“One of each.” Her face clouded, grew somber and he wondered at that. “I’m the youngest. My parents divorced when I was five. I lived with my mother while they went and lived with my dad.”
Interesting. “And you grew up, where?”
“Northern California. Extreme northern, like close to the Oregon border. Small town where it snowed all winter and the most exciting thing to do was hang out at the local Sno-White burger joint.” She wrinkled her nose in a cute gesture he immediately wanted to see again. “I hated it. Got out as fast as I could.”
“When?”
“I moved to L.A. a month after I graduated high school.”
“So you’ve been on your own for a long time.”
“Ten years. It was my high school reunion a couple of months ago. I didn’t go. I hardly ever go up there anymore. I didn’t want to face them. None of those people liked me anyway.”
“Why not? You have plenty to be proud of.”
“I feel like a sham,” she whispered, her voice hollow. Her gaze flicked away from his, focused instead on the wall. “Like everything I’ve ever done, everything I’ve ever accomplished, it isn’t real.”
“You’ve done a lot, Scarlett. Why do you feel like that?” He asked the question carefully, afraid he might be embarking on dangerous territory.
“Because I feel like I’m not real. I haven’t figure out who I am yet or what I want. I play pretend all the time, kind of like what I do in my job. Dress up, makeup, costumes, wigs. I can be whoever I want whenever I want, but I never want to be me.” Her voice choked on the last word. She turned away from him, and her slim shoulders trembled.
Trevor took a step toward her, the slight tremor in her voice twisting his insides. Carefully he set his hands upon her, his fingers kneading into her shoulders, wanting to offer comfort yet not knowing what to say. “Show me the real you, Scarlett. Let me in.”
“You don’t care about the real me. You just want to have wild and crazy sex until you grow tired of me, and move on to the next person. Besides, I don’t let anyone in.” She hung her head, her long hair covering her face and he reached for her to smooth the hair away from her neck, trailed his fingers along her soft nape. “I chase and chase, but I never catch. I never let myself be caught either.”
“I’ve caught you. A couple of times. And I definitely care about the real you.” He took another step closer, pressed his body against hers. Her sharp intake of breath indicated she felt the hard length of his cock, and he let his lips rest at the base of her neck.
“You think you’ve caught me.” She shivered at the touch of his lips, and he smiled against her skin, slid his mouth up.
“Oh I’ll catch you, Scarlett. Just you watch.” He kissed the side of her neck, marveled at the softness of her skin, the scent of her, sweetly intoxicating.
“Arrogant as usual,” she said, but she didn’t sound like her usual irritated self. No, she sounded aroused. Just the way he wanted her.
“Hmm, I like to think of it as confident.” He whirled her around in his arms, pushing the hair away from her face before he drew her in closer. She gazed up at him, wide dark eyes searching his features, her tongue sneaking out to wet her lips.
He groaned, leaned his forehead against hers. “You make me crazy.”
“You make me crazy, too.”
“Yeah but I don’t think in the same way as you’re talking about.”
She laughed, and he loved the sound. “Why are you being so nice to me?”
“I have no idea.” And he really didn’t. The woman drove him half mad with lust and sometimes made him so angry he nearly ground his teeth into powder. Her contradictions kept him on constant edge.
And yet he stuck around, wanted more. Something whispered deep inside of him that this
woman was worth it.
More than worth it.
“I don’t deserve it. Your kindness.” She skimmed her fingers down his chest, her touch burning him through the cotton of his shirt. They landed on the waistband of his jeans, her index finger curling through one of his belt loops and tugging him closer.
“Sure you do.” He could barely speak—he was so aroused. She was touching him freely, with no encouragement and he didn’t want to ruin it. He didn’t want her to stop.
“We’re just using each other.” She toyed with the belt loop, her finger sliding up and down before going completely up to slip beneath his jeans and touch bare skin. He sucked in a harsh breath at her simple touch.
“I’m not using you. I swear.” He held his breath as her other hand went to the snap of his jeans and undid it, sure fingers sliding open the zipper. She touched his lower stomach, exposed just above his underwear, her fingers tracing the line of hair that grew from his navel on down.