I nodded. “Yeah, yeah, I’m great.” I gently tugged my arm free and got out of the car. I was certain I’d made a clean break until I heard a car door slam and footsteps behind me. I half turned as I walked and said, “It’s okay, you don’t need to walk me to the door. I’m sure you have things you need to do.”
I didn’t give Rush time to respond. I just dashed to the door and began searching my pockets for the keys. I could still hear footsteps behind me, so I knew Rush had ignored my comment. My fingers shook as I tried to put the key in the lock. I let out a little gasp when Rush’s big hand closed over mine. He was practically pressed up against my back.
“Why are you trying to run away from me?” Rush asked softly, his breath tickling the back of my neck. Then his lips were skimming over the same spot.
“I’m not. I just—” I didn’t know how to finish the sentence because I was clueless as to what was happening. Maybe he just wanted an end of the first date kiss?
“Just what?” Rush asked as he nuzzled my ear. A violent tremor jolted through my body. I barely managed to stifle a moan. I dropped my head forward so he could give the same level of attention to the back of my neck.
I was caught in a haze of desire as my mind and body warred within one another.
Not a good combination.
Unfortunately, my mind won out. “Thumper!” I said as I realized Rush was following me because he needed to collect his pet. I snapped my head up and met something that was both hard and soft at the same time.
“Ow, fuck!” Rush shouted as he took several steps backward, his hands covering his nose.
His very bloody nose.
My own head hurt like hell, but the sight of Rush bleeding had me rushing forward. Unfortunately, Rush unknowingly stepped off the porch step. He tried to catch himself, but in my haste to grab his arm, I too lost my balance and fell forward.
And that was all she wrote.
Our only saving grace was that we landed on the grass next to the walkway leading to the porch. My saving grace was that I landed on top of Rush’s hard body instead of the harder ground.
Sadly, grace wasn’t watching over Rush, who took the brunt of my weight when he hit the ground.
“Oh God, Rush, are you okay?” I asked as I instinctively reached for his face.
“You were soooo close to getting the Tour Guide of the Year award,” Rush groused. He let his arms fall flat on the grass. I scooted up his body to examine his nose.
“I’m so sorry,” I said as I tried to gently wiggle his nose back and forth.
“Son of a bitch,” Rush growled, but he didn’t make a move to stop me.
“Well, the good news is it’s not broken,” I said.
“What’s the bad news?” Rush said, his head rolling enough so he could look at me. Despite the injury, he didn’t actually seem all that upset. In fact, one of his hands lifted to cradle my hip as I held there on all fours with my face just inches from his.
“The bad news is you didn’t break anything of mine, so I’m not going to get another antique out of this.”
It took Rush a second to process my words, and then he burst out laughing.
“Ow, shit, that hurts,” he moaned as he grabbed his nose.
“Let’s get some ice on it,” I said. I began to lift off him, but that hand on my hip tightened. I got the silent message and stayed put.
Rush’s eyes grew serious. “Why were you running?” he asked. His hand moved from my hip to my face. He brushed some stray hair behind my ear as his eyes pinned mine.
“You didn’t take any clothes,” I admitted, my cheeks heating.
“What?” Rush said with a shake of his head.
“At the hotel, you didn’t grab a change of clothes or a toothbrush or…” I let the words die off as I considered how ridiculous I’d acted.
“So you thought I wasn’t going to stay with you tonight,” Rush murmured. “So while you were spending the entire ride home upset about me leaving, I was trying to figure out how to convince you to let me spend the night with you again.”
“What?” I asked in surprise. “You… you want to stay tonight?”
“For starters,” Rush said. Then in one graceful move, he rolled our bodies so I was beneath him on the cool grass. Rush turned his head so he could wipe the majority of the already drying blood on his sleeve. “Did I get enough off?” he asked.
I didn’t need to wonder why he wanted to know that. I already knew. I answered him by pulling him down and brushing my lips over his. I was mindful of his injury and kept the kiss soft. He returned the kiss with the same level of sweetness. It wasn’t until someone discreetly coughed nearby that we both remembered where we were.