Take Me (Take a Chance #4)(17)
Author: Diane Alberts

But with Morgan, all that restraint was gone.

And he needed to come now or he might die.

He thrust inside of her, pressing his thumb to her clit and deepening his strokes. She clung to him, calling his name like a litany. And he knew, right then, that this woman was not like other women. That this woman had the power to bring him to his knees…and leave him there for the rest of his life.

And if that wasn’t a f**king red light, he didn’t know what was.

She seemed to sense him pulling away. Sensed his panic. She grasped his head, yanking down until their lips met. Her tongue dueled with his and he forgot all his reservations and the reasons he should be running. He moved inside of her, groaning when her body clenched down on him.

She climaxed again at the same time he did. And when he came back down to reality…he knew he was completely f**ked. His instinctual desire to flee from whatever the f**k was wrong with him struck, and he didn’t fight it this time.

They’d barely finished when he jumped off of her and strode into the bathroom. By the time he came out, she was dressed in her shorts and pink tank top she’d worn last night, wringing her hands in her lap. She looked up at him, her blue eyes confused and lost. And truth be told, he felt lost, too.

The urge to comfort her, to pull her into his arms and heal her, was strong. So strong that he almost couldn’t resist it. But then again, his desire to remain single was pretty damn strong, too. A lot stronger.

“I know this is confusing but we’ll get it all sorted out.” He stepped into his jeans. Right now, he needed to go home, get changed, and get his ass to school. This shit storm he’d gotten himself into would have to wait. “We can look at this some more tonight. I know you have to work. I’ll pick you up from the bar at two.”

She played with her shirt. “You don’t have to. I can catch a ride home with Hugh.”

“No.”

The reply came from somewhere deep within him and was so harshly said, she jumped and looked at him with wide eyes. Even he barely recognized his voice.

“Um, okay. You realize Hugh and I are just friends, right?”

“You might feel that way. He doesn’t.”

She lifted a shoulder. “Oh well. That doesn’t stop him from giving me a ride home.”

“I’ll come get you.” He yanked his shirt over his head, trying to get a hold of himself. He grabbed his keys and the room card and headed for the door. “After all, I am your husband.”

He heard a rustling sound behind him. “Soon to be annulled husband.”

He stopped, his hand on the knob. A weight sat in his chest, heavy and begging to be let free. “Honey? What we just did right there wasn’t just any f**king. That was consummation.”

And with that, he stormed into the hallway, closing the door behind him. Something slammed against it and a string of curses so colorful they even made him blush sounded from within the room. Shaking his head, he closed his eyes against the harsh reality of day.

Closed himself away from her…at least until he could figure out what the hell to do next.

Chapter Nine

Morgan threw her boot at the door but it fell short of making her feel any better. Just like all the rest of her best laid plans. Like, oh, what was that again? Riiight. Not getting married and tied down to a man. And she’d done so freaking great with that goal so far. Well, she had up until Mike, anyway. Then, all it had taken was a night of drinking and mind-blowing sex and she’d decided it was a great idea to marry the idiot.

Ugh.

She shoved her hair out of her face and tried to ignore the way her hands shook. What was he going to do next? What would he say? He had said something about refusing to annul their marriage but that had been a joke…hadn’t it? He couldn’t seriously want to stay married to her. Why would he?

He was just as much against marriage as she was, if not more.

Besides, he couldn’t make her stay married if she didn’t want to be, no matter how much sex they had.

She slapped on her boots and stomped her way to the door. If he thought she would just lie down and wait for him to decide to do the right thing, then he had another thing coming.

When she ripped the door open, she found him in the hallway, leaning against the wall with a resigned look on his face. He looked so alone that for a brief second, she forgot how mad she was. Then he sighed and gave her a cocky, assessing look and the anger came back full force.

“What game are you playing?” She marched right up to him, hands on her hips. “And why are you still out here?”

“I don’t know. And I don’t know.” He rubbed his forehead. “When it comes to you, and us, I have no f**king clue what I’m doing.”

“I noticed.” She gave an uneasy laugh. “You married me, after all.”

He eyed her and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Yeah. I did. I haven’t stopped thinking about why I would have possibly married you, feeling the way I do about marriage. I wouldn’t have done it without a damned good reason.”

“Because you were drunk,” she offered.

“I’ve been drunk before. I’ve never been married, though. Why you? Why now?”

His thoughts were so eerily close to hers, it scared her. “It doesn’t matter. I don’t want to be married and neither do you. The only thing to do is fix it. Make it go away. You can send me my portion of the bill when it’s over.”

He lifted his hand and his fingers lightly grazed her jaw. Then he ran his thumb over her lower lip, his touch barely there. “And never see you again? Forget that for a second last night, I actually wanted love? Marriage? The normal things normal people want?”

She swallowed hard. “You don’t love me. We barely know each other.”

“Yet.”

“Yet.”

“I can’t shake this feeling that I didn’t make a mistake last night.” He met her eyes hesitantly, as if he didn’t want to see her reaction to his shocking words. “That we didn’t make a mistake, and maybe we should think some more before moving on.”

“I don’t think so.” She licked her lips, her tongue brushing against his thumb. His sea green eyes darkened and he watched her mouth. “Given our past couple of days, maybe we should avoid knowing each other better. Maybe we should stop seeing each other, before we forget our own goals. Clearly we’re a reckless combination.”

He cocked his head. “Goals? Like dancing across the United States.”