Unwilling to let him win, she said suggestively, “You never think about having my hands and mouth on you, sucking you off until you beg for mercy?” She ran her finger along the rim of her glass slowly, deliberately.
“I’d be fucking begging for more,” he growled as he surged forward and reached out to grab her wrist, stopping her caressing motion on the crystal. “Don’t keep playing this game with me, Scarlet. You’ll lose. I’ll have you bent over the table naked in about ten more seconds.”
She shivered at the warning tone of his voice, finally realizing she was playing with fire. Licking her lips nervously, she realized he was serious. “Why?” she whispered, confused because this was much more than a game, and the intensity she clearly saw in his expression was almost frightening.
It wasn’t scary because she feared Julian. It was terrifying because her body reacted to every single emotion he displayed, feeling like they echoed her own.
“Why? I’ll tell you why, Scarlet. Because I want to fuck you so badly that I won’t be able to stop myself!” he grumbled, releasing her hand so she could rest it on the table. “You’re traveling, and you’re sick. It’s the only thing keeping me from pinning you against the nearest solid object and doing what I’ve wanted to do since the moment I met you.”
She gaped at him. “We don’t like each other.”
“Oh, I like you. Maybe a little too much,” he grumbled as he sat back in his chair again, guzzled the last of his beer, and placed the empty mug on the table with more force than necessary.
Foreplay?
Kristin grudgingly admitted to herself that she’d liked him, too. But he’d been just a little too rich, just a little too handsome, just a little too funny, and more than just a little dangerous. Her instinct had been to push away the impossible.
Julian Sinclair had created an immediate fight-or-flight instinct deep inside her. Since she’d never been the type who ran away, she’d fought with him. They’d been mostly slinging insults at each other ever since.
When she thought about the kindness he’d shown in the past, from the large tip to the compliments he’d tried to give her that she’d shoved back in his face, she was starting to understand why she’d reacted so violently to him.
“I’ve always liked you, too,” she admitted. “But you annoy me.”
“I get under your skin, sweetheart, just like you get under mine.”
He did. She couldn’t deny it. Julian Sinclair aroused some complicated feelings that she couldn’t explain. “Maybe we can discuss what we do to irritate each other and we can try to get along. What can I do to make you feel less uncomfortable? How can I make me feel more like a friend