Her words trailed off when I tipped her head back to expose her neck to me. I spread hard nips all over her neck, being sure to leave a mark. “Keiran, stop,” she moaned and pulled me closer.
“No,” I growled against her neck. “I fucking missed you. I missed this. I missed tasting you.”
“Why are you doing this to me?” she whined with lust in her voice.
“Open the door, baby. Let me in, or I swear I’m going to fuck you hard right here for all the neighbors to see.”
“Oh, God.” The door opened quickly, and I had to anchor her to me to keep us from falling inside. I stole her lips in a kiss finally while I backed her through the door. I kicked the door shut and picked her up, carrying her through the hall and into the living room where I set her on her feet. It was as far as I needed to go for what I needed to do. “I’m not supposed to be doing this. I’m not supposed to give in to you.”
“You already have. Many times. What’s one more?”
“My life,” she whispered desperately while looking up at me.
“Not this time.” I sealed my vow with a kiss that threatened to steal my soul and hers. Fuck. What was she doing to me? I wasn’t supposed to care about hearts and minds and vows—much less admit I had either.
“Why are you here, Keiran? Seriously.” She pulled away from me to hug herself around her waist and fuck if I didn’t feel jealous of her arms.
“It’s Valentine’s day.”
“And? You don’t care about that stuff. You have no reason to.”
“But something tells me you do and every reason I have is standing right in front of me.”
“So what? This is supposed to be your grand gesture?”
“If dinner and a fucking movie are what you call a grand gesture, then I guess so,” I snapped. The more time she spent staring at me with a hard, distant look in her eyes, the more my confidence began to fade. The thought of her rejecting me irritated me—not that I could blame her if she did. This tug of war game between her and I had gone on for far too long.
“If this is your way of getting me into bed again, let me just warn you that you aren’t heading in the right direction.”
“Fuck.” I ran my hands through my hair in frustration. “I’m not used to this. I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing.”
She walked up to me, wrapped her arms around my neck, and whispered, “You can start my asking me to dinner properly.”
“Properly, huh? How would I do that?”
“You could say… ‘Lake will you go out with me?’”
“But I already know you will.”
Her arms left my neck before she turned around and headed for the stairs. “I’ll see you around. You can let yourself out.”
I felt the move before I could rethink and swept her up in my arms. “Don’t test my fucking patience.”
I bound up the stairs and headed straight for her bedroom where I dumped her on her bed.
I dropped my bag and quickly pulled out a long box. Her expression was fierce but still so damn cute as she shot daggers at me. I actually felt nervous when I extended it to her. She looked from it to me, but still didn’t move to take it.
“Don’t be a pain in my ass. Take the box. There is nothing in there that can hurt you.”
“Are you asking me to trust you?”
I realized I had no right to ask it of her, but I didn’t realize until recently just how much I needed it. “Yes.”
Her eyes watched mine for signs of insincerity while I held her gaze openly. I saw the decision in her eyes a split second before she slowly took the box from my grasp. Her fingers peeled back the box while I watched on silently. The paper was discarded, and when she saw what was inside, she stilled.
“Shoes? You got me shoes?” I hid the smile that tugged at my lips from the sound of disbelief and the look of disappointment. I had no clue what she would have hoped was inside, but I did know one thing now… she wanted more.
“Do you like them?”