Part 16 (2/2)
”Started to,” he replied. ”But couldn't make it to the front door. I collapsed on your sofa. Sorry about that.”
”No problem.”
He tried to move his legs, which felt as if they were still asleep. ”Did you finish reading that file?” he asked.
”Not all of it. There's only so much legal stuff I can take in one sitting.”
”Oh.” He wished she wouldn't stand there like that, so close to him. She still had on those cutoffs and a tank top. She looked fresh and smelled good. And just to think that in his dream he had come close to getting what she had refused him in reality. Close but not close enough, deep but not deep enough.
He pulled in a deep breath and figured he'd better get out of there before doing something real stupid. Like reaching out and grabbing her thighs, unzipping her shorts and tasting her all over.
”I guess I better go now,” he said, getting up from the sofa, causing her to take a step back.
”Call me if you need to go somewhere. Give me a ring even if you decide on takeout for lunch. I want to be here if anybody shows up,” he added, throwing the sentences over his shoulder as he headed for the door.
”I don't like being bossed around, Blade.”
He turned before reaching for the doork.n.o.b. If she was trying to pick a fight with him, now was not the time to do it. Twice he had left her house in a s.e.xually deprived state. The last thing she would want today was to deliberately provoke him.
”Let it go, Sam. I'm not in a good mood. Just do what I ask.”
”No, I won't do what you ask. My father's name is Antonio DeAngelo Di Meglio and not Blade Madaris.”
Blade glanced down at the floor and counted to ten. He even muttered a few choice words. When he felt enough time had elapsed, he glanced back over at her. He studied her and saw the stubbornness etched in her face, and he saw something else, too-deep s.e.xual frustration.
His heart began beating deeply within his chest. He knew the signs and should have picked up on them sooner. Their predicament was basically the same. They needed to get laid, but not with just anybody, only with each other.
Always with just each other.
He sucked in a deep breath, thinking how possessive that sounded. How final and absolute. He'd never thought about final and absolute with a woman in his entire life. All of a sudden a realization struck and it hit hard. If his feet hadn't been planted firmly on the floor he probably would have been knocked over. He was feeling strong emotions toward a woman.
But this wasn't just any woman. This was a woman who had proved she was different-difficult and different. Evidently that's what he needed. And that's what he'd been waiting for without knowing it.
He could vividly remember the night they'd met and all the times they'd seen each other since then. He had tried his luck with her, but instead of giving up, he had become almost obsessed with having her. He had convinced himself she was just another notch to add to his bedpost, and that his attraction to her was only s.e.xual.
Now, ten months later, he hadn't added her to his bedpost yet, mainly because she could never be just another notch. She was the one he had singled out without realizing he was doing so. The one woman he hadn't gotten out of his mind since first seeing her. She was the woman who constantly invaded his dreams. The one who'd triggered an urgency within him that no other woman could match.
Over the years, he had been told, preached and even lectured to about what to expect when a Madaris man knew he had found the woman for him. The one he was meant to share his life with, his soul mate. And the one thing he'd always been told was that she would be different.
The one standing across the room glaring at him was different, all right. As fiery as they came and with an att.i.tude that he would have to work on. And then there was that temper of hers from her Italian side of the family. He would let her keep it, just encourage her to tone it down some.
At that precise moment it was crystal clear why he'd been chasing her from the start, even after she'd dissed him a few times. Why he had looked for any excuse to come back to Oklahoma City to see her. Why he was living next door to her now. Why he had become her watchdog, determined to keep her safe. Why he had asked Alex to find out who was trying to hurt her. And why he had given up three hours of sleep this morning.
The reasons were as clear as the nose on his face. She was meant to be his. She was was his. And he loved her with all the heated pa.s.sion that was flowing through his body, all the torrid sensations that he felt-both s.e.xual and nons.e.xual. his. And he loved her with all the heated pa.s.sion that was flowing through his body, all the torrid sensations that he felt-both s.e.xual and nons.e.xual.
She would never believe the emotions he was feeling. Very few people who knew him would. He would have to show her rather than tell her, and eventually she would understand. He would make d.a.m.n sure of it. But he definitely wouldn't share his feelings with her yet. If he gave her an inkling of how he felt she would refuse to believe it, and would think it was his way of getting revenge. There was no doubt in his mind that she would put up a wall between them so high it might take him years to climb over it.
”Do you have a problem?”
Her words pulled him out of his daze. ”A problem?” he asked.
”Yes, you're just standing there staring at me like you have a problem.”
If she only knew. He leaned back against the door. ”My only problem is that you have too much of a smart mouth.”
She narrowed her eyes, stiffened her spine and placed her hands on her hips. ”You want to try and change it?”
He could tell she was poised, ready for a fight. She had no idea the type of battle they were about to wage. It was probably a good thing she didn't know, he thought. ”Yes, I want to try and change it. I would love teaching that mouth of yours about respect.”
He saw the fiery blaze deepen in her eyes and his lips couldn't help but twitch in response. The heat was certainly on now.
She laughed. ”Do you honestly think you can take me on?”
A sensuous smile touched both corners of his lips when he said, ”I'm going to d.a.m.n well try.”
He began walking toward her and he had to admire her for standing her ground, not moving an inch, keeping her hands on her hips and tilting her chin up, which was fine with him. It gave him a better angle for his mouth to connect to hers.
When he got close she said, ”Enough of this, Blade. I want you to leave.”
He kept smiling. ”No you don't. If I left that would be like you admitting defeat, and I don't think you want to do that.”
She lifted her chin an inch higher. ”I'll never admit defeat.”
”I didn't think you would.”
And then before she could blink, he reached out and gently grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled her face closer and slanted his mouth across hers. He was doing something about her smart mouth, just as he'd warned her he would. He was teaching her about respect in the most sensuous way.
Sam knew the best way to get out of his grasp was to use her knee to kick Blade in the groin. She hadn't taken all those self-defense cla.s.ses growing up for nothing. But at that moment when Blade slid his tongue inside her mouth, any thought of doing physical harm to him flew out the window.
Instead she grabbed hold of his shoulders and pushed her mouth even closer. His taste was invading her senses as it did each and every time their mouths locked. She enjoyed kissing him. She enjoyed him kissing her. And the touch of his tongue on all parts of her mouth was causing her to groan back in her throat. It enticed her to partic.i.p.ate in this sensual mouth play any way she could.
So she did.
Her tongue became embroiled in a heated duel, tangling with his, swirling from one side of his mouth to the other. It was as if they couldn't taste enough, touch enough or get close enough. Her body was humming in pleasure, telling her this was what it needed, but it was only the tip of the iceberg. It didn't come close. Deeper intimacy was what her body craved and what she longed for. And to prove the point-as if her body had a mind of its own-her middle pressed against his aroused member and her erect nipples poked hard into his chest. Her body prodded him to press his tongue even deeper inside her mouth, move it around in a frantic pace and lick and suck everything it touched.
He suddenly pulled his mouth from hers and stared down at her face as he drew in a much needed breath and gave her the chance to do the same. ”Do you understand about respect now?” he asked in a thick, raspy voice.
She held his gaze. ”No. You're going to have to do a lot better than that,” she challenged.
A growl emanated from deep in his throat and the expression on his face became one of intense determination. The look in his eyes-hot, hungry and devouring-sent shudders through her body and had her s.h.i.+vering. ”Then I guess I'll need to take things to another level,” he said in a voice raw with s.e.xual need.
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