Chapter Four
Dane
I askfor the check as soon as she says ‘yes.’ I can’t wait to get her alone and have her all to myself.
I meant what I told her. I won’t make her do anything she doesn’t want to do, but I’m a man for god’s sake, and that doesn’t mean I won’t push to see how much she’ll allow.
I’m dying to touch her, to taste her.
“Come on, sunshine. Let’s go,” I tell her as I hold her chair back for her.
She blinks at the endearment, but I won’t take it back. It feels too right rolling off my lips. That’s what she is with her waist-length, golden blonde hair. Sunshine. My personal ray of sunshine.
She hesitates as we get back to the limo, perhaps rethinking her decision.
I place my hand on the small of her back and rub in small circles like she’s a frightened animal I’m trying to soothe. My chest aches at the thought that she could change her mind and bolt now. I don’t know what I’ll do if she does that. I’ve never resorted to kidnapping a woman before. I’ve never needed to, but I’ve never wanted one like this before either.
I feel like I’ll die if she doesn’t come home with me.
Why is it always like that when I’m around her? Like it’s a life or death thing? Like my whole life, my sanity hangs in the balance based on her?
I exhale a breath of relief when she slides into the seat, and I slide in next to her, sitting beside her this time instead of on the opposite bench, a move that I know doesn’t go unnoticed by her if her wide eyes are any indication.
She’s skittish, pulling at the hem of the little red dress, trying to cover as much of her skin as possible.
My eyes dip down to the tanned skin of her bare shoulders, and I can’t stop myself. I push her long, wavy hair behind her back and lean down to plant a wet kiss on his shoulder, getting just a taste of the sweetness of her skin.
She gasps and turns her head to look at me.
“What are you doing?” she whispers, her eyes round and innocent. Her lips are so close to mine I can feel her little breaths fanning against my lips. Christ, I want to taste her lips, but I make myself pull back, afraid that once I do, I won’t be able to stop.
I don’t answer her. Instead, I run my hands through her hair, feeling it glide through my fingers like soft silk. God, I really have a thing for her hair. I could watch it glint and shimmer in the sunlight all day, though now it’s glinting in the faint light of the limo.
It’s still beautiful. She’s so beautiful. Almost ethereal. Like my own living, breathing mermaid.
I force myself to pull back from her, realizing that I’m acting like some psycho obsessed with her and probably scaring her half to death.
“Relax, Summer,” I tell her. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
I can’t stop my arm from draping around her and pulling her close up against my side, though.
I don’t know if she’s too stunned to stay anything or if maybe she’s not as averse to my attentions as she wants me to think she is, but she doesn’t protest or try to push me away, and I feel a swell of victory at that simple fact.
If her stiffness and fidgeting are any indication, I’m making her nervous as hell, though.
Shit, I might need to tone it down a notch. I certainly don’t want to scare her off and have her back out of the deal.
I take a deep breath and try to calm myself, though all that does is fill my nostrils with her scent.
Fuck me. How am I going to have her all to myself and keep my hands off her if she doesn’t want me to touch her?
* * *
Summer
I feel like a deer trapped in the headlights. I can’t move. I can’t breathe. Hell, I can’t think. Dane’s arm is wrapped possessively around me, and he’s holding me against him so that I feel his hip against mine, his thigh against mine. He’s got my side pressed up against the hard side of his chest. His hand is a strangely erotic weight on my shoulder.
He hasn’t even kissed me on the lips, and I already feel like I’m about to combust.