Right now I need to remember what I’m supposed to be.
I wrap my fingers around Paisley’s wrist and ease her hand from my mouth, turning my head to slide my lips over the inside of her wrist. Even after a day of passing out fried food I can still smell the soft scent of her and it makes me wonder if she tastes just as sweet.
I flick my tongue over the warmth of her skin, eliciting a gasp that shoots straight to my dick, making it stiffen immediately.
I nip at her soft flesh before lifting my eyes to meet hers.
Her gaze is locked onto where my mouth still rests on her body and her lips are barely parted.
“My apologies.” I nip her again, pulling another sharp breath free. “Come home with me and let me make it up to you.”
“I can’t.” The regret in her voice should make me happy.
It doesn’t.
Because the list of things I want from this woman continues to grow, and so far she’s refused most of them. “You can.” I drag my lips higher, running them along the inside of her arm as I pull her closer to me.
Which is where I need her. Closer to me.
And maybe I haven’t done the best job of making it clear that the perks of being close to me will involve more than the money I’ve offered.
“I have to go home.” Her words are a little strangled when my mouth grazes the inside of her elbow.
I gently suck at the skin there. “I disagree.” I’m so caught up in the singular goal I came with that I don’t notice when Paisley starts to shove at me.
“Andre.” She shoves me again. “Andre, stop. People are looking at us.”
I stop, but don’t pull my lips from her skin.
Paisley tugs at the arm I’m holding as her eyes dart around the diner, unease pinching her pretty face.
I can feel the weight of their gazes now and it makes me smile. “Let them.”
Maybe Duchess doesn’t need to move into my home right away. Maybe publicly chasing her will make me look even more lost in my infatuation.
“I can’t.” Paisley wiggles free of my grip and wraps both arms across her chest, tucking them tight to her body. “They’ll think I’m letting you…” Her voice trails off the way it does when she doesn’t want to say the next word.
“They’ll think I’m trying to convince you to let me,” I pause, waiting until her eyes meet mine, “fuck you.”
And I’m not sure they’re wrong.
Paisley’s virginity doesn’t interest me in the slightest, but fucking her certainly does.
Unfortunately I can’t have one without taking the other.
“Yes.” It rushes out on a breath as she continues to scan the faces filling the small restaurant, chewing her lower lip.
“They must not know I don’t have to convince you.” I look into the kitchen once more and catch the cook watching us. “When does your shift end?”
I don’t want to risk giving him the opportunity to attempt to snag her away from me. I’d hate to have to kill him, mostly because Paisley seems like the type that might hold it against me.
Paisley runs her hand over the arm I itch to take back. “It ended right before you got here.”
I grit my teeth. “Why didn’t you tell me?” I pull out my wallet and throw a hundred onto the counter.
“Probably the same reason you won’t tell me why you’re here.” She thinks she has me.
I stand up and retrieve my coat, pulling the main reason for my visit from the pocket. “I came here to bring you a phone I know I will be able to reach you on.” I set it on the chipped Formica in front of her before going behind the counter to the line of coats hooked along a nearly obscured spot just behind the beverage station. I grab the coat I know belongs to Paisley and the purse hooked just under it. When I return she’s staring down at the phone.