Part 15 (2/2)
”How can you stand there and lie to yourself? How can you stand there and lie to me when the truth is so obvious?”
He couldn't deny it, so he switched tactics. ”This isn't the time or the place to discuss this.”
”That's because you'd rather ignore it and hope it goes away. Well, I can't do that. Not anymore.” She turned to walk away. ”I'll tell Kevin you stopped by to see him.”
Drew knew it wasn't a good idea to touch her when her emotions were running so high, when his own were on the rise with the dangerous swiftness of a flash flood. But he reached for her anyway. His fingers curled around her biceps, and he turned her to face him.
”I'm trying to do the right thing,” he ground out.
”You're trying to protect yourself,” she shot back. ”Don't get the two confused.”
Another ripple of anger jolted him. ”I'm trying to protect you.”
”From what?”
”From me, d.a.m.n it.”
”I don't need protecting. Especially from you.”
Realizing they'd caught the attention of an older couple watching a television set mounted on the wall, Drew took her by the arm and started down the hall.
”What do you think you're doing?” she demanded, fighting him halfheartedly.
”We're going to talk about this,” he snapped. ”That's what you wanted, isn't it?”
”Let go of me, d.a.m.n it.”
He opened the door to a darkened examination room and quickly muscled her inside. Once he closed the door behind him, he swung around to face her. ”Let's get one thing straight right now,” he snarled.
She finally succeeded in breaking free of his grasp, and for several long minutes they contemplated each other, the only sound coming from their heavy breathing and the patter of rain against the window.
”I care about you, Alison. I care about Kevin.”
”I guess that's why you think we should cool it.”
”I think we should cool it because I was your husband's best friend, d.a.m.n it! How can I-” He stopped himself an instant before he said something he didn't want to reveal.
”You can't want me one moment,” she whispered, ”then decide it's wrong the next and tell me you only want to be friends.”
”Do you think that's the way I want it?” he asked, incredulous. ”I didn't mean for things to get out of hand the other day.”
”Which time?”
He stared at her, aware that he was angry and frustrated and more confused than he'd been in a very long time.
”I don't know what you want,” she said. ”I'm not even sure you know what you want. One minute you're hot, the next you're Mr. Iceman. I can't deal with that.”
”My feelings for you, Alison, are the only thing I'm sure about. It's everything else that's s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g with my head.”
”Look, Drew, I think Kevin and I should move to San Diego,” she said. ”I have a brother there. Roger said Kevin and I could move in with him temporarily.” She looked down at the floor. ”I came here to South Florida because...of you. Because of our friends.h.i.+p. I thought...” Her voice trailed and she shrugged. ”I don't know what I thought.”
The idea of her and Kevin moving so far away elicited a moment of panic. He couldn't believe she would do that to him. That she would ask him to choose between his feelings for her and her son, and his honor.
The truth of the matter was that he didn't want her to leave. But no matter how desperately he wanted to be with her, he couldn't ask her to stay. His conscience wouldn't let him.
”I don't know what you want,” she whispered. ”I can't read your mind. I don't know what you're feeling inside. And you won't tell me.”
The need came like a flash flood barreling down a narrow gorge. The familiar rush of blood to his groin. The rapid rise of heat. The faltering of his intellect.
He started toward her, knowing what he was about to do was a mistake. But like a man drawn to fire, he couldn't stop himself, even though he knew he would be burned. Her eyes widened when his hands closed over her shoulders. An electrical shock ran the length of him the instant he touched her and he felt it all the way down to his toes. Her mouth opened. He heard his name on her lips, but couldn't tell whether she wanted him to stop or proceed. He didn't pause long enough to consider either of those things and crushed his mouth to hers.
She offered a stunned moment of resistance. A small sound of distress escaped her, but he deepened the kiss and swallowed the sound. He tried to penetrate her with his tongue, but she locked him out with her teeth.
”This is what I want,” he whispered against her cheek. ”This. You. Like this.” He ran his tongue along her teeth. ”Let me in, Alison.”
She opened to him, and he kissed her deeply, felt the rush of her breath against his cheek. Her body arched, then melted in his arms like chocolate in the hot sun. He marveled at the feel of her against him. The curves of her body. The tremors moving through her as he slid his hands down her back to cup her hips. Her scent surrounded him; he drank it in. The softness of her flesh maddened him, and he knew he had to have more. Plunging his tongue into the dark, silky heat of her mouth, he let go of his control with a silent curse.
Dizziness swamped him, as if he'd mainlined a mind-altering drug. Pleasure spread through his body like a wildfire burning out of control. Vaguely he was aware of her arms going around his neck. Arousal pulsing through his body with every beat of his heart. The throb of his erection straining against the confines of his cutoffs.
When he moved against her, the ridge of his arousal aligned with the cleft between her legs. Her body arched, as if she'd been hit with a thousand volts of electricity. He felt the same bolt of electricity jump through him, and the heat of it seared him like a brand.
Drew knew he was out of control. Knew she was out of control, too, even if she wouldn't admit it. He knew his inability to stop this was going to cost him. Maybe her friends.h.i.+p. Maybe the tentative relations.h.i.+p he'd formed with her son. But the needs rampaging through him trampled the voice of reason.
Tugging her blouse from the waistband of her skirt, he lifted it over her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. He saw pink lace against white flesh and the dark hue of her areoles beneath. As if reading his mind, she put her fingers to the front closure and the sc.r.a.p of material opened. l.u.s.t cut through him like a jagged edge at the sight of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Bending slightly, Drew took a hardened peak into his mouth and suckled her hard, laving the engorged tip with his tongue. Alison writhed beneath his manipulations, her breaths coming hard and fast against his ear.
Drew jolted when he felt her hands at his zipper. Because he was already close to losing control, he tried to turn away. But his reflexes were slow. Vaguely he heard the rasp of his zipper. Then her fingers closed around him and a starburst of ecstasy exploded and his brain simply stopped functioning. Closing his eyes against the intensity of the pleasure, he groaned and moved against her.
”Alison...”
”This is insane.”
”I'm crazy for you.”
”Drew,” she whispered. ”How can you deny that we're more than just friends?”
The words jerked him back to reality, like a bungee jumper reaching the end of a very long cord. Drew shook himself hard, keenly aware that he was painfully aroused, that he didn't want to stop. But there was no way he could live with himself if he let this go any further.
Sighing in frustration and disappointment and self-loathing, he stepped back and turned away. ”Oh, man.”
While she hooked her bra and tucked in her blouse, he zipped his fly and tried like h.e.l.l to ignore the painful ache in his groin-and the heavier ache in the vicinity of his heart.
For several long seconds the only sound came from their heavy breathing and the ping of rain against the window. He risked a look at her. She looked like a woman who'd just been thoroughly kissed. A woman he would have sold his soul to kiss again. A woman he wanted to do a h.e.l.l of a lot more to than kiss.
The weight of what he'd allowed to happen yet again settled onto his shoulders like a boulder. Without saying anything, he started for the door.
”Don't you dare walk away from me again,” she snapped.
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