I had to drag my eyes away from her and back onto the road.
She sighed and then whispered, "I thought we were just friends. That you only thought of me as your best friend's little sister. So what made you decide to lead him into thinking that we are together?"
Haven't thought of you like that for years, beautiful. But now's not the time...
"It was something you did actually…well, something you said to me last night that changed my mind." The gorgeous vision of her coming apart for me while saying she loved me had done things to my heart. Even now, nearly twenty-four hours later, the dull ache hadn't subsided.
"Oh no, James, what did I say?" There was panic in her voice.
"No. I'm not telling you while I'm driving. I need to be able to look at you when we talk about what happened last night."
"You're scaring me."
"Nothing to be scared of, Win. It's just me, remember? What did I tell you before we arrived at my parents' earlier?" I pegged her with a hard look.
"You'll never do anything to hurt me," she answered in a subdued voice along with the unmistakable signs of fighting off the urge to squirm in her seat. Fuck. That simple move of hers was all it took to send a spike of hot lust straight down the length of my cock. Mine. Everything she did—or didn't do—had the same effect on me, apparently. And she has absolutely no idea.
"That's right, beautiful one. Don't you forget it. If I make a decision that involves you, it will always be something meant in the spirit of your protection and with your happiness in mind."
She nodded easily. Or maybe more of an act of submission. "I will remember, James," she answered quietly before resting her hands gracefully in her lap and relaxing into the seat for the remainder of the drive home.
Yep. I could read the signs all right. By the time we'd made it back, I had a better understanding about her behaviors and body language. It led me into crazy fantasies of tying her to my bed and fucking her into the mattress, yes, but that attraction had been present for a while in me. This was something far more than mere attraction.
I'd bet it all on the idea that Winter was naturally submissive with me and would be when it came to sex. I'd seen it. After spending so much time with her in close contact, my mind was running rampant with filthy thoughts. And how in the holy hell was I supposed to subdue the images of us together rolling through my head like an 8mm porno? Pointless to even try, asshole.
Jesus fuck…
We hadn't even gotten out of the car before the plans changed yet again. I was just about to open my mouth and ask her if she'd like to come up to my place when her phone pinged. I watched her expression as she read it, and even predicted what it would be about.
"Lucas wants to pick me up tonight instead of in the morning," she said as she read his text aloud. "He says nine o'clock at BGE. That means I have less than two hours to get changed, pack a bag, and make it to the helipad." She looked at me and smiled one of her half-smiles I found so sexy.
"All right, I'll take you." I hated she was leaving, but the rational part of my brain knew it was wiser. What in the hell was I thinking anyway? That she would stay over at my place? Sleep in my bed? Let me have her any way I wanted? You're a delusional fucking freak for even going there in your head.
"Thank you, James," she answered as she texted him back to let him know she'd be there. Once she was done, she sunk into the heated leather and gave me her full attention. She appeared relaxed, but I knew she hadn't forgotten what I'd promised her earlier—that we would talk about things.
"You're welcome, but you know we don't have anywhere close to enough time for our talk like I promised you. I don't want to rush it, because it's important, and we need some time to process everything." I picked up her hand and held it. Lucas might have changed the plans for our quiet evening of soul-baring conversation, but in a way, I was relieved. Talking about what had happened the previous night would have to wait. The timing was way off for any kind of serious conversation about the future. Deciding if we were getting married any time soon certainly qualified as serious.
"I know that, but I really need to know what's going on here…between us. You kissed me earlier and it—"
"What about the kiss?" It was rude of me to ask her the question after cutting her off from answering, but suddenly I was desperate to know what she'd thought of it.
"It was good." I didn't miss the flush that crept up her neck to color her cheeks. Shy Winter did very dirty things to my imagination. Yet, I also saw trust in her expression. She wasn't submitting to me because she felt weakened by me. Less than me. Unlike my mother with my father. I now knew how attracted Winter was to me, and by the end of the night, she'd have no doubt how fucking gorgeous I saw her. She'd known me a long time, knew I was fairly serious for the most part, and knew I'd behaved differently with her today. But for now, I had to tease her a little more. I had to see her fire.
"Well, I should hope it was good, because you begged me to do it."
"Oh my God, I did not." She ripped her hand out of mine and glared at me.
I couldn't help laughing at her outraged expression. "Oh yes, you did, beautiful." I nodded slowly, allowing myself the luxury of taking my fill of looking at her. If I could, I'd take her upstairs and lock her inside my apartment and keep her with me until we'd hashed out every detail of how this would roll out—preferably naked or pretty fucking close to naked.
Her, me, us—together.
Because she was already mine, and if anyone was going to have Winter Blackstone, that man would be me.
It will be me.
Chapter Twelve
WINTER
At the elevator my phone pinged a text alert. Unknown number. Thank you. Your generous gift helps so much...Shane & Brenna love Ms Winter! Alanna Markham "Oh my God, James—Shane and Brenna's mom just texted me." I tossed my phone to him. "Read it." Unable to contain my joy, I jumped up and down. She has a little help now. The kids would get some winter clothes…and new jackets…and new shoes. This meant everything to me. Helping people, for whom even the smallest bit of extra help, could make such a huge difference to their daily life—
"Easy there, trampoline queen, we're in the elevator." He said it absently while studying my phone.
"Don't slow my roll, please. This is very good news to me, and it makes me incredibly happy to be able to help them just with this one small thing."
"It's not a small thing," he said distractedly while tapping into my phone.
I could tell he wasn't really paying attention to me. I doubted he even heard me. "James? What's wrong?"
He looked up and gave me an expression that was hard to read at first, but then it morphed into one of admiration. "You have no idea how good you are. You don't even realize it." James had been listening.
"But what I did today with the cash and the gift card was basically nothing. Just giving a tiny bit of something I have too much of, to Shane and Brenna who don't have enough. It won't change their situation long-term, but it helps them today. I want to do so much more, James. If I could help in a big way—"
"You will. I know it. And if I can help you make it happen sooner rather than later, then will you be my wife, Winter Blackstone? And also, you need to know I definitely won't be marrying you just to dissolve the marriage later. That's not part of the deal anymore."