She knew this, and it broke her heart all the more.
A muscle flexed in his jaw. “My mother took that money. She took his fifty thousand, and she didn’t look back.”
Bennett’s mother had cleared out of town and never come back. Bennett’s father had died when he was a child, just as Ivy’s mom had, and Bennett—
“Why did you come back?” Ivy asked. She truly hadn’t thought there was anything left for him in this town.
“Don’t you know?” His eyes glittered at her as his head began to lower.
Her heart beat faster. She wanted to think that he’d come back for her. That after all that time had passed, he’d still cared. He’d needed her.
But she wasn’t given to delusions. Not usually, anyway.
“Why?” Ivy asked again, her voice soft.
He kissed her. Not a hard, desperate kiss. Not an I’m-Starving-And-Must-Have-You kiss. But deep. Slow. Sensual.
Her eyes closed as she leaned in to him. Ivy’s mouth moved slowly against his. Her lips touched his, and her tongue slid to tease his. She’d always loved his kiss. He’d savored her in the past—and he was savoring her now.
He hadn’t been the first boy she’d ever kissed, but he had been the first to teach her about passion and need.
And the first to break her heart.
I begged him to stay, for me.
Her hands rose and pressed to his chest. She pushed against him and Bennett’s head slowly lifted. His eyes were heavy-lidded, that green of his gaze so very deep.
“You know I want you,” Bennett said.
Wanting wasn’t enough but…
Maybe it can do, for now.
“You’ve been in my dreams,” Bennett told her, his voice gruff. “Too many nights. A man should never think about one woman the way I think about you.”
“How do you think about me, exactly?” Because that would be good to know. Her own voice had come out husky.
“Every damn way I can. I think about the things I want to do with you. To you.” His voice deepened even more as he confessed, “The way I feel about you…it isn’t safe, Ivy. It isn’t good. You should be telling me to get my hands off you.”
“But I want your hands on me.” All over her. “I’m not the one who ran away.”
“Ivy…”
She rose onto her toes. She’d pushed him away a moment before but now she was the one locking her arms around his neck and pulling him back down to her. She’d stopped him because the kiss, while certainly good, had been wrong.
Too slow. Too careful. Too controlled.
When they touched, they were supposed to ignite. The passion was supposed to take over. It wasn’t supposed to be lukewarm. Good.
That’s the way it was with others.
With Bennett, it was supposed to be insane.
“Let go,” she whispered against his mouth, and then she kissed him again—with every bit of need and desire that she had bottled up inside of her.
She let go.
And…so did he.
This kiss was different. This kiss was hot. It was wild. It made lust burn through every cell of her body. His hands were on her hips now, and he jerked her up against him. That wasn’t enough. That wasn’t close enough—he must have felt the same way because Bennett lifted her up. He pinned her against the nearest wall and he crushed her there, caging Ivy with his body.
His mouth didn’t let hers go. His tongue, his lips—they were whipping up the frenzy of her need. Her nipples were tight and aching and she couldn’t get enough of him.
Her nails sank into his shoulders. Her legs wrapped around his hips. The guy was sexy strong—he held her easily right there and—
Something was ringing.
It was her.
Bennett’s head lifted. He blinked and frowned down at her.
“M-my phone,” Ivy whispered. Someone had the worst timing in the entire world. Her legs slipped off his hips and her feet hit the floor, and it was a good thing he still had a grip on her waist because her knees felt a little jiggly. She fumbled and yanked her phone out of her back pocket. Unknown caller. She glanced at Bennett, but then put the phone to her ear. “Hello?” It was far too late for some telemarketer, and the kick in her gut warned her this wasn’t going to be good.
“Why are you with him?” The voice was low, rasping. Was it the same voice that she’d heard the night before, in that dark corridor? She couldn’t tell for certain. Maybe.
Her gaze was on Bennett. “Who is this?”
“I’m the man in the mask…the only man you should see…”
Her hand shook just a little as she held that phone. She pulled the phone from her ear and swiped her fingers over the screen, activing the speaker option so that Bennett could hear the call. She mouthed “It’s him” to Bennett.
Ivy cleared her throat. “The man in the mask? I don’t—”
“You saw me. Did you enjoy it? Knowing that she was dying, right then. With the crowd all around, but they were oblivious, so oblivious…we knew. You and I. Just us.”
Oh, jeez, he was making it sound as if they’d been involved in the killing together. “I tried to stop you!”