“Ah,” he said quietly. “Daddy issues.”
Her eyes flew open, but there was no mockery in his face. Instead, he let out a long, slow breath. “I nearly hit two kids who ran out in the street in front of my truck last week,” he said.
“Oh, my God.”
“Yeah. Twin five-year-old girls. They were walking to school.”
“Alone?” she asked.
“Well, not after I found them.”
She felt her heart melt over this big tough guy facing an emotion as sweet as protectiveness for two little girls he didn’t even know.
“They’re foster kids,” he said. “And their foster mother is supposedly one of the better ones, but…” He shoved his hand through his hair and shook his head. “I saw them again later when I worked Craft Corner—”
“Wait,” she said, stopping him. “You’re working Craft Corner?”
He scowled. “Yeah. So?”
She smiled. “You’re working Craft Corner,” she said again, and laughed. “I’d like to see that. Mr. Tall, Dark, and Grumpy-Ass working with little kids.”
“Now, see, how is it that everyone but me knew it was little kids? Jack conned me into it,” he admitted.
She laughed again.
“Not funny.”
“You being conned into anything is pretty funny.”
“You think I’m impenetrable?”
“I think you’re a fortress.”
He blew out a breath, but didn’t deny it. “Pink told me their mom is dead and their dad’s in jail for the big one.”
She was beginning to see why this had gotten to him. “Murder?” she asked.
“That’s what I assumed. I had Luke run them.”
“And?”
“And mom is dead, but their dad’s working at an auto shop in Seattle.”
She gaped at him. “That f*cker.”
“My thought exactly.”
He looked extremely pissed off again. Unusual for him, but she understood now and ached for the girls and him. “I didn’t have the greatest childhood,” she said quietly. “But I know it could’ve been so much worse.” She met his gaze, knowing that his childhood had been worse, maybe as bad as the girls’. After all, his dad was rumored to be in jail, too, and his mom had just dropped him off one day at his cousin Jack’s and had never come back for him. She couldn’t even imagine the ways that haunted him. “I know you had it rough,” she said softly.
He met her gaze and then stepped into her a little bit more, so they were sharing air. “I don’t feel like talking anymore.”
His voice and proximity gave her a whole-body shiver. “Sure. What do you feel like doing?” she asked.
He just looked at her, eyes blazing.
“No,” she said, lifting a hand, not sure if she was warding him off or really just trying to keep herself in check. “I meant what I said earlier.”
He caught her hand in his. “When you said you didn’t need a man, but if you did it wouldn’t be me?” he asked. “When you said you wanted sweet? And…beta?” This last was said with more than a hint of mockery.
“That’s right,” she said, standing by her words, however stupid they sounded now. “Beta.”
They were toe-to-toe now, and their bodies brushed. His was tough as nails. Hard. Warm.
Strong.
Male.
He smelled like freshly cut wood and like whatever soap he’d used. Like overheated man.
And everything within her tightened in desperate need, just to be…taken. To let go. To forget, just for an hour…
“You’d better say it again,” he said very quietly.
“What?”
“That you don’t want me.” He gave a slow shake of his head. “Because you’re looking at me like I’m dinner and you haven’t eaten all day.”
She let out a shaky breath, and her breasts brushed his chest.
His eyes darkened, but he didn’t move. “Aubrey. Say it.”
“I said I don’t need a man,” she said softly. “Need and want are two different things. I don’t need a man.” She blew out a breath. “But I want one. I want you. Damn it.” She was so on edge that she was already trembling, dying for his first touch. For the taste of him.
For the oblivion she knew he’d bring.
But he still didn’t move.
She raised her chin, looking him straight in the eye. “Don’t play hard to get, Ben. It doesn’t suit you.”
His jaw tightened, and she couldn’t help but be a little maliciously pleased at making him as frustrated as she was. “I’ve just said I want you,” she murmured. “So what’s the problem?”
“The problem is—” His eyes dropped to her coat, the one covering her from neck to thigh.
“Yes?”
“Shit.” He shoved his fingers through his hair again, the muscles in his arms taut as he stood before her, the image of hot and temperamental, with testosterone and pheromones pouring off of him, and her stomach cramped.
He was going to refuse her.
Reject her. She started to turn away, but he slapped both palms on the wall on either side of her head, caging her in. “I don’t need you,” he said succinctly.
“Already established,” she managed, her body already humming, yearning, aching for him. Her body was a hussy.
Still holding her caged against the wall, his gaze dropped to her mouth. “This changes nothing,” he said. “We do this, we’re over it.”
“So over it.”
He nodded, gaze on her mouth. His own quirked very slightly. “You want me.”
“In spite of yourself,” she said, annoyed all to hell. “Yes.”
He stared down at her for what felt like an eternity. “Lose the coat.”
Chapter 12
Aubrey’s bones liquefied. “What?”
“You heard me,” Ben said, voice so low and rough as to be a growl.
She had no idea what it said about her that she reacted to this with a shudder that was a mere millimeter below orgasm. Not taking her eyes off Ben, she reached up and slowly began to unbutton her coat. There were a lot of buttons. Each one she popped open made his eyes darken further.
After the last one, she let the coat fall. Before it hit the ground, Ben slid a hand on the nape of her neck and drew her in, his mouth closing over hers. Soft, then sure and demanding, and the hunger consumed her, hot and terrifying.
As if he felt the same, he let out one low, mirthless laugh and whispered, “Damn, you drive me insane” against her mouth.
There was a note of dazed frustration to his tone, and Aubrey absolutely knew the feeling. He wasn’t in her future, and yet he tasted better than her wildest fantasies. And God help her, but she wanted more.
Leaning in again, his mouth hovered near hers as his gaze raked down her body, sending sparks racing along every nerve ending. “In those f*ck-me boots, you’re as tall as I am,” he said.
“Is that a problem?” she asked.
“Hell, no. I like it. We’re all lined up.” Proving it, he hauled her in against him, one hand sliding up to sink into her hair, the other low on her back, nudging her even closer. She let out a low moan at the contact, and his lips curved in a sinful smile. His mouth should be illegal in all fifty states, but she bet he could do things with it. Things she wanted.
Bad.
He nipped at her lower lip, and she parted for him, but then he bypassed her mouth, skimming along her jaw. She heard a needy whimper. Hers, of course. Her eyes fluttered closed as he kissed a hot path to her ear and ran the tip of his nose along her lobe. “You sure this is what you want?” he asked.