One day at a time. She could do one day at a time. Especially if they were anything like today. He’d breached boundary after boundary she’d created to keep her heart safe, all the while coaxing her into experiences she never would have dreamed of. Yes, they’d been silly and cute, but priceless to her.
And he seemed to know it.
Could she date him? It wasn’t the exclusiveness she was worried about…not really. He was leaving, flying off back to his base in a week. The thought of standing at the airport and being left behind made her sick to her stomach. But she could see how the week went, couldn’t she? Seven days was plenty of time to see if things would continue like they had today, or if they would go back to fighting. “One day at a time.” She swallowed hard. “That’s doable.”
The grin on Ryan’s face warmed her right through, pushing away her worries. He rolled onto his back, pulling her with him until she straddled his hips. “This mean you’re going to be my girlfriend?”
Girlfriend.The label shouldn’t make her both happy and terrified at the same time, but it did. Bri attempted a smile. “Don’t you think that’s moving a bit fast?”
“Not really.” He shrugged, the move making his skin slide against hers. “I don’t have a problem going after what I want. And what I want is you.”
But for how long?No.She would not let her issues and fears take over and ruin this. Just because she had a history and some intense abandonment issues didn’t mean Ryan was like the rest. He wasn’t. She bit her lip, playing her fingers over the muscles of his chest. “I want you, too.”
“Then what’s holding you back?”
So many things, none of them completely relevant. She took a deep breath and smiled. “Nothing that matters. I’d like to be your girlfriend, Ryan Flannery.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.” If anything, his grin got wider. “You are so goddamn beautiful.”
“Stop.” She pushed his shoulder. “You don’t have to say things like that. Not when you already have me where you want me.”
Whereshewanted to be.
His hand hovered less than an inch from her body. Keeping that distance between them, he traced over her shoulder and breasts, down her stomach, and back up again before taking her hand and pressing a kiss to her knuckles. “Don’t you know by now?”
“Know what?”
“I don’t do anything unless I want to. And I sure as fuck wouldn’t spout pretty words to get you into bed. I mean them. You, Bri Nave, are beautiful in ways that have nothing to do with the physical.” His gaze traveled the same path his hand just had. “Though you’re gorgeous physically, too.” He leaned up and kissed her, and she reveled in the feeling of his body touching hers. When his hands came to rest on the back of her thighs, she rocked against him, a whimper already building in her throat.
“Ryan—”
“I know.” His laugh was a little harsh. “I’ll stop talking now before I freak you out.”
That wasn’t it. It wasn’t that at all. She cupped his face, her touch making him meet her eyes. “I think you’re beautiful, too. I’ve never had someone do anything like you did today.” She traced his lips with her thumb, the memory of them on her skin making her shiver. “I was wrong about you when we first met, and I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, well, I was kind of an ass.” He feathered his fingers across her nipples. “How about I spend tonight making it up to you?”
She kissed him. “You’re off to a brilliant start.”
He reached between them to cup her. “Christ, woman.” First one finger, and then two pressed into her, a slow exploration so at odds with what happened between them on the rug that it made her breath catch in her throat. “Like that?”
“You know I do.” He had yet to touch her in a way that didn’t make her eyes threaten to roll back in her head. She leaned back, giving him better access. “I like everything you do to me.”
Beforethatthought could take hold and truly freak her out, Ryan jerked his chin. “I think I saw a few condoms hidden in the nightstand.”
She gave a breathless laugh as she reached into the drawer and came up with two. “A nightstand. How mundane.”
“I don’t know. Maybe they were onto something.” He ripped open the packet and rolled on the condom. “Now get back here.”
…
Ryan was going to take this slow if it fucking killed him. Every time he got his hands on Bri, he lost his damn mind, but this time was different. She’d agreed to be his girlfriend. If that wasn’t a step in the right direction, he didn’t know what was. He adjusted his angle and pulled her down, sheathing himself inch by agonizing inch. “I love how you throw back your shoulders when I piss you off.”
“Ryan—”
He could tell the compliments made her uncomfortable, but he didn’t know how else to make her understand that, even knowing her such a short time, she meant more to him than just a beautiful woman he wanted to be naked with. She had a core of strength—and stubbornness—he saw in his fellow PJs. But beyond that strength was a heart that had been beaten and bruised, but still managed to reach out to the children who were lost like she’d been.
“I love that you work so hard for the kids’ programs in your library.” He pressed an openmouthed kiss to her chest, directly above said rapidly beating heart. “You’re strong and smart and compassionate, and any man would be lucky to have you in his life.”