She thought not. Case in point—her attraction to Kit Angelis. He was leaving the choice to her and she’d told him they’d better not kiss again.
But she wanted him to kiss her again. She wanted him to make love to her. And she wanted to make love to him right back. Just thinking about running her hands over those hard muscles, that smooth skin, had her insides melting and an ache staring to build deep in the core of her.
When he walked in that door, she’d have a choice to make. Would she risk it or would she run? Just thinking about it had the nerves tangling in her stomach. It wouldn’t be long before she learned something about herself in the present.
13
KIT HESITATED outside the door of his apartment. He knew exactly what he wanted to do when he went back in there—and it wasn’t cook omelets. What he was hungry for had nothing to do with eggs and cheese.
But he’d promised that he’d let her make the choice. He always let the woman make the final choice, but he was pretty good at guiding them toward it. He liked to think that he had some skills in the art of seduction. But in this instance, he wasn’t sure it would be fair to…
What? Charm her? Seduce her? Reel her in like a fish? Disgusted with himself, he turned and paced the short distance to the staircase.
She wasn’t just another woman. She was Drew—a woman smack-dab in the middle of a serious mess. The men in that van had wanted to get their hands on her. And he’d taken her to The Poseidon and introduced her to his family, for heaven’s sake. That one fact should have been enough to make him back off.
Still, if—no—when he walked back into his apartment, he wasn’t altogether certain that he could keep his promise to her. The first time he’d turned and seen her in the doorway to his office, an ache had begun inside of him and he couldn’t seem to shake it loose. He remembered what it felt like to hold her in his arms, to taste her, to lose himself in her. Just thinking about it sharpened the ache almost unbearably and filled his mind with images of what he wanted to do to her, with her.
And he couldn’t do any of them because he’d told her that whatever happened next between them would be up to her.
What in hell had possessed him to do that? Because she was a damsel in distress and he kept thinking of himself as some white knight who was going to rescue her? Well, courtly chivalry had definite drawbacks. Hell, here he was standing in the hallway dithering like an old lady. Kit ran a hand through his hair. No woman had ever made him dither before.
A little flame of anger began to burn inside of him. Who said he had to be a white knight? All he had to do was march in there and renegotiate. He’d simply tell her that he’d thought he could let her make the choice but he wanted her to release him from the promise. That he wanted to make love to her. His decision made, he strode toward the door and lifted his hand to knock.
Dammit. What was he thinking? He couldn’t do that. He was a man of his word. He couldn’t just say, “Hey, I made a mistake. I’ve changed my mind.”
For a moment he closed his eyes and resisted the urge to pound his head against the door. What he would do was go in there and feed her. Then he’d update her on what Nik knew so far. It was almost midnight, the witching hour, so after he fed her, he’d tell her that they should both get some sleep. Who knew—if she got some rest, she might wake up in the morning with her memory restored.
And he might wake up with an ability to think a little more objectively. It was a plan. Kit raised his hand and knocked on the door.
It swung open so fast that he knew she’d been standing right on the other side. He frowned. “I thought I told you not to open the door unless you knew it was me.”
“I looked through the peephole and saw it was you.” The breathlessness in her voice made him really look at her. Her hands were clasped tightly in front of her in a way that told him her nerves were stretched tight. “What happened? Did you remember something else?”
“No. I tried, but it didn’t work.”
There was a tenseness in her shoulders and something in her eyes, in her stance, that made him think fleetingly of Athena ready for the hunt. The ache sharpened inside of him again.
“I just decided something.”
Remember your battle plan, Angelis. “Why don’t you tell me about it while I start those omelets?”
“Wait.”
He tried to move around her. When she stepped sideways, he came up against her body. Not good for the plan.
She didn’t step back and neither did he. The fact that her scent was now wrapping around him boded even worse for the plan.
“I’m not hungry. I mean…I’m not hungry for food.”
