“Oh, come on. It’s late and we’re tired. I’d really like to stay.”
It was a long drive, and the round trip would be miserable. Still, he wanted to prove his sincerity in taking it slow, and having her here all night would make that close to impossible. Maybe he’d drop her off and then sleep at the office. “You staying is a terrible idea.”
She put her hands on her hips. “Why? Do you think you can’t control yourself?”
Pretty much, yeah. “Of course I can. It’s your self-control I worry about,” he teased.
She walked past him to the bedroom, wandered over to his bed, sat on the edge, and slipped off her shoes. “I have an iron resolve. Do your best.”
He sat next to her. “Really, Claire. It’s a bad idea.”
“Going home is a bad idea. Even if it were only a block away, I wouldn’t want to go back there tonight. I want to stay here with you, surrounded by your arms rather than my grandparents’ stuff and the memories of their suffering. I’m leaving soon.” She took a deep breath and gave a helpless shrug. “We don’t have to mess around, I just don’t want to be alone.”
Neither did he. He’d been alone way too long. “Deal.”
Her grin was worth the self-restraint he was going to have to summon to make it through this.
After digging up an extra toothbrush from his cabinet for her, checking into the security status of the other Anderson properties, and rolling his bike into the garage, Will changed into gym shorts in the bathroom as a layer of insurance. Sleeping in the nude like he usually did would not help at all. Hell, the shorts wouldn’t really help either, he realized, staring down at the woman he’d dreamed about sharing this bed with since he’d met her. Only in his dreams, she wasn’t wearing warm-up pants and a T-shirt. And she wasn’t sound asleep, like she was now.
Part of him was glad she’d drifted off before he joined her. It made her easier to resist, which was getting harder to do; the reasons to resist made less sense every minute.
In the blue moonlight coming through his window, he studied her beautiful face. She’d curled up on her side near the far edge of the bed, facing out. Her hand was tucked under her chin and her gold hair was fanned out on her pillow, spilling onto the mattress. He quelled the urge to run his fingers through it.
Calm, easy breaths came through her parted lips, which he wanted to kiss as much as anything he’d ever wanted in his life. But he didn’t. He needed to earn her trust back. And going back on his word wasn’t the way to do that.
He slid under the covers on the opposite side of the bed, focusing on her even, relaxed breathing. “You’re a rainbow, Claire,” he whispered right before he drifted off to sleep himself.
Chapter Twelve
Will remained perfectly still until he got his bearings—a habit left over from his days in the Marines. At some time during the night, Claire had snuggled against him, and at that moment, the feel of her was setting off alarm bells and waking every part of him.
More than one alarm was going off, he realized, as a shrill chime sounded from her side of the bed. She murmured something under her breath and grabbed her phone from the nightstand, silencing it. “Freaking Heather won’t leave me alone,” she said, shoving the phone under her pillow and rolling back against him again, filling him with a red-hot desire that made his pulse hammer and his cock swell. All his fine intentions of going slow seemed silly now. Ludicrous, actually. “What time is it?” he asked.
“Just after two,” she answered.
“Technically, tomorrow. Time to negotiate, Miss Maddox.”
“I have a proposal for you.” She pushed back against him and he groaned as her hot body pressed against his erection. “I take that vocalization as an acceptance of my proposal, Mr. Anderson?”
He slid his hand under her shirt and cupped a breast. “Your proposal meets my approval, and is accepted with enthusiasm.”
“You’re lifting the ban?”
He rolled her to her back. “Yes. I’m lifting the ban…and the covers.” He threw them off. “And your shirt.” He pulled the bottom of her shirt up, exposing her breasts, then ran his fingers over her amazing, soft skin before following with his tongue. She made a gratifying moan and squirmed. “And these pants need to go as well,” he said, untying the cord that held them in place. He pulled them, along with her thong, down to her ankles. “In fact, let’s get straight to business and just get naked. What do you say?”
“I like the way you think,” she said, ripping the shirt over her head and kicking the pants the rest of the way off.