“I want to,” I murmured. “Fuck, I really want to. But you need your rest. And this is me showing you I’m interested in more than sex.”
The disappointment on her face nearly killed me. Or maybe that was the throbbing in my balls. Either way, I was dying.
Even with only the glow of the street light, I could see her embarrassment. She’d told me no earlier, that she wasn’t like the Karens out there. Now, she’d offered herself up, and I turned her down. I was an asshole no matter what I did here.
“Give me your phone,” I said, my voice gravelly with need. And frustration.
She handed it to me, and I called myself with it and handed it back. “Now you have my number. Let me know if you have a sweet baby to deliver, otherwise I’ll be here to pick you up at three. Got it?”
I didn’t give her a chance to answer because kissing her hard suddenly became way more important. I wrapped my lips around hers, claiming that mouth like my life depended on it. Like this was the way I marked a human. My tongue swept between her lips, tangled with her. Gripping the back of her head, I angled her as I wanted, drinking from her.
When I broke the kiss, her glasses were crooked, and she wore a dazed expression. Her fingertips travelled to her lips, as if feeling to see if they were still there. Or how swollen they were.
Yeah, I knew just how she felt.
I took her keys from her and opened the front door of her small but sweet cottage. She lived a few blocks off Main Street in the older section of town. Trees and plantings were well established, and I scented honeysuckle along with her peach essence. I guided her through the doorway.
“Now get some sleep,” I said, slapping her ass.
“Oh!” she exclaimed, looking over her shoulder with a startled but pleased expression.
I grinned and made a note:likes spanking.
Well, that was good because Ifucking lovedher ass.
“Goodnight, darlin’.”
“Goodnight, cowboy.” Her breathy voice made it so fucking hard to back away and leave.
But I did.
Because Audrey Ames mattered to me. And I was going to prove it to her.
14
AUDREY
There wasno way I was going to be able to sleep. I rolled over, tugged at the blanket that got wrapped around me. Groaned in frustration. I’d showered and got ready for bed. Analyzed every second of the night. Jett Markle. Using Boyd as my fake date. God, I’d ridden a mechanical bull! Boyd’s goodbye kiss. All of it.
I stared at the way the moonlight made shapes on the ceiling.
No. Sleep wasn’t coming. Not after what Boyd had just done to me. One kiss and my entire body was in flames. One slap on my ass, and I was ready to hump my pillows all night long.
He’d spanked me! I’d been stunned by that but more stunned because I’d liked it. Holy crap, had I liked it. But he’d left me wanting. Reaching back, I cupped my bottom where his hand had struck. Earlier, I’d peeked in the mirror, and there was a pink Boyd-sized handprint on my ass. It was as if he’d stuck with me even after he’d left.
I’d almost died on the spot when he’d turned me down. All night long, I’d told him no. I’d outright said he was a player, then I’d decided to hell with it. He was God’s gift to women, and I owed it to all of them to get it on with him. After the whole incredible encounter in his barn, I knew he was a giver. He hadn’t wanted me to get him off. He’d gotten on his knees for me, not the other way around. Most man whores—although I didn’t really know very many—wanted a woman to get him off, give him a blow job and be done.
He had to have blue balls by now. I’d felt how hard he was when he’d pressed up against me in the bar. He’d wanted me all along. The kiss hadn’t been a lie. But if he really was a one-night stand kind of guy, why had he walked away? Why had he said no? What player said no?
Maybe Boyd wasn’t a player. No, he’d admitted he was. Or had been. Maybe he really was trying to be different with me.
Still, while I appreciated his reasons, it was still cruel of him not to come in and satisfy me after he got me all worked up. I must be ovulating. Becky would say I was horny.
Well, she was right. My nipples were hard, my pussy ached with want.
How dare he leave me all hot and bothered! He wasn’t a man whore. He was a tease. I intended to tell him so when I saw him tomorrow.
Screw that. I was telling him now. I grabbed my phone from the nightstand and opened a text message for his number.