“Our discussion is over.”
“I thought you believed in open communication?”
She said nothing, but gazed out the window, wishing he’d go away.
He came up behind her, and she heard a curious gruffness in his voice. “I hurt your feelings, didn’t I?”
She slowly nodded.
“I didn’t mean to. I just— I don’t want you to get hurt, that’s all. You don’t have a lot of experience with jocks. They can be—I don’t know—hard on women, I guess.”
“I know.” She turned back to him in time to watch a crooked rivulet of water slide toward a flat brown nipple. “I think I’ve had enough high drama for today. You’d better go.”
He came closer instead, and when he spoke, his voice held a surprising note of tenderness. “We didn’t even get to the bare-butt spanking.”
“Maybe some other time.”
“How ’bout we just do the bare-butt part?”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to bare anything to each other for a while.”
“Now why do you say that?”
“Because it makes everything too complicated.”
“Last night wasn’t complicated. At least not ’til you got all snooty.”
“Me!” Her head shot up. “I’ve never been snooty in my life!”
“Oh, yeah?” Her renewed feistiness must have been what he was waiting for because the glimmer of battle once again flared in his eyes. “Well, I happen to have been at that drive-in with you, and, believe me, you were snooty.”
“When?”
“You know very well.”
“I don’t.”
“That quite pleasant crap.”
“I don’t know what— Oh, that.” She regarded him more closely. “Did what I said bother you?”
“Hell, no, it didn’t bother me. You think I don’t know how good I am? And if you don’t realize it, well, I guess that’s your problem and not mine.”
He looked sulky, and she realized she had hurt his feelings last night. The knowledge touched her. Despite his seemingly boundless self-confidence, he had insecurities like everyone else. “It was more than pleasant,” she admitted.
“Damn right.”
“I’d say it was— It was—” She regarded him out of the corner of her eye. “What word am I looking for?”
“Why don’t you start out with pretty damn terrific?”
Her spirits made a quantum leap upward. “Terrific? Yes, that’s a good start. It was definitely terrific. It was also…” She waited.
“Exciting, and sexy as hell.”
“That, too, but…”
“Frustrating.”