"Never?" I hooked a strand of red hair around my finger and tucked it behind her ear.
She shook her head. "Never. And all of a sudden, there's you and he's seeing me sleep in your bed. And we're here, almost a thousand miles from home, living in a castle. Everything's upside down. And last night was… amazing. You were…" Her lids lowered in sensual memory as she swayed toward me a fraction of an inch.
I raised my hand to pull her closer and Scarlett snapped back, spinning on one heel to put some distance between us. "I just—" She tugged at her hair. "I don't know what I'm doing right now, and being in bed with you and August coming in… It was like two parallel universes collided and I couldn't deal."
"Do you regret it?" It was going to kill me if she said yes.
She shot me a look that was half-glare and half-desperate appeal. "I should regret it. My eight-year-old almost caught me naked in bed with a strange man. I'm a terrible mother."
"So, you do regret it?" I took a step closer, wanting to pull her into my arms.
Another desperate glare. "No! I think you're turning me into a crazy woman, but I don't regret it. I feel like I should, but I can't. And I'm sorry I'm being weird. But I'm not sorry because you should have known what you were getting into. Which is nuts because you barely know me."
Another step closer. Scarlett was caught up in her rant and didn't notice.
"I do know you. And I knew this was going to be complicated. For a lot of reasons."
She stopped, studying me. "Do you regret it?" she asked softly.
"Not for a second. I regret not locking the door so you could have time to get yourself together before August came in. That's it. Last night was…" I closed the distance between us and slid my arm around her waist, pulling her against me. "Last night was the best night of my life. And the worst. Ever since the kids mentioned that pillow fort, I was desperate to get you alone in my bed. Not touching you was the hardest thing I've ever done."
Her eyes flew wide. "I thought you went to sleep!"
"Are you kidding? I finally had you in my bed, alone. It took everything I had to fake it."
She was cute when she scowled. "I almost killed you when I heard you snore."
"I thought that was a nice touch."
The annoyance melted off her face, replaced by confusion. "Why? I mean, why didn't you just—" She shrugged a shoulder as if the question wasn't important.
Leaning in, I traced a finger over her cheekbone, guiding her face up to mine. "Because it had to be you. We're in my house. In my town. I forced you to come here. To sleep in my bed. If we were going to go there, it had to be you who made the choice."
"That's very evolved of you."
"Mmmm," I said in agreement, taking her mouth in a kiss. She was about to see how very un-evolved I could be.
Kissing Scarlett is a full-body experience. Every time my lips touch hers, I drown in her taste, her scent, her touch. I almost dropped the cuffs when I pulled them from my pocket. Somehow, I managed to maneuver us to the chaise lounge.
Scarlett didn't resist when I pulled her down beside me, the deep, lush velvet chaise almost as wide as a bed. Stretching out beside her, pinning her against the back, I coaxed her hands over her head. It took every ounce of concentration I had to keep kissing her as I opened the cuffs and slid one around her wrist. Carefully, I fed the other end through a decorative wooden loop on the arm of the chaise and secured it to her other wrist. Handcuffs fastened, I broke the kiss and sat up, looking down on Scarlett in satisfaction.
She blinked up at me, dazed. I couldn't blame her. I was dazed myself. The woman could fucking kiss. Tilting her head back, she looked up at her hands cuffed to the chaise and back at me. One dark red eyebrow raised.
Slipping my hands under her shirt, I inched it up, my eyes on hers, taking in every nuance of her expression. "I told you what would happen if you ran."
"And I told you that wasn't much of a threat." She sank her teeth into her lower lip, eyes heavy, languid with desire. Pushing her shirt over her breasts, I unsnapped her bra and tugged it out of the way, baring her full curves, her nipples tight and darkly pink. Drawing in a slow breath, I skimmed my hands down her sides and around to the front, flicking open the button on her shorts and pulling them down her long legs, taking her underwear along with them.