She shivered and he gathered her closer, not caring if his elbow protested or what he was risking by being bare-assed in a public parking lot. Summer was all that mattered.
Then and always.
“You said you didn’t do it twice.”
“Hmm?” He stroked her hair, driven to keep touching her by some impulse he didn’t quite understand.
Actually, he understood it fine. But acknowledging it would mean he had to do something he wasn’t sure he was ready to. Especially now.
“You never sleep with the same woman twice,” she murmured, her lips moving against his throat.
“Well, that was a bit of an exaggeration.” He winced. “Not much of one, but yeah.”
She pushed her seductively messy hair out of her face as she looked back at the club. “I can’t believe we did this here.”
Grinning, he tucked one of her curls behind her ear. A long pearl dangled from the lobe. He wanted to suck on both it and her dainty flesh before working the clasp free with his tongue. “It’s getting to be a habit now.”
“A habit, huh?” She didn’t smile. Lightly, she jabbed her elbow in his gut, forcing him back. Considering that involved removing himself from a place he really wanted to stay—specifically between her creamy thighs—he wasn’t too thrilled about it.
“Not all habits are bad.”
Tugging at her skirt, she slid down the hood and braced her feet on the ground. “So, what, am I your latest addiction? Did you swap booze for me? I’m truly honored.”
She didn’t sound honored. She sounded pissed. “You know I don’t drink anymore.”
“What about women?” She ran her hand over her car, ostensibly checking for ass dings. Good luck finding them in that light. “Do you still nail them?”
He couldn’t stop his smirk as he tucked himself away and pulled up his zipper. “Well…”
“Not funny.”
“Yeah, I’m getting that.” He pulled his T-shirt over his jeans. “You PMSing or something?”
From her noise of disgust as she circled her vehicle to get in the driver’s side, he guessed she didn’t consider that a reasonable question.
“Wait. I have a sister. I know I’m not supposed to mention periods and crap. I just wanted to let you know I’m…sensitive to women’s issues.”
She unlocked her door and pulled it open. “I realize you lost about fifty percent of your brain cells after that orgasm, but seriously? You’re batting dangerously low.”
“I don’t bat, I pitch.”
“Not anymore you don’t.”
It was a joke, he knew it was. He even started to laugh it off, but somewhere between his chest and his mouth, it got stuck.
“God, Chase, I’m sorry.” She slammed the door shut again and covered her mouth. “That was inexcusable.”
“No, it wasn’t.” He gave her a thin smile. “It’s the truth.”
She shook her head. “No. It’s not. You’re going to get better, if you stop messing around and man up enough to have the sur
gery—”
“I am having it.”
“When?”
He swallowed and flexed his left hand before pushing it into his back pocket. “Three weeks.”