“Never. Just for you. Ellie, you’re... You’re special.” He fell silent, gazing deep into her eyes. His right hand clenched over the pistol grip, and he pulled his left forearm against his chest, as if he was stopping himself to doing something with it.
You’re special.
Her heart began to pound as hard as it had when she’d woken up from her nightmare, but with excitement and arousal rather than fear. She knew that Hal was standing like that, all his muscles tense, because he was holding himself back.
And she knew what he was holding himself back from. All the uncertainty of the night before vanished like smoke in a wind. Ellie knew that Hal wanted to touch her as much as she wanted to touch him. But just as she knew that, she also knew that he wasn’t sure she felt the same way.
“Want to know why I opened the door?” She couldn’t quite catch her breath. Her voice wavered.
“Yes.” Hal’s voice came out in a low growl that sent a bolt of desire straight to her heart. And also lower down.
“I dreamed that you’d been shot.” Her voice was shaking again. “You were dying. You asked me to help you, but I couldn’t.”
“Oh, Ellie.” Hal replaced his gun in his holster, then enfolded her in his strong arms, pulling her tight into his body. She leaned against him, listening to the thud of his heartbeat. She could feel his body heat, and hear every breath he took. “It was just a dream. I’m fine. I protect you. Don’t worry about me.”
“I know it was a dream,” Ellie muttered into his shoulder. “But it felt so real. I had to see for myself that you were all right. I was going to sneak into your bedroom and listen to you breathe, like a creepy stalker.”
Hal burst out laughing. At first she was hotly embarrassed. Then his deep, infectious laughter made her realize how absurd she’d sounded, and she laughed as well.
“You can stalk me any time,” Hal said.
She took a deep breath and looked into his eyes. “Even into your bedroom?”
“Especially into my bedroom.”
Look, but don’t touch, Ellie’s cautious side warned her. But she and Hal were already touching.
Too late, she thought.
As if he had read her mind, he said, “If you want to say no, say no.”
“I’m saying yes.” Ellie tilted her head back, presenting her lips for a kiss.
Her entire body seemed to melt from the heat of his mouth. Dizzy, she clung to him, molding her softness against his hard solidity. He stroked her shoulders, her back, her sides as they kissed. She slipped her hands under his shirt, exploring the angles of his bone, the firmness of his muscle, the silky smoothness of his skin.
This close, she could smell his masculine scent, and it made her feel wild and desperate. She kissed harder and wriggled against him, as if she could merge her body with his. She felt the huge, hard rod of his erection, and she rubbed herself against it, drawing a rumbling groan from him. She loved knowing how much she could affect him, and rubbed against him again. A bolt of desire went through her at the friction. He gasped, and so did she.
With another groan that was almost a growl, Hal snatched her up into his arms. Ellie yelped, startled.
“Hey, it’s okay,” Hal said. “Do you want me to put you down?”
“No, I was just surprised.” She reclined in his arms, letting her head fall back against his shoulder. “No one’s ever lifted me before. I thought I was too heavy.”
“You’re not too heavy,” Hal replied, striding toward his bedroom. “Or too light.” He bent to kiss her. “You’re just...” Another kiss. “Exactly...” And another. “Right!”
She giggled, remembering her sleepy thoughts about the too big/too small/just right bed.
He kicked open the door and took her into his bedroom. To her total lack of surprise, it had more bookcases, plus a teetering stack on the bedside table. There was no light that she could see, but the room was filled with a dim white light, like moonlight.
Then she looked up. There was a huge skylight, showing the night sky and a three-quarters moon. The bedroom was lit by moonlight.
“I love the skylight,” Ellie said.
“So do I,” Hal said. “It makes me feel almost like I’m out in the woods. We could make love there for real some day.”
Ellie tried to conceal her surprise. It wasn’t at “make love” instead of “have sex.” She’d guessed before that Hal was an old-school romantic. It was at the “some day.” He was already thinking of this as a relationship, not as an ill-advised one-night stand. Ellie didn’t know whether to be delighted or unnerved. How heartbroken was he going to be if this relationship lasted all of one week?
How heartbroken was she going to be?