“I…” He couldn’t possibly know what she had been thinking.
“Your breathing changed. Are you uncomfortable? I’ll go and sleep on the couch.” Milton sat up, but Amie grabbed his arm before he had a chance to swing around and plant his feet on the floor.
“Stay. I’m not uncomfortable.” She pulled at his arm and he followed, lying down against the soft sheets. “It wouldn’t be the first time two strangers slept in this bed.”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Let’s just say this bed has gotten quite the work out the last two years. Between Rob and Martina and then Carrie and Aleks. Oh, and Lord knows what Aleks used to do in here before he and Carrie–”
“Aleks lived here?” Milton sighed. “I’m not surprised.”
Amie got Milton’s message. If he knew that much about Aleks and his unhappy household then they must have been good friends. That made her feel even worse for snapping at him.
“Look, I owe you an apology.” Saying that word–apology–didn’t make her shrivel up and die like she’d always imagined it would.
“You don’t have to do that. You’re not the first person to think I’m the devil.” He shifted in his spot, rustling the covers. Cool air penetrated from the quick opening, giving her goose bumps.
“I don’t… You’re not the devil, you just happened to reflect the very thing that had upset me just this morning. I took it out on you, and I’m sorry.”
“What happened? Do you want to–”
“No need to get into it, just take my apology and enjoy it. It doesn’t happen often.”
He chuckled. “You’re a very bold woman.”
“Why? Because I tried to put you in your place, or because I fondled you?”
He laughed again. A bigger laugh this time. “I guess both. Most girls would have jumped out of this bed screaming when they realized a strange man was in it, let alone a strange man that they hated who sported a hard-on the size of–”
“I don’t hate you.” That might be the first time ever that Amie regretted opening her big mouth. She had no idea why. “Actually, I like you much more now that I know I could lie beside you all night and you would be uncomfortably horny.”
“I could always jerk off when you fell asleep. That would take care of that.” He rustled the covers beside her, then she heard his arm flop down on the bed.
“You wouldn’t.” She would bet money on it. He just wasn’t that guy.
“How do you know?” he asked.
“I just know.” His whole presence screamed proper breeding. He just didn’t seem like the type to make the first move without a pre-nuptial agreement in place.
“Confident and psychic.” His head shook against the pillow. “Not a pretty combination.”
“Why wouldn’t I be confident?” Amie looked over at him. She could hardly make out his shape in the darkness. The small window forbid the soft moonlight from penetrating. “Crawling into bed with you obviously got you a little excited.”
“Don’t flatter yourself. It’s a normal reaction–for any man–to get excited when a naked woman crawls into their bed. Besides, you’re not my type.”
Amie sat up and reached for the light. He knew just what to say to push her buttons, and if they were going to face off again, she wanted to be able to see the look of defeat on his face.
She pulled on the chain and sat up against the headboard. “Beautiful blondes are every man’s type.”
He eyed her, a seductive once-over that had her insides quivering. But that’s not what she wanted. Was it?
“Make no mistake, you are beautiful and it would be a huge turn on to have you on my arm, turning heads, feeling for a split second the jealousy that surges from other men. But you’re a little too brazen for my liking.” His tone changed when he spoke his last words. A smug lilt, as if fluffing off her behavior as immature.
She could play that game. “Not surprised.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
She loved his offended look. It was an expression of surprise, then his eyes quickly narrowed to match the sneer that curled on his lips. Even with a scrunched up face, she still wanted to know what it would look like to see that face between her legs.