“I want you inside me.” Her voice shook, but something made me sit up. Made me grab her hands and tug them away. I’d like to say that something was my conscience. And maybe it was. But the honest-to-God truth was, this right here, this connection scared the crap out of me. This was Echo and Boyd. Nothing good had ever come from that combination.
I needed a minute.
“Echo, we gotta dial this back.”
“What?” Her head shot up, and she yanked her hands from mine. Hurt, or something close to it, touched her features, but was gone as quick as it’d come.
I ran my hands through my hair and struggled to get my shit together. I wanted to fuck her. I wanted to throw her down and sink into all that softness. I wanted to watch her eyes change color when I made her come. Wanted to feel her heart beating as fast as mine. I wanted to eat every single groan that fell from her mouth.
“I don’t think this is a good idea.”
“I think your dick says different,” she shot back, sinking onto her haunches, still naked and not giving one goddamn about it.
“Yeah, well, I’m trying to be the adult here and not think with my dick for once.”
She swore and then shook her head. “Now you want to be the adult?” She was pissed.
“Well, someone has to. We’re both acting like a couple of horny teenagers who can’t control themselves.”
She pushed away then and scooped up her T-shirt. “Since when do you have a conscience?” Her voice was hard. “It’s just sex.”
She was dead wrong there. “It’s never just sex where we’re concerned.”
Echo snorted, but I saw the look that crept onto her face. She knew I was right.
“Look, I don’t know what’s going on between us. Hell, up until a few days ago, you weren’t anywhere near my radar.”
“Because of Willow Oakes? She your girlfriend? Or are you going to conveniently forget to mention that, just like the last time?”
Christ, I’d screwed things up. “Willow isn’t my girlfriend. I told you last night she wasn’t a groupie. She’s into my music, and we hang out. She’s a pal.” I shrugged. “That’s it.”
She cocked her head. “You expect me to believe that you and Willow haven’t had sex?”
“You asked me if she was my girlfriend, not if we’d had sex.”
“You’re an asshole.”
“We haven’t, by the way.” On some insane level, I was enjoying this.
“Haven’t what?” The T-shirt was now in place, and I could breathe a bit easier. Though knowing she was completely naked unde
rneath it did nothing to alleviate the problem between my legs.
“Had sex.”
Her mouth dropped open, and, score one for Boyd, but she was speechless. I knew it wouldn’t last long, and I needed to make her understand some shit. Which was going to be hard because I didn’t really understand what the hell was going on inside my brain. Any other guy would have taken what she’d offered. We could spend the entire night having all kinds of hot, throw-ourselves-against-the-wall kind of sex.
There was a time I’d have been all over that. Hell, three days ago, I’d have been all over that. Bang her and then forget. Move on to something easier.
But somewhere between the night she’d shown up and now, something had changed. I didn’t see Echo as one of the biggest mistakes of my past. I didn’t see her as the bitch who’d ruined my mother’s life or the Instagram queen either.
I was looking at a complicated, frustrating, insanely sexy woman who was looking at me with an intensity that told me her mind was working hard. I was trying to figure out if I could handle her. If I could handle us. Maybe she was doing the same.
“Look, Echo.” I got up and took a step forward. “I don’t know what this is. But it’s something. And I don’t know about you, but it’s been a long time since any kind of something has made me feel more than a slight curiosity. More than a twinge of interest. Whatever is filling up this space between us is on an entirely different level.”
I blew out a long breath. “We have a past, and it ain’t pretty. We’ve both done things. Hurtful things. Wrong things. I never thought we’d be here. But I don’t know where here is.” I paused, watching her closely. “Do you?”
A heartbeat passed. Maybe two.