Keely placed her hands on her hips, annoyed with him and equally annoyed with herself for wanting to believe him. Keely made herself wave at the bed, dismissing their lovemaking with her hand. “It’s just sex, Dare. You’re seeing something that isn’t there.”
Dare flung back the sheet and gracefully rose to his feet, supremely confident in his nakedness. He loomed over her but Keely met his hard stare with one of her own. “You can BS yourself, Keely, but don’t try to BS me. I see your eyes when I touch you, I hear your moans, the way your voice softens when you say my name.”
“That’s what women say in the heat of the moment,” Keely protested. “Don’t take my words seriously.”
“Don’t lie to me,” Dare responded. He cupped her chin in his hands and Keely narrowed her eyes at him. “I can read you, Keely, and you’re not half as tough as you think you are. Something is bubbling between us and it’s more than sex.”
Keely’s stomach rolled over. Oh God, not again. She couldn’t do this again. “It’s only sex, Seymour. You’re getting the physical and the emotional confused.”
“The hell I am,” Dare muttered, dropping his hand. He took a step back and sent her a slow, sarcastic smile, lifting those incredible shoulders in a small shrug. “Cool. Then find someone else who can give you the same buzz.”
Horror at the suggestion must’ve jumped into her eyes because Dare’s expression turned from sarcasm to satisfaction. “Not keen on that idea, huh?”
Keely placed her hands behind her back and pulled an implacable expression onto her face. She would not let him get the better of her in this argument. He won most of the arguments they had, usually by using logic to get his point across. It was very annoying.
“This conversation is ridiculous and it’s time it ended,” Keely told him, walking across the room to pick up his suit pants from the floor. She tossed them onto the bed and plucked his dress shirt off the occasional chair, resisting the urge to put the fabric to her nose, inhaling his unique smell.
Dare found his boxer briefs, pulled them on and reached for his pants. Keely didn’t like the contemplative look on his face, knew that his sharp brain was working a mile a minute behind those gorgeous navy eyes. Yeah, he was up to something and she suspected it wouldn’t be anything she liked...
She hated to be kept waiting. “Just spit it out, will you?” Keely demanded.
Dare pulled on his shirt and left the sides unbuttoned, pushing the tails back to slide his hands into the pockets of his pants. He sent her a steady look. “Do you want to stop sleeping with me?”
“No! Hell, no!” Okay, maybe she should not have responded so quickly, been a little cooler, played a little harder to get.
“Good to know.” Dare’s mouth tipped up at the corners. “The thing is, Keely, I still want to sleep with you, too, but I also want more.”
More? How much more? Oh, crap. Keely lifted her hand to her throat, feeling her windpipe constrict. “Uh...what...um...”
“I’ve rendered you speechless. I’m impressed,” Dare commented. He lifted his hand at her hot stare. “Okay, here’s the deal...”
She didn’t like the determined look in his eyes, the tension behind his genial expression. “I’m a guy, so obviously, I don’t want to stop sharing your bed and exploring your amazing body...”
“But?” Because an enormous but had just strolled into her bedroom and plopped itself down, looking expectant.
“But, if you want to sleep with me, you’re going to have to give me something first.”
Ah, like what? Did she even want to know? Keely wasn’t sure she did, mostly because she suspected there wasn’t a hell of a lot she wouldn’t do for sex with Dare.
Damn him.
“If you want sex, then I want a date.”
A date... What?
Keely wrinkled her nose, confused. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Dare tucked his shirttails into his pants, did up his expensive ostrich-skin belt. “For every hour we spend in bed, I want two hours where we talk, dance, interact.”
Keely’s eyebrows shot up into her hairline. “Do you dance?”
“I can shuffle.” Dare walked over to where she stood, gripping the back of her chair for support. He picked up her hand, skimmed her knuckles with his lips. “You look like I’ve just asked you to experiment with whips and chains and leather chaps.”
“I... I...” Dammit. Where had all her words gone? She was never at a loss for words.
“You are determined to keep our relationship bedroom-based, Keely. I’m determined to take it up a notch.”
“How much more?”