Tomorrow, Cam would think about the ramifications of sleeping with Mina, the woman he'd craved forever. The woman his best friend watched over like a hawk.
A woman who, Cam had always believed, was so far out of his league he'd have a better shot climbing a ladder to heaven.
But he must have earned his way to salvation, because she'd just invited him through the pearly gates, and for better or worse, there was no way he was saying no.
He stepped back, giving her room to move, but taking her hand as he did, simply because he was unwilling to break the connection. "Are you okay to drive?"
"I'm fine." She licked her lips, looking suddenly unsure. "How about you? Are you okay?"
"I'm not driving."
Her eyes slid away from his. "I mean--"
"I know what you mean," he said, then bent forward to kiss her gently. "And I'm fine. I'm coherent. I'm bubbling over with free will. And," he added as he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her palm, "I've wanted to do this for about as long as I can remember. The only thing the bourbon's done is give me a jolt of courage."
He could hear the relief in her laughter. "Oh. Well, then thank God for bourbon."
"You got that right."
She fished in her pocket for her keys, and he had to once again admire her foresight in removing everything except her make-up from her purse.
"Let's go. The car's just one block over."
It took only a few minutes to get to her sporty Mercedes, and then only twenty minutes after that to get from downtown to her house on the south side of the river, just off of Redbud Trail. But as far as Cam was concerned, that was twenty minutes too long.
She parked at the end of the drive, as close to the door to her apartment as it was possible to get. And though neither of them spoke about it, Cam knew they were both hurrying to get inside not just to get their hands on each other, but because the faster they got behind closed doors, the less chance there was that Darryl would see them.
Mina fumbled the key in the lock, and then, laughing, pushed it open and pulled him
inside. The door clicked shut behind him, and for a moment, they both just stood there, the hall light shining bright around them, as if they'd been thrust out of a sensual land of shadows and dreams and into the harsh light of an examination room.
"Mina," he said, suddenly unsure of himself, of the situation, of everything.
She swallowed, then took a step back so that she was leaning on the door, her hand resting on the knob as if in silent assurance that she could open it at any time. "I--" She drew a breath and started again. "This is going to sound crazy, but I kind of wish we'd stayed in that horrible alley."
He frowned, trying to parse out her meaning from her words. "Do you want me to go?"
"No," she said, but the word seemed tentative, and he was desperately afraid that what she meant was yes. "It's just that I'm thinking about it now. What it was like, I mean."
She spoke so softly that he had to strain to hear her. But then a wild, primal need rippled through his body as his mind finally put the pieces together.
That's what she wanted. That rawness. That fear-induced lust that had overtaken them in that fetid alley and erased their inhibitions. Because Cam knew damn well that if that thief hadn't stolen her purse, she'd have politely driven him home, and he'd have politely said goodnight.
But instead they'd ended up almost fucking in an alley. They'd crossed a line, goddammit. A line that he'd been dreaming about for most of his life.
And he damn sure didn't intend to turn back now.
He took a single step toward her, but that was enough to put him right in front of her. He said nothing, but reached out and ran his hand along her hairline, his eyes focused on hers. His heart pounded wildly in his chest, but he knew she couldn't tell. He looked calm. He looked in control. And goddammit, he was going to turn that fiction into a reality.
"You have one chance to tell me to go," he said, moving his hand from her face to the wall behind her. The other hand hung by his side, so that she wasn't fully boxed in. "One chance to stop this."
He inched closer. "I'm going to undress you, Mina. I'm going to spread your legs and get on my knees, and I'm going to make you scream my name. And baby, that's just the beginning. So if you want me to go, say so now. Because once I start touching you, I really don't think I can stop."
He held his breath, afraid that she'd seen through his bravado. That now that they were out of the alley she'd realized it was all a big mistake. The world was tilting under him as he gave her a chance to tell him to leave. And when she drew in a breath and her lips moved, the knowledge that she was about to kick him out struck him with the force of a blow.
But then she said nothing. Just pressed her lips together and stared him down. "Good answer," he whispered, then just about melted when her mouth twitched in the tiniest of smiles.
"Arms up," he said, and when she complied, he peeled off her shirt, leaving her in the hallway clad in her jeans and bra.