His eyes stared into mine and he placed a hand on my cheek, “I would love to stay, angel. But that’s not why I planned this date. I just wanted the evening to be perfect for you.”
Angel.
I loved that. Every word he spoke calmed me, made me feel cared for and safe. I wasn’t used to it. I didn’t want it to stop.
“I know,” I told him. “It was so perfect, I don’t want you to go.”
Smiling, he kissed me again. “Then I’ll stay.”
****
There’s something wonderful about waking up in the arms of a man, and knowing there is nowhere else either of you would rather be. Sex on the first date wasn’t something I’d planned, but the evening had been so perfect, so romantic. I didn’t want to let Miguel go. Ever.
Freya barely concealed her amusement when she saw us emerge from my room, but she restrained herself from making a comment. It was only when she got me alone in the kitchen that she quietly squealed her delight, and we jumped up and down, gigantic grins on our faces. Her happiness for me made everything feel even better, and I was practically skipping with joy when we left for work.
Miguel and I held hands as we entered the training ground. We may as well have been holding a neon sign saying, ‘We had sex,’ because everyone stared at us in a way that told us they knew. Nobody said a word though.
Well, almost nobody.
Radleigh cornered me on my way out of the hydrotherapy pool, of all places. Too bad I’d left my towel in the dressing room so I couldn’t cover up. He was sweaty and still dressed in his training gear, but the sight of him still knocked the breath out of me for a second. His eyes unashamedly travelled the length of my body.
“Will you please stop looking at me like that?” I snapped. The water dripping from my hair was not cold enough to cool my burning cheeks.
“Like what?”
Like you’re going to throw me on the floor and ravage me!
“You know what I mean.”
There was nothing I could do to stop him, short of running away. That would have been a tempting option if I hadn’t been so determined to prove he didn’t have an effect on me.
“I saw you with Vega this morning,” he said.
“You and everyone else.”
“Did he stay with you last night?”
“Why? Are you jealous?”
I shouldn't have gone down that road, but he sounded slightly put-out and I couldn't resist playing on it.
“Yes,” he answered, “I am. A couple more days in Phoenix and it would have been me.”
“Dream on, muscle man.”
The first hint of a grin played on his lips. “Don't even try telling me you didn’t feel anything when you kissed me. If we were still at the hotel, you would have spent the night with me, not him.”
Every time I thought his arrogance couldn’t get any worse, he stepped up to prove me wrong.
“Are you really trying to take credit for my night with Miguel?”
“I am taking credit for it. You wanted me in Phoenix, but you got scared so you came home and screwed him instead.”
There wasn’t a grain of truth in his words. Well. I did want him for that brief moment when he sucked my brain out through my lips, but I sure as hell knew better than to give in to it, and it had nothing to do with me and Miguel.
“Nothing to say?” he asked, smirking.
“Only that I can’t believe your nerve. Stay away from me, McCoy. I mean it.”