“Get lost,” Diesel snapped at him, looming over us both.
“Excuse me,” I started, outraged at his blatant disrespect.
“Get lost. She’s not going home with you,” Diesel said to the nice guy who was holding his hands up, like he didn’t want to get involved in whatever this was.
“Who says? Maybe I will.” I stood and nearly got tangled in the sun lounger. Diesel caught me as I lunged toward him.
“No, you won’t.”
“Because?”
“Because I’m taking you home,” he snapped and grabbed my bag. “Let’s go.”
“I don’t want to leave yet,” I lied as he tugged me across the grass. My damn sandals weren’t made for this level of speed walking.
“Too bad.” His relentless dragging was really getting on my nerves.
We got to his truck parked at the curb. He’d upgraded since his high school days with all the money he’d made playing ball over the years for the university. He pushed me into the passenger side like I was a suitcase that needed stowed on a long-haul flight, and rounded the car, slamming the door after him with excessive force.
“What the fuck is your problem?” I griped as soon as the truck stopped shaking. His hands tightened on the wheel, his knuckles turning white.
“You really don’t know?”
“Yeah, I really don’t know. We aren’t teenagers anymore; you don’t have to always be a jerk to me.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. I do have to be a jerk to you,” he snapped at me, twisting in his seat toward me.
My mouth dropped open, confused. “Why?”
“Because you need to stay away from me, Emily. You need to be pissed off at me.”
“Again, why?”
“You must know,” he muttered, looking wretched.
He rubbed a hand across his face, a movement I knew well. It usually showed he felt at a loss for words. I knew all of Diesel’s gestures. I’d learned them at the altar of fascination over the years. He annoyed me more than anyone on the planet, and fascinated me just the same. He was like a drug I could never give up, even though I knew that coming down from it would seriously hurt. But he had never looked at me that way.
Not until right now. My heart pounded, and I felt nearly dizzy as I watched him struggle. I reached out a hand to touch the back of his, wanting to pull him from whatever thoughts were circling in his head, but I didn’t get the chance.
He moved so fast, I could barely process it, and then his lips were on mine. He kissed me like he’d been waiting to do it his entire life, and maybe he had. I certainly had. Now, crushed against his urgent mouth and the door, I could admit it. Diesel drove me crazy, turned me inside out in all the worst ways, and the best. All my best memories were with him, his smile the highlight to so many things. I knew there was tension between us, but I had given up thinking he’d act on it. Instead, I had reconciled myself to relegating Diesel to the man I’d compared all others to, and have them coming up short. He wasn’t perfect, not by a long shot. He was cocky and arrogant as hell, far too aware of how he affected women, and could be insufferably controlling. And yet, I loved him, and I always had.
His hand slid into my hair and gripped a tight handful, tilting my head back, and plunging his tongue between my lips to rub along mine. I shivered in his arms, clutched at him, melted, and embraced the swoon.
“Fuck,” Diesel said, breaking off the kiss and resting his forehead against mine. He was breathing hard, and I was too. It was like we’d run a marathon that only we knew was happening. “That was even better than I’d dreamed it would be.”
“You dreamed about kissing me?” I murmured against his lips.
Diesel let out a raw chuckle. “I’ve dreamed of doing a fuck load more than that to you.” He leaned back, capturing my eyes with his. “Have you ever thought about me this way?”
I shrugged, thrilled for once to be the one holding the power. “Maybe. Why don’t you take me home and I can show you?”
“Fuck me, this is hell,” Diesel groaned against my lips.
“What is? Being propositioned by me?”
He was quiet, simply staring at me for a moment, and the swelling hope and lust in my heart suddenly punctured, deflating like a sad balloon.
“I didn’t come tonight to… do this. I came to tell you I’m leaving with Bennet. I can’t let him go alone. I’m enlisting too. I’m leaving, Emily.”