Her Last Wild Ride

“Oh.” Now I felt silly, imagining I’d driven him to such a rage that he’d been ruining all of his work. And he certainly wasn’t on a bridge singing maudlin Irish love songs. Or halfway down a bottle of whiskey.

I forced myself to meet his eye and quailed. He looked distant. Cold. Imperious. He arched a brow. “Can I help you?”

Irritation surged at him for making me feel so...much. I put my hands on my hips and said, “I came all the way over here. Don’t give me the cold treatment just because you’re pissed with me.”

Johnny dropped the mallet and it fell to the ground with a thud. He stalked toward me and I took a step back, hearing the door shut behind me. My back was against it. He laid an arm above my head, caging me in. Dominating me with this height and strength. And just like that my clit tingled. Down, girl...at least till we know which way this is going to go.

“Well,” he said tersely, “I think I’m entitled to a little snottiness on account of you ripping my heart out and stamping it to pieces in front of an audience.”

Something inside me melted, even as I said faintly, “Snottiness?”

He waved a hand. “It’s Irish for pissy.” And then, “Why did you come all the way over here?”

I wanted to squirm. I also wanted to jump into Johnny’s arms and wrap my legs around him.

“I think...you like me?” I asked hesitantly.

He scowled. “What part of ripping my heart out didn’t you get?”

A kind of euphoria snaked through me but I tried to hold on to reality.

“I like you, too.”

Johnny sneered. “Aw, that’s cute. Maybe I’ll get you a going-steady bracelet?”

“No...I mean, I really like you. A lot.”

Johnny went still. Both hands came over my head now. “What’s a lot?”

I squinted up at him, heart thumping hard. I felt light-headed. “Like, more than a lot.”

“Like,” I said hurriedly when he started to scowl again, “heart ripping out and being stood on—that much.” I blurted out in a rush, “I never loved Steve, not really. That was just an infatuation. I know that now. This...is very different.”

He put both hands around my face and tilted it up. A slow sexy smile split his face in two. “Are you prepared to agree with me now? That we’re gone beyond the just a fuck stage?”

I nodded. He pressed close, his pelvis against mine. The hard ridge of his erection made me move closer.

“I’m sorry,” I said huskily. “I just...thought you were safe for me, you know? I thought we’d have one wild ride, or two, and that’d be it. Just some disposable fun.”

I sighed. “You’re right about the apartment. I have a bad template...it’s hard to believe that things won’t turn out like my dad and mom... And when my mom took me away from Liam and Dad...it was tough.”

“I know, Ash...I know.”

He bent his head and kissed me, and it was tender and sweet and a kind of vow. When he pulled back he said, “How about this—we start out with a non-relationship and ease into this whole love and commitment thing.”

I frowned up at him, desire already clawing through me, making me needy. “What would that be like?”

He pretended to think for a second. “Well, we’d hang out, a lot. Go on dates that don’t involve us getting naked.” He grimaced. “Well, we’ll allow some time for that. No need to be unrealistic right now.”

I smiled and felt ridiculously joyous. Mary Freaking Poppins and her cartoon birds were back and twittering deliriously.

He continued, “Then...eventually you might move in, or you know, we’d find a place together. And...we’ll just take it one day at a time while you’re setting up your new business.”

>

I waited for a sense of claustrophobia or panic to grip me, but it didn’t come. The joy was drowning it out. A weight was lifting off my shoulders. My smile got wider and then faded slightly as I thought of something. “I’ll have to fess up to Jenna.”

Johnny all but waved that aside and said with all the confidence of an Irish-born charmer, “Leave Jenna to me. And anyway, you’ll be needing furniture in this new office of yours, won’t you?”