He got up and closed the distance between us. My eyes fluttered shut when he cupped my face and dipped his down to mine. He ran the tip of his nose down the bridge of mine, and when he exhaled, it was a shudder of hot air across my already parted lips.
“Mia,” he said in a low, rough voice, forcing me to look at him. His eyes swam with raw emotion, the kind that sent tingles across my skin and made my heart clench tightly. “I'm falling in love with you. It's fucking scary, but not being able to love you is even scarier. Let me love you.”
“I don't have a choice.” My voice cracked. “If I didn't, then I'd have to stop falling in love with you too, and I know I can't do that.”
He pulled my mouth to his. The kiss was hard, hot, possessive. I wrapped my arms around his waist and gripped the back of his jacket, even as my eyes burned with tears at the way I'd just exposed myself to him.
At the way he had to me.
At the fact two people who'd screwed up so badly in the past could be brave enough to say fuck it and fall in love anyway.
“I believe in us, West,” I whispered against his lips. “I believe we can do this.”
“I know we can do this.” He pulled back and looked deep into my eyes. “We just need to go back in there and survive your mom—if she can talk to me this time.”
Oh god.
My mom.
“Oh no. She's going to yell at me for running away.” I groaned and dropped my head back, making his hands fall away from my face. “It was bad enough last night. “Where's West? Why isn't he here? Did you scare him off already?”” I mimicked her endless questions and finished on a heavy sigh.
Amusement replaced emotion in his eyes. “What did you tell her?”
I looked him dead in the eye and said, “I told her she terrified you and scared off the only decent guy I'd met in the past three years.”
He laughed and wrapped one arm around my waist, pulling me into his side, guiding me away from the fountain. “And she said...”
“I had to give you her phone number so she could apologize. And then hire you for their next book club meeting because their current read is about a male stripper.”
“I thought you said she didn't know I was a stripper.”
“She didn't. Then she Googled you and told me last night during dinner.”
“She... Googled me?”
“Yes.” I clicked my tongue. “It's not something she usually does, but she's pretty insistent on having pretty grandbabies and she apparently singled you out the moment she laid eyes on you, so she made it her personal mission to find out as much about you as possible.”
“I'm not sure if I'm impressed or should skip out this party.”
I nudged him with my elbow. “Please don't do that. I told her you had to deal with work stuff last night, and if you run away now, she's going to know I've scared you away.”
He laughed loudly and spun me around to the front of his body, then locked his arms around my waist. “What if I skip out and take you with me?” he asked suggestively, a lusty shadow passing through his gaze, full of promise. He lowered his voice. “We could go back to your apartment. I could take off that dress, pin you down...”
I squirmed, his words turning me on instantly. “I don't think I can escape.”
“You're right.” He kissed beneath my ear. “You'll just have to wait until later.”
“For what?”
“For whatever I want to do to you.” His eyes sparkled. “But I promise you'll like it.”
I was giggly.
I'm not saying it was the champagne or the fact I had a handsome guy taking me home, but it was definitely the champagne and the fact I had a handsome guy taking me home.
“Sssh,” I said, pressing a finger to my lips and looking back at him. “You have the footsteps of a herd of elephants. You'll wake the neighbors.”
“I'm not sure it matters.” He wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed the side of my neck. “They'll hear you screaming my name while you fuck my face within the next few minutes.”
I gasped, finally getting the key inside the door. “Sssh! They'll hear!”
He pushed me through the door, slammed it, then pinned me against it. “That's the point.” His lips descended on mine, his strong body pushing against me and flattening me against the door. “They're supposed to hear.” He slipped one hand behind my back and undid my zip in one swift movement. “They're supposed to hear that you're mine.” He tugged my dress down, and it pooled at my feet.
I squeaked as he grabbed my ass and lifted me against him, guiding my legs around his waist. A tiny laugh escaped my lips as he carried me through my apartment to my room, and an even bigger one left when he threw me back onto my bed.
I scrambled to right myself as he whipped off his tie and threw it to the side. His jacket was in the car, and his shirt was stretching across his muscles. I chewed on my bottom lip as he stared hungrily at my body and undid his shirt, then shrugged it off, revealing his toned stomach.
Watching him undress was a thing of beauty.