“How do you mean?”
He shook his head. “I can’t expect you to understand.” His head dropped and he stared at the floor. “This was a mistake. I shouldn’t have come here.”
Cullen started to turn away, and Ivy knew that perhaps the wisest thing to do would be just to let him leave her apartment. After all, the deeper she became embroiled in his life, the more problems it caused her, and the more dangerous she potentially became to him.
But she simply couldn’t bear to let him go.
As he turned, she reached out and grabbed his hand. “Cullen, don’t leave,” she said, her voice trembling a little.
He turned back towards her once more and his eyes were tortured. His face looked as though it might break apart from the strain. “You deserve so much better than me,” he said. “Look at you. You’re beautiful, and intelligent and soft and perfect. I need to protect you but I know I’ll only destroy you, just like…” his voice trailed off.
She knew that beneath the surface, he was hiding terrible secrets. Secrets that could possibly ruin them both.
Let him go, Ivy. Get as far away from him as you can. He’s trying his best to warn you.
Yet nobody had ever looked at her and spoken to her the way Cullen Sharpe did. No man had ever made her feel the way he made her feel.
How could she turn away from this man?
The truth was, she simply couldn’t.
“What can I do?” she asked, squeezing his warm hand.
“The things I keep inside me, I keep for a reason,” he said, his voice halting. “You need to realize that I do it for your protection.”
If only you knew that you can’t protect me from your past. Your past is already haunting me.
“I know,” was all she said.
And then Cullen leaned down and his lips met hers, and his tongue was sliding gently into her mouth, and she was falling into his strong arms.
His hands slid down her arms and to her hips, rustling across the thin material of her nightgown. Her skin broke into gooseflesh and her nipples stiffened as his warm body pressed against her.
Cullen’s lips were so soft and yet they were strong, passionate, speaking more to her than all of his words and explanations could ever hope to say.
His lips said that he needed her, wanted her, desired her like nothing else in the world. His lips said that he trusted her, that he was counting on her not to let him down like the rest of the world had done.
She could feel his emotions radiating off him and seeping into her skin and bones, soaking her in his very essence.
Cullen Sharpe wasn’t easy, he wasn’t normal. He was dangerous and frightening and mysterious. Going deeper with him could put her future in grave danger, because there were larger forces at work that Ivy was powerless against.
But she wasn’t able to turn away from him.
Her body was saying yes, as his mouth worked and worked, his tongue subduing her with its sensuality, and his hands promising even more seductive possibilities.
One hand slid down to her bare thigh and then up, beneath her nightgown, grabbing her ass and squeezing.
He breathed in deeply through his nose and then broke off their kiss, looking into her eyes. “Show me your bedroom,” he said.
“It’s kind of a mess right now. I wasn’t expecting company.”
“I don’t care about that.”
She turned, as his hand slid to her hip and then trailed off, letting her go ahead of him down the hallway.
She could feel Cullen walking behind her, perhaps watching her butt sway as she went. And everything felt dark and quiet and liquid, like she’d been soaked in sex and let loose into a new world.
They made their way into her bedroom. Luckily, the light was still off, so Cullen wouldn’t be able to see the pile of clothes in her closet, the shoes on the floor, the beauty products spread out across the top of her bureau.
She turned and faced him now, as he crossed the threshold and looked at her, his nostrils flaring. “You shouldn’t wear such skimpy clothing. A man can’t be expected to control himself if you show so much of yourself to him.”
Ivy smiled. “I was sleeping, Cullen.”
“You should wear a suit of armor when you sleep.” He grinned a little, but his eyes were hungry, devouring her.
“I’ll wear whatever you want.” Her heart beat a little faster as she said the words.
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” he murmured, moving closer to her.
She looked down momentarily, and Cullen put a finger under her chin and raised it, forcing her to make eye contact again. She trembled beneath his intense gaze.
“I just want to make you happy,” she whispered.
He grimaced. “You know that’s not possible.”
“Then whatever comes closest to it,” she offered.
“Lay down on the bed, on your back.” He folded his arms and nodded at her bed.