He'd spent the day wanting to taste her again. Now that they were alone in his condo, he could do precisely that. Before she could remove her jacket, he pulled her against him and captured her lips with his. He started the kiss gently, more a brushing of his mouth against hers. Gradually he changed the intensity until she parted her lips, and his tongue met hers. With each pass, his internal temperature jumped another five degrees. Before he stripped them both naked right there, he pulled away and rested his forehead against hers as he tried to get his breathing back to normal.
“Stay here with me tonight.”
Tory slipped from his embrace and removed her jacket. “We'll see. I haven't spent much time at home this week.”
He could understand if she preferred to sleep in her bed. “We can go back to your place. It doesn't matter to me. I just want to be with you tonight.”
“Maybe.”
He let the issue go for now. Tory was hanging her jacket up, so she wasn't going anywhere now.
“Are you up for some television or a movie?” They'd started a movie trilogy that his cousin starred in last night but hadn't made it past the first movie.
In response, Tory shrugged, but since she walked toward his entertainment room, he took that as a yes.
“I didn't know Curt lived in Pelham.” It had surprised him when Tory's cousin shared he and his family lived in the town next to the one he'd grown up in and where his parents still lived. “When I played Little League, we used to play against Pelham all the time.”
“Yeah, I don't remember when he moved. But he's got a thing for remodeling old homes. The one he bought in Pelham is his most recent project, but I don't know if he's finished. I've never seen it.”
“He invited us to visit the next time we're in the area. Maybe I should introduce him to my dad. They could share remodeling horror stories.” He switched the television on as he put an arm across her shoulders. “Should we pick up with the next movie or try something else?” After all this time, you'd think he'd be used to seeing his cousin on the screen, but he still found it surreal.
“Whatever. Doesn't matter to me.”
Last night she'd been adamant about what she would and wouldn't watch. Something was up. “What's wrong?”
Tory shrugged.
When you asked a question and got a shrug as the response, it was never a good sign. “Too much family time today?”
“No, I always enjoy getting together with my family. You got along well with everyone today. Every time I looked, it seemed you were with Brett and Curt.”
Was she upset because he hadn't stuck to her like glue? That didn't seem like her.
“What did you guys talk about all day?”
“Nothing specific. Curt and I talked about the area where he lives, and then Brett mentioned he lives in North Salem. That is where my cousin CJ and his wife live. So we talked about the town a little. The Red Sox came up, and we talked about our families.”
“Baseball season is over.”
“We talked about game seven of the World Series last month. Harrison is almost as big a Red Sox fan as me. He has season tickets too.”
People would talk about that game for a long time. Boston had gone into the ninth down by five runs but somehow pulled off a win.
“You didn't talk about politics even once?”
“Yeah, it came up. When Brett asked about family, I mentioned Harper. He said he has an opening for a field representative, and he told me to have her apply. He's also willing to talk to her about running next year.”
“Well, isn't that convenient?” Tory crossed her arms, her jaw clenched tight.
He'd never heard her sound so frosty. “I'm not sure what you mean by that.”
“Your sister wants to enter politics, and you get to have lunch with a current United States Senator and a retired one.”
“I'd say it's a coincidence. Brett asked me about my family, I said I grew up in New Hampshire, Curt said he lived there now, and the conversation went from there.”
Rather than explain why she was upset, Tory studied him silently as he replayed the day in his mind. For the life of him, he didn't know what he'd done wrong. And if he wanted to know, he'd have to ask, because it didn't seem like she was about to tell him.
“Tory—”