“You’re telling me you don’t want to come up because if you have sex with me, I’ll fall in love with you, and then I’ll want to marry you and you’ll break my heart.”
He just stared at her, unsure what to say. That was kind of what he was telling her. But when she put it that way, it sounded bad, and he could tell it pissed her off.
“Look, Amber—”
She cut him off. “That’s so arrogant.”
“Honey—”
“Quit ‘honeying’ me. I’m not your honey. I’m a person, Tony, and I want to have sex with you. Don’t go thinking you’re some kind of god just because you know I like you. You’re not going to break my heart by putting your … your dick in me. You might make me so mad I change my mind, though, if you keep talking to me like I’m some kind of delicate flower who’s going to wither away and die if you don’t handle me just right.”
She flung open the door and hopped out of the truck. “I’m going up to my apartment now, and I’m going to take off all my clothes. If you want to be there to see that, get off your tush and follow me.”
She slammed the door and stalked toward the building, and To
ny tried to remember why he wasn’t supposed to follow her.
He tried for what felt like forever, but she was walking fast, and the farther away she got, the more urgently the need pounded through him.
He wanted her. Wanted her way too much to deny himself, even knowing how much he would regret it later.
The truck door slammed behind him. By the time he hit the steps, he was jogging.
Chapter Eight
Amber dropped her purse on the table by the door.
She discarded her shirt in the middle of the living area and knelt down to take off her shoes in the short hallway that led to the bedroom.
She didn’t know if he would come in, but if he did, he was going to get an eyeful.
Was this her, unzipping her pants at the threshold of the bathroom? She felt as though she must be a different Amber Clark from the one who’d hung a cluster of carefully arranged photographs on the wall across from the toilet and bought a bowl of potpourri to sit on top of the tank.
Something had happened to her.
Strange to think that one afternoon could redirect her, reshape her—but maybe all she’d needed was a reason. A desire that made becoming different more important than the safety of being the same.
Someone to reach for.
She heard a soft knock. “Amber?”
“The door’s unlocked.”
Her khakis dropped to the floor, and she carefully pulled the ponytail elastic out of her wet hair. The strands brushed her back, right above her bra strap. Her nipples hardened with a shiver.
Tony was in her apartment, and she was in her bra and panties.
The floor creaked beneath his feet. “Where are you?”
“In the bathroom.”
She pushed aside the shower curtain and turned the spray on hot.
When she twisted around again, he filled the doorway, and he was staring.
He didn’t say anything. Not a word. But he looked at her, and she felt it as a flush of heat across her neck, a fullness in her breasts. She felt it on her lips, felt it brushing over her stomach and deep between her legs.
Amber reached behind her back to unhook her bra. “I’m going to take a shower.”