“Are we dating?” I wondered quietly, both watching Bennet’s back intently.
“Come again?”
“Well, I was just thinking, are we dating? Seeing each other? Exclusive, non-exclusive,” I had hardly finished speaking before Diesel tugged me down the mouth of a tiny alley just off the sidewalk.
He backed me against the wall just like last night, and my brain short-circuited.
“Ask me that again,” he said, his voice heavy with warning.
“Are we dating exclusively, or hooking up?” I asked plainly. I was pretty sure I knew the answer, but I liked to play with this man. The possessive look in his eyes made me shiver, like I was standing too close to a furnace.
“You’re asking the man who came inside you twice this morning if he’s going to let you see other men? The same man who can’t stay away from you, even if you’re on a date… you’re asking that man if I want to see other people at the same time as you. Did we just meet?”
His dry tone pulled a grin to my lips as he leaned in and brushed his mouth up my cheek and toward my mouth.
“No?”
“Hell no. Never. Don’t ask again. Those days are over, got it? If you wanted someone else, you should have married that fucker already, because now it’s too late. You’re stuck with me,” he growled against my ear, before sucking my lobe between his teeth and biting down playfully.
“So, you’d have let me marry someone else?” I wondered.
“Actually, scratch that. I was never going to let you fall too far for anyone else. I might have been able to fool myself for a long time that I could let you go, but it was never true. You’ve been mine all along, and I was never going to let there be anyone else have you.”
“Well, that took you long enough to realize,” I whispered to him, my heart hurting for all the time we’d lost.
“I’m sorry. I’m an idiot, but then you already knew that.”
“True.”
“I can’t fix the past, but I can promise you something right now.” He took a deep breath and leaned his forehead against mine, even though he had to bend to manage it. “From this moment on, no matter what happens, if the world burns, the seas all drain, and the sky falls down, I’ll be by your side. You’ll never be rid of me.”
The stunning, simple statement was romantic in a way that only Diesel could be.
“Emily?” Bennet’s voice cut through the spell between us, and I turned away from Diesel, just before my brother appeared. He looked between us curiously. I knew my face was flushed. I felt as rumbled as if we’d just been caught with our pants down. I felt like all the things we’d just been saying had to be hanging there in the air, ripe to be plucked down and examined by Bennet.
“What’s going on?” my brother asked.
Diesel opened his mouth and hesitated. I knew this wasn’t how he wanted to talk to Bennet, but he was going for it, for me. He didn’t want to deny our relationship, even if this wasn’t in his plans.
“Nothing. Diesel was just showing me a move where you knee someone in the balls if they try to drag you out of public sight,” I improvised. Both men blinked at me. Bennet narrowed his eyes, considering my words, and the flushed, guilty look on my face.
Then, with the most willful blindness, he nodded. “Sure, a knee in the balls is a classic for a reason. I’d wear a cup though, if you’re practicing,” Bennet directed to Diesel. “I won’t trust her to go easy on your balls.”
“Right,” Diesel said, and I had to turn away to hide my grin. “I’ll be more careful.”
Bennet slapped his shoulder and turned back to Laura, who was standing a few steps away, taking in the entire scene with a knowing look.
“You should, bud, if you want to have kids one day.”
Kill me now.
CHAPTER14
Diesel
Iwaited for Emily in the gym, pacing, as I thought about our options. When that didn’t help, I moved to the equipment to do pull-ups. I needed the burn in my muscles to drown out the voices in my head. Right now, there were all sorts going on in there.
Last night had been, hands down, without question, the best night of my life, and today was shaping up to top it, just because we’d woken up together. If I closed my eyes, I could still taste her. I was addicted. I needed to get my hands on her again soon. She was a drug I’d denied myself too long, and now all resistance was gone.