Unfortunately for him, she stood a bit too far away. Almost across the office. He could still catch the faint hint of her darkly alluring scent, though, and it drove him wild. Made him restless that there were several feet separating them when he wanted her body brushing against his. Wanted his arms around her. Wanted to kiss her until she forgot all about the crap that had unfolded in his apartment after they’d made love.
He groaned inwardly. They hadn’t made love. He’d fucked her.
Right?
Or … not?
Maybe that was what the tightening in his chest was all about. It hadn’t just been a causal lay. It’d been so much more. Christian had felt the same way when he’d been with her. Bayli meant something to them both, far beyond their professional goal. Rory knew it to the depths of his soul.
But Rory couldn’t put any of that into words without freaking the hell out of her again. He was certain of it. So he tried to rein in his emotions and his desires. No easy task.
She folded her arms at her stomach and said, “I’m having this really bizarre dilemma of knowing exactly what I want, but not knowing exactly what to do about it.”
They stared at each other as a few tense seconds stretched between them. Then she said, “I know about you and Christian. I know you both want me. Wanted me…”
“We still want you. We both still want you, Bayli.”
She pulled in a sharp breath.
Rory raked a hand through his hair. “Does that scare you?”
Her mouth opened, but no words materialized. Her arms dropped. She turned away. Propped her hands on her hips. Stared up at the ceiling.
She said, “I’m not afraid of you, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
He couldn’t take the distance a moment longer. He closed the gap in two wide strides and placed his hands at the dip of her waist, above hers. His head lowered and he murmured against her bare neck, “If you’re not afraid of me, honey, then what are you afraid of? The way I make you feel?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
His fingers curled into her, gripping her firmly. He felt the shudder run through her. “You want me doing things to you no one else has ever done, right?”
She nodded.
“And you want Christian to be with us when I do. You want him touching you when I’m inside you.”
“Yes.”
Rory’s cock now pulsed in wicked beats. His heart hammered. Adrenaline roared through his veins.
“That’s what Christian and I want, too.”
She let out a small, strangled sound. “I don’t know how—”
He released her. Turned her to face him. Stared deep into her eyes. “Stop saying you don’t know how. We’ll show you how. You don’t have to know everything, Bayli, understand everything. I get that’s a part of who you are, but not when it comes to something like this. You’re not going to find the answer in your books. You have to trust us to lead the way. And—hell. It’s not even us leading, really. It’s you giving in to us and letting us make you feel good. It’s you commanding us in that sense. Do you see what I’m saying?”
He lifted a hand to her face, desperately needing to touch her, to whisk his thumb over her furrowed brow, brush his fingertips across her cheek. He also craved kissing her. But he didn’t want to smudge all of her expertly applied makeup. He couldn’t even palm the side of her neck, because he could see she’d blended powder along her throat to cover the marks he’d left behind.
His hand returned to her waist and he pulled her tightly to him, felt the quick rise and fall of her chest against his. Her hands clutched his biceps as she gazed up at him.
He said, “Christian and I have had other women, yes. But none that affected us this way. I’ve been going crazy this week, dying to see you. But knowing I had to wait for you to come to me. I’m sorry if I hurt you in any way. I never would. I—”
“You didn’t, Rory. I’ve been struggling with this whole time continuum thing, thinking I should be so much further along in life than I am.”
“It’s not a contest, babe.”
“Says the man who opens a new restaurant every two years.” She didn’t say this flippantly; it was more insistent. “Look at all that you’ve achieved. And you’re only thirty-two.”
“You’re only twenty-seven. Where’s the fire?”