laughed. “Contrary to what you might think, there aren’t a bunch of men lined up waiting to f**k me.”

His lips curled in a smug smile. “So . . . just me?”

“Just you.”

“Stay with me. Sleep with me.”

She shuddered as his hand moved over her back, his fingertips rested just above her butt. “I can’t.”

“You won’t. You’re afraid.”

She arched a brow. “I’m not afraid, Gavin. I’ve slept with you before.”

“And then you ran out on me. You’re afraid to get close to me.”

She laughed. “Are you serious? We just got pretty damned close.”

“That’s not what I mean and you know it.”

She snatched her skirt and climbed into it. “This is ridiculous. I’m not having this conversation with you.”

And he still stood there na**d. Arguing with her. Naked. Damn him anyway. She grabbed her blouse and pulled it over her head, then slipped into her shoes and searched for her purse and keys.

“You do realize I’m not going to let you drive in the rain.”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re not my father. You don’t control me.”

“I’m not trying to control you, Elizabeth. But there’s one hell of a storm out there. If you’d pull your head out of your ass and think logically you’d realize you shouldn’t be out there driving in it.”

Ignoring the punctuating thunder and bright flash of lightning that was trying to prove his point, she dug into her purse for her keys. “I’ve driven in rain before. I’ve lived in this city for a while now. I can handle it.”