Since she didn’t have anything to say, she said nothing at all. He approached, stopping directly behind her. He stood a respectable distance from her, no different than he would have done on any other occasion, but since she bent over to check the oven, it was…
Too close.
He was too close.
“Done.”
“Now we put it in and bake it.” She walked to the counter and made quick work of filling the pan. The whole time, he watched her in silence. By the time she was finished and put it in the oven, she was on edge and a little bit uneasy. She set the timer and turned around, dusting her hands off, and smiled even though the forced cheerfulness hurt her cheeks. “Okay. Now I’ll—”
Turned out, facing him was a huge mistake. He was so close she had to step back to look up at him. But there was nowhere to go, so her butt hit the handle of the oven. She stumbled a little, resting her hands on his chest, and he gripped her biceps to help steady her. “Oops. Sorry. So sorry.”
“It’s fine.” The second he grabbed her, all secure and tight, her stomach tightened and her breath quickened, so she instinctively reared away. He frowned. “Are you scared to touch me now?”
“N-No.” Her cheeks heated. “Of course not. We’re fine. I’m fine. Are you fine?”
“Of course,” he said, running his thumbs over her skin, and his deep hazel eyes pulled her under his spell. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I don’t know,” she answered. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
He searched her face for something. Something she wasn’t sure he would find. “You’re acting weird. Like you’re scared to be near me, or of me, even.”
“I’m not,” she answered defensively. He kept running his thumbs over her arm. It was distracting. And intoxicating. “I don’t feel any differently toward you than I did last night, and that’s the God’s honest truth.”
He tightened his hold on her. For some reason, her answer seemed to anger him. Well, if he expected her to beg him for more, he would be sadly disappointed. She wasn’t that girl. “Bullshit.”
“No. Not bullshit.”
“Prove it,” he dared her, his tone low and somehow seductive. “Prove you don’t want me to kiss you, right here, right now.”
Her heart sped up, and her mouth dried out. She swallowed uncomfortably. “And how, exactly, do you expect me to do that?”
“By kissing me.” He splayed a hand across her lower back, possessive and commanding, and hauled her closer. She didn’t even bother to resist. “Look the beast in the eye and show me it doesn’t scare you.”
She licked her lips, both hands still on his chest. “What good would that do? If I’m scared of kissing you, like you seem to think I am, what will doing it prove?”
“Asks the girl who locked herself in a closet because she was scared of dark, small spaces…” He dipped his hand lower, resting on the curve of her butt. “Just to prove she wouldn’t let it get the best of her.”
“I was fifteen and stupid,” she said, cheeks flushed. “And you’re comparing yourself to a closet.”
“I’m all right with that.” He lifted a shoulder. “Are you afraid it’ll change your feelings for me?”
“No. Of course not.” She tilted her chin up, staring up into those intoxicating hazel eyes. The challenge in his was impossible to ignore. “I could make out with you right here, and again—nothing would change between us.”
He lowered his face to hers, stopping short of kissing her. “So. Kiss me.”
All day long, she’d been trying to excuse last night as some sort of thoughtless, drunken decision that would never be repeated. But they were both dead sober now, and last night hadn’t been a drunken night of impulsiveness. The truth was, in the years leading up to last night, she’d thought about the two of them a lot.
There had been tons and tons of warning thoughts.
She just chose to ignore them all and live in the moment last night. To take a chance. But now he was here, holding her, and asking her to do it again.
And, God help her, she was debating it.
Curling her hands into balls, she fisted his shirt and tugged him closer.
His gaze heated even more at the small movement, and his chest rose and fell rapidly. “Even though I shouldn’t, I’m gonna tell you the truth. I lied earlier, when you asked me if I was thinking about having you again.” His gaze roamed over her, heating her in places she’d never been heated before. “I’ve been thinking about it. All day. But the thing is, I’ve been trying not to.”
She gripped his shirt so tightly her fingers ached. “Me, too.”