“I’m sorry,” she said.
“You don’t owe me any apologies, D.” Sean jingled the ring of keys in his hand.
“I do.” She sighed.
“Wanna tell me what’s wrong?”
“Sometimes the past…” She hadn’t intended to stop there, but she got tangled up in not wanting to tell him the specifics but wanting to tell him something.
“Yeah. I know all about that,” he said, like she’d explained it in full detail.
Dani twisted the ring on her middle finger. “So anyway.”
“You comin’ in?” Sean pulled open the screen door and slid his key into the lock. The interior door swung inward. He flicked on the hall light.
Dani wanted to go in with him. She really wanted to. For all her what-were-they, should-she-be-doing-this back-and-forth, her desire for Sean was the one thing not in question. But she also didn’t want to take advantage of him. Or take his head off again.
“You want me to?” she asked.
Leaning against the door jamb, Sean held the screen door open with one big boot. He’d gone casual tonight in a pair of well-worn jeans and a white button down cuffed at his forearms—and he looked like the orgasm-giving god he was, especially when he slanted her a look. “Did you just ask me if I wanted you to come in, or if I wanted you, also?”
Frowning, Dani’s mouth dropped open and her brow cranked down. And then she realized what he was asking. Her words could’ve been interpreted either way: ‘you want me to?’ or ‘you want me, too?’. And, now that she thought about it, she was curious to know the answer to both of those questions. So she simply said, “Yes.”
Sean was in front of her in a second, dark eyes blazing. “Yes. I want you. And, yes, I want you to come in so I can show you how much.”
Dani’s heart was a sudden staccato drum beat in her chest. There was nothing casual about the tone in Sean’s voice—raw, determined, even a bit commanding. “Okay.”
He shook his head. “No. Give me more than that. You want me? Tonight? Now?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
His sudden intensity unleashed a shiver over her skin. God, he hadn’t even touched her and she was already on edge. “I want you inside me.”
“Oh, you better fucking believe I’m gonna get inside you, Daniela. I want to know how you want it.”
An image came to mind and she gave voice to it before she second-guessed herself. “Pull my skirt up and take me from behind.”
The next thing Dani knew, she was over Sean’s shoulder and being carried into the house. Up the stairs.
“Sean, put me down. You’re gonna hurt yourself, you big idiot!” She tried to twist out of his hold, but his arm was tight around the backs of her legs.
“I’m fuckin’ fine,” he said in a sexy growl. “And we both know you like getting held down, so don’t pretend that this isn’t making you wet.”
“Damn you,” she said, dizzy more from the force of her arousal than hanging upside down.
He let out a sexy chuckle as he started up the stairs to his second floor. Her thinking brain wanted her to tell him he was going to hurt himself again, but she surrendered to the baser part of herself. The part that knew Sean was right.
She was already wet.
He dropped her unceremoniously on his big bed. The gray-and-white-striped sheets were messy, and the hunter green comforter was folded back, all as if Sean had just rolled out of bed. It made it feel more intimate, somehow, like she was seeing into a part of his life that she wasn’t meant to see. She rolled to find Sean tearing the button-down off, exposing those muscled shoulders and ridged abdomen. His bruising wasn’t quite as dark now, and in places was turning yellow-green as it healed.
Dani’s gaze dropped down to the considerable bulge that filled out the front of his jeans. God, she wanted him to absolutely overwhelm her. And she knew he was one hundred percent capable of it, too.
From the nightstand, Sean withdrew a condom packet which he tossed on the edge of the bed. And then, as if he’d heard her thoughts, he proceeded to drive her right out of her mind.
Sean grasped her ankles and dragged her body toward him until she laid bent over the bed. And then he rucked up the soft denim of her mini-skirt, exposing her bare skin and the black lace of her thong.
“Fuck,” Sean bit out as one hand stroked up her thigh to squeeze her ass. “You fantasized about me seeing you like this, didn’t you? This gorgeous fuckin’ ass up in the air, this lace taunting me to shred it.”
“Yes,” she said, because it was true. She’d picked out this thong with that exact errant dirty thought in mind. It would absolutely fall apart in his hands—if he wanted it to.