Confused, I shook my head. “Women? What—”
“And you”—he scowled ferociously—“making me feel like a piece of shit because I want to keep you safe. What the hell is that?”
God, he was such an asshole! “What the hell is that?” I yelled back. “It’s me, reacting to you being a total and utter coward! Ending something you want because someone threatened you. Ending something you need because you’re afraid of my father. And doing it like I mean nothing to you.”
“I’m not afraid of Mac. And I don’t need you,” he said flatly.
I smirked unhappily. “Blue Eyes, you need me more than anyone I’ve ever met.”
He flinched like I’d slapped him.
“I don’t want anything from you that you don’t want to give. I’m not sleeping with you in the hopes of snagging myself a rich, famous husband. Or because I see you as some kind of trophy or notch on my belt. And I’m not going to put up with your shit or stroke your ego or do any of the things that you don’t need.”
Lachlan studied me thoughtfully. “But you think I need you?”
“I think you need to lose yourself in someone who doesn’t want more than you’re willing to give. To forget all the crap that’s going on outside these doors. To admit that you care about me as a human being without being concerned I’ll think it’s a declaration of some kind.” I shrugged as I confessed, “I lied before. I do like you. I admire you, Lachlan. I admire the way you look out for your family. I admire the way you care about Mac. Yes, you piss me off, but honestly, I couldn’t let you touch me if I didn’t like you. I’m not that woman. I don’t do hate sex.”
Something lightened in his expression.
“But it doesn’t mean I want anything more from you than sex. So … there you are. My cards on the table. If you want to let those fuckers tormenting you win, then on you go.” I gestured to the door. “It’s over. Mac won’t let our affair come between you two. I’m sure of it. But if you aren’t, I understand, and again, you can leave.” My gaze dropped to his sullen mouth, my skin heating with the memories of what he could do with it. “If you can get over all that and want to stay”—I looked into his eyes now—“then stay. But don’t stay if I’m just another warm body to you. Stay because only my body will do. Stay because you need it to be me.”
His silence was unreadable. We both breathed a little heavier, as if struggling to catch our breaths. But I had no idea what he was thinking.
And then his hand was on my nape, my body jerked toward his, and his mouth slammed down over mine. I moaned into his desperate, hungry kiss and clung onto his shoulders as he swung me into his arms. Seconds later, I was on the bed and he was stripping me of my shoes and pajamas as quickly as he could. His clothes were next, his face harsh with desire as he hurried out of his jeans.
“I’m clean,” he offered as he climbed over me, nudging between my legs with hot need. “Got a health check when we started this thing. You? Pill?”
I hesitated. Did I trust him enough for unprotected sex?
“Robyn?”
Looking deep into his eyes, certainty flushed through me. This man was one of the most overprotective guys I’d ever met. He wouldn’t endanger me. In any way. And he had just as much to lose by trusting me. “Me too. And yes, I’m on the Pill.”
He slipped his hands between my legs, and they gleamed hungrily. “Ready for me.”
“Arguing with you turns me on.” I snorted, not able to make sense of it.
Lachlan grinned as he braced himself over me. “Back at you, Braveheart.”
I raised my eyebrows, opened my mouth to query the endearment, but as he surged into me, all that came out was a cry of relief.
Yeah, this was what I needed. Wanted. Craved.
Craved.
Caressing my hands down his back to his ass, lust rippled in my belly at the feel of his powerful, muscular body beneath my fingertips. I wanted more. I didn’t want to be loved. After the night I’d had, I wanted to be screwed into oblivion.
Squeezing his ass, I arched into his thrusts, pulling him deeper into me.
It was fast, furious, sweat coating our skin as our bodies met with wild abandon. Lachlan came first, and the orgasm seemed to surprise him.
I barely gave him a chance to catch his breath before I used a grappling move to reverse our positions. Straddling him, his expression still ragged with his climax, I undulated on him. I lost myself, became this sensuous, uninhibited creature, displaying my body for him, touching myself until I knew he was ready again.