“Atticus, is everything alright?”
Blinking, I looked up into chocolate eyes, so rich with depth and emotion, I sucked in a breath that her concern was directed back at me.
“Atticus?”
“Yeah, sorry. Just in my head, I guess.”
“Anything I can do?” Loren reached out, brushing her hand against my arm, and the gesture was both soothing and intimate.
“I,” I started but stopped. “Actually, there is something you can do. You can distract me.” Grabbing her waist, I pulled her close, and this time her breath hitched, and I felt it throughout my body.
“Dis-tract y-ou?” she stuttered. “From what?”
“The things I have to tell you, but for tonight, can we go back to being those strangers in a club? You enjoyed that, didn’t you? Just being free without the strings of the world holding you down?”
Loren assessed me, her hands planted on my chest from my move. My arm wrapped around her waist, and it was my hand now that rested on her lower back. As she searched my eyes for something, I lowered my hand over her backside, watching her for any sign she wanted me to stop. When she stepped closer to me, I took it for an invitation and cupped her ass.
Bending down, I pressed her into me, feeling every inch of her body on mine. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this ass since that night, you know? The way you rubbed it into me. You held nothing back in those moments. It was sexy seeing you so free, so uninhibited. Do you remember watching that other couple?”
“Mmhmm,” she breathed. Her hands ran up my neck, and I felt her fingernails bite into the back of my scalp as she ran her fingers into my hair.
“I remember how you felt, too. And as much as I want to give in to you right now, wouldn’t we be repeating the same mistakes as before?” She stepped back to look at my face, and I saw the decision she’d come to.
“Maybe, or maybe we wouldn’t this time knowing what we do,” I argued.
But Loren was smarter than me and apparently had a stronger will. “No, Atticus. As much as my body wants to say screw it and let you have your way with me, I’m not going to. If we’re getting a do-over, we only get one, and I don’t want to start it off repeating the same steps we took last time, even if the beginning ones were amazing.”
Dropping my head down to her forehead, I breathed in her intoxicating smell of roses, my hands still firmly gripping her hip and ass. “I know you’re making sense, but I don’t want to listen. I want to lose myself in you.”
“As romantic as that sounds, I think if we try hard, we might have something amazing between us. I just found myself; I don’t want you to lose you just to be with me.”
“I didn’t mean it that way. I just don’t want to think or worry for ten seconds of the day.”
“Ten seconds? Wow, and here I thought it would last longer.”
Stunned, I blinked, not expecting her to joke with me. When the realization hit me, I chortled, the sound escaping me in a loud guffaw. “Fair, Bellezza, fair. How do I already feel better just being near you and not even being sexual? I’ve been such a fucking idiot.”
“I won’t argue with you there because you have, but I also need to thank you.”
“Thank me?”
“Yes,” she nodded. “You, even in your dickishness, looked out for me. The bigger thing, though, you showed me a strength I didn’t realize I possessed. Being angry at you helped me rise to the surface, and I like the woman I’m becoming.”
“I like her too, more than I’m prepared to admit.”
“By default, I think you just did.”
Chuckling, I nodded, moving my hand to cup her cheek. “You know, I won’t always be sweet. There’s a dark side to me as well.”
“Why are you always trying to scare me off, Attie? I see you, and I see me staring right back. Sax was right, we have a lot of similar aspects of ourselves, and it might feel like flint rubbing against one another from time to time, but all that means is we’re preparing to spark. I’m kind of excited to see what ignites. Aren’t you?”
“Yeah, Bellezza, I think I am.”
Leaning down, I broke my number one rule with women, and I kissed her. Lips touching softly, I cherished the simple gesture for what it was, an acceptance of who we were, and a willingness to explore it together, dynamite and all.
“I have a feeling, Mrs. Carter,” I purred when I pulled back, letting her know I was using it as a term of endearment. “That you’re going to teach me a great many things, and I’m suddenly very excited to find out what they will be.”
“You know, when you’re not being a dominating asshole, you’re actually quite sweet.”