Complicated wasn’t his thing, it never really had been. He’d kind of thought he was in love, once, but it had ended badly. Kind of. He wasn’t good at it. Relationships.
So why did he get the feeling that he could be good at it with Michaela?
“Easy for you to say.” She shoved at his shoulders and this time he backed away from her, letting her go. She looked surprised but quickly gained composure, her expression docile. Standing a little straighter, she ran a hand over her tangled hair and he thought she’d never looked sexier.
“I-I need to go. You can stay here if you like but I need to go home. I’m, um, tired.”
She could say what she wanted, but he knew the truth. She was uncomfortable, thrown off by what they’d just shared even though he knew without a doubt she’d enjoyed every second of it.
“I’m not letting you leave here by yourself. I’ll take you home.” She was crazy if she thought he’d let her go out into the night in the mostly abandoned industrial district. Who knew what sort of scumbags lurked out there?
“Can you take me to the theatre so I can pick up my car?” She lifted her chin, her fingers tugging at the bodice of her dress. Drawing his attention to her flushed skin, her hard nipples pressed against the thin fabric.
His mouth watered and he cleared his throat, searching for control. “Why don’t we head straight home now and grab it tomorrow?”
“No.” She shook her head, her voice panicked, and he wondered if she didn’t want to be alone with him in the car for an extended period of time.
Not that he blamed her. His libido was raging, his cock more than ready for some action and he’d probably try to jump her the second he got her alone, horny bastard that he was.
“Okay, I’ll take you to the theatre.”
Relief washed over her face, and she pushed away from the wall to stand next to him. “Shall we go?”
He nodded his answer and they left the club together, walking in silence to his car in the parking lot. The air was cool, a hint of ocean in the breeze, and he longed to sneak an arm around her shoulders, haul her close and keep her warm.
But she didn’t want that, her body language was clear. She kept her distance, her heels echoing in the quiet night against the blacktop and she didn’t say a word. Neither did he.
He didn’t know what to say.
She behaved as if nothing mind-shattering had happened between them, the murmured thank you she gave as he unlocked the passenger car door for her just like every other little thank you she’d given him. The passionate woman of just five minutes ago was gone, in its place the cool, composed woman he lived with instead. The same woman he hung out with, talked with, secretly wanted more than anything.
Not so secret tonight and she’d responded in kind, which had surprised him, thrilled him. And just like that she’d pulled away, both physically and emotionally until he was left stunned, mulling over it all. Stewing and brooding and a little pissed off, he slumped behind the steering wheel, his hands gripping it so tight his knuckles went white.
“Are you going to start the car?”
Austin did as she asked, his hand automatically turning the key, the engine roaring to life. Like a robot, he turned his head, backed out of the parking slot and pulled out of the lot, headed in the direction of the theatre.
He’d blown it. How he had no clue. But he vowed then and there he’d have that passionate woman back in his arms and soon. Not tonight. He needed to give her some space, let her muddle over this on her own but soon, very soon he’d have her.
Any way he wanted her.
Here she was again. Sitting inside her car just like she had a few days ago. Things had been different then. She’d known where she stood with Austin, hadn’t had her world turned completely upside down by a ten minute moment in a nightclub last Friday night.
Memories flooded her of Austin’s kiss. The savage way his mouth had taken hers contrasted with the gentle way he’d held her, touched her. His tongue, his decadent taste, how he’d groaned, nudging hi
s humongous erection against her in a very insistent and delicious way.
It had been the singular most intense sexual experience of her life. And all they’d done was kiss.
She would probably die if they did anything else. An orgasm brought on by Austin? She would probably go straight into cardiac arrest.
Michaela sighed, pressed her head against the top of the steering wheel. He’d be inside the apartment, waiting for her. She’d worked late, had met her friend Carly at their favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner afterward but it was still only nine o’clock.
She’d been avoiding him since Friday night. Had run errands and wasted time all of Saturday and then had gone to her parents on Sunday, attending a family barbecue that had made her want to lose her mind. It seemed as if every member of her family was there, and all of them asked questions.
Where was her boyfriend, was she seeing someone new and when was she going to get married anyway?
God. She was a twenty-five-year-old spinster in their eyes. Not one of them acted as if this was the twenty-first century. Her parents had been together since they were twenty. There was no history of divorce on her mother’s side, only one divorce on her father’s side and that cousin was considered the black sheep. She came from an anomaly.