All Things Pretty (Pretty #3)(31)
Author: M. Leighton

I don’t even give her a chance to freak out over what almost happened. I walk right to her and scoop her up, plunking her back down on my lap. “It’s sunny and hot as Hades outside. Why don’t we go by your house and let you change into some shorts then we go get Travis? I have the perfect idea for how to spend the afternoon.”

“I probably shouldn’t,” she says, dodging my eyes, stiff as a board in my arms. “I told Lance I wasn’t feeling well. If he finds out…”

“How the hell would he manage that? I’d know if we were followed. Or did you forget that I’m his eyes on you?”

“No, but…”

“No buts. It’s either that or I hold you down until you’re feeling like you were five minutes ago and I take advantage of that.”

Her big, green eyes snap up to mine. There’s panic in them. Dammit. “That can’t happen. That shouldn’t have happened. Sig, when I came home today, I was going to try to figure out a way to get you out of my life.”

“What? Why?”

“Because you complicate things. You complicate things that are already incredibly complicated.”

“Then let me help you uncomplicate them.”

She pushes against my chest to get up. I let her go easily.

“I don’t need help. I already know what to do.”

“And what’s that?”

“Stay away from you.”

“Don’t say that,” I say, rising to my feet and reaching for her hands. “If you try to tell me that we’re anything less than spectacular together, I’ll know you’re a damn liar.”

She sighs. “I told you I wouldn’t lie and I won’t. But this,” she says, taking one of her hands from mine to wave it between us, “us–we are the problem.”

“This can only be a problem if we let it. And we won’t. We’ll be careful.”

“It’s not just that. It’s everything. I think about you too much. I’d rather be with you than with Lance. You make me dread spending time with him and that’s not good. I can’t live like that.”

I can’t help smiling. “I don’t see how that’s a bad thing at all. Because I really want to spend more time with you.”

She growls, frustrated. “I knew you wouldn’t understand. This is all fun for you, but it’s not fun for me. It’s torture. It’s just making me miserable. And I can’t afford to be miserable. I can’t afford to screw this up.”

I stare down into her frantically beautiful face, reaching up to cup her flushed cheeks. “Why can’t you? What does he give you, what does he do for you that I can’t?”

She closes her eyes, shutting me out. “I told you I wouldn’t lie, but there are some things I can’t tell you.”

“Tommi, I’ve told you that you can trust me. When are you going to believe me?”

“And I’ve told you that I don’t trust anyone.”

“Not even Lance?”

“Especially not Lance.”

“Then why, Tommi? Why be with him?”

“I wish I could tell you.” Her expression is remorseful and I believe her. “I really do. But I can’t.”

“Then I’ll wait. Until you can.”

“That just won’t work, Sig. Not for me.”

“Well, staying away from you won’t work for me, so I say we compromise.” She starts to speak, but I cover her mouth with my hand. “Let me finish. My job is to keep eyes on you. I don’t want to lose my job. You don’t want to have someone you can’t trust take over for me, right? That would make it even harder on you. No matter what, we are both in the perfect situation, so why ruin it? This is what I say we do: I’ll keep my eyes on you, but my hands off. You let me spend time with you, under the guise of doing my job, and we’ll all be happy. I won’t make it any harder on you until you’re ready to trust me. Deal?”

“But it’s not that you try to make it harder on me. Just being with you makes it harder.”

I slide my hands around her waist and kiss her forehead then give her my most charming smile. “I can’t be held responsible for my irresistibleness. That can’t be helped. What I can do is teach you some deep breathing exercises that might make you less susceptible to my awesomeness.” I see her lips twitch. “Please don’t do something rash that we’ll both regret. Let’s just try to make this work. I’d hate for you to miss out on spending time with me.”

“God forbid! How would I survive?”

“I’m not sure. Lesser women have died from withdrawal symptoms. It’s not a nice way to go. Very lonely. Very…dry,” I explain with a wink.

She gives me the stink eye for that last bit. “You can’t say things like that, Sig!”

“I can’t even flirt? Dammit, you’re a hard woman. All I can say is that I’ll try not to be so charming, but I make no promises.”

“I’ll try to be strong, too,” she determines sarcastically.

I bend my head to nip the skin of her smooth throat. Before she can think to resist, she tilts her head and gives me better access to her neck, which, of course, I take.

“Mmmm. Can we maybe start this new deal in an hour?”

“Is that all it would take? An hour? How disappointing,” she murmurs playfully.

I jerk my head up. “See now, you keep saying shit like that and the gloves are comin’ off. And so are the panties.”

She holds up her hands in surrender. “I didn’t realize insulting your manhood would result in the loss of clothing. I retract my previous comments.”

“Damn straight. Because I’d just feel the need to show you just how not disappointing I can be.”

“Oh, I think I can figure that out on my own, but thanks.”

I sigh, kissing her briefly, before she can pull away. “Now, since my cock is not yet in full agreement of this new situation,” I confess, rolling my hips against hers so she can feel my re-emerging hard-on, “how about we get you changed, pick up Travis and do something fun?”

She takes a deep breath. “If you insist.”

“Oh, I insist.”

Her face is more relaxed now. She still looks troubled, but not like she’s about to bolt. I consider that progress.

Crisis averted.

“Uh, since I’ve got my car, why don’t you just give me about ten minutes and come pick me up?”