Kit went absolutely still. So did the room. In fact, the silence was so complete that he thought he could hear the tick of his great-grandfather’s clock on the mantel. He could also hear the sound of his blood trickling a few drops at a time out of his brain.
She drew in a deep breath, and he thought of Athena again, ready to do battle.
“Remember what I told you in the alley—that we shouldn’t kiss again?”
“Yeah.”
“Well…” When she paused to moisten her lips, he had to swallow a moan.
“I’ve changed my mind. I want you to kiss me again. I mean…if you still want to?”
The blood wasn’t trickling now, Kit decided. It was gushing. “Yeah, I still want to.” About as much as he wanted to go on breathing. But he had enough functioning brain cells to note that she was wound tight with nerves and looked like she was getting ready to face a firing squad. Instinct told him that whatever inner battle she’d waged before he’d come back wasn’t over quite yet. “Why did you change your mind?”
Her eyes narrowed and her chin lifted. “Do you have to investigate everything?”
Relief sang through him at the flash of temper in her eyes. “It’s been a habit since I was a kid.”
“Okay.” Drew whirled away and began to pace the short distance between the door and the couch. “I changed my mind because I want you. There’s nothing else that I can be certain of in my life right now, except for that. And because if I don’t grab this chance to make love with you again, I might not get another one. We could learn something horrible about me—you might not want me then.”
She spun around and faced him, hands fisted on her hips, her foot tapping. “Plus, there’s the fact that you’re a gorgeous, sexy, desirable man. And you certainly acted in your office and in that alley as if you wanted me.”
She strode back to him and poked a finger into his chest. “Last. but not least, I don’t want to think that I’m the kind of woman who wouldn’t grab an opportunity like this. I’m going to absolutely hate it if I turn out to be a wimp. There.” She poked him again. Then she grabbed two fistfuls of his T-shirt. “Does that satisfy your curiosity? Can we get on with this now?”
Kit thought she was magnificent.
“You got it, sugar.”
HER HEART WAS RACING so fast, Drew was surprised that it didn’t shoot right out of her body. All her remaining doubts and reservations had drained away at some point during the little rant he’d driven her into. She wanted this beautiful man. If there was a price to pay, she’d worry about it later.
Releasing her grip on his shirt, she reached up, pulled down his face and imprisoned his mouth with hers. His lips were firm and warm and, once she parted them, his taste sparked a storm inside of her. This is what she’d been craving—the heat, the threat, the promise.
His hands gripped her waist. Finally, she thought. Then without breaking contact, he moved, turning her as if they were dancing. Head spinning, she heard the door close and felt the press of the wall against her back. All the while, sensations swirled through her. His mouth was so hot, so delicious, she could have gone on exploring it for a long time. As if sensing her intent, he took control of the kiss. His lips were so hard, so sure, his teeth so gentle as he nipped her bottom lip and sent a shock wave of pleasure right down to her toes.
His thumb tipped up her chin as he changed the angle of the kiss and let his tongue do a seductive dance with hers. Drew nearly cried out in protest when he dragged his mouth away from hers, but the scrape of his teeth on her throat had her breathing his name instead. He pulled her to him so that she could feel his erection, know how ready he was. The knowledge increased the hunger inside of her.
Suddenly, he drew back, gripping her shoulders to steady her against the wall. They were both gasping for breath. The heat in his gaze nearly seared her flesh.
“Kiss me again,” she demanded.
“I will, but I think we ought to slow this down a bit.”
“Why? Fast has been working very well.”
His lips curved slightly. “I agree. We’ll revisit fast…eventually.” Kit lifted her hand and turned it over. “There are advantages to going slowly.” When he pressed his mouth to her palm, she felt each separate sensation, the whisper of his breath, the moist warmth of his mouth all the way through her.
“There are things I’ve been thinking about doing to you. Other things I want you to do to me.”
“Oh.” Her stomach suddenly sank as a thought struck her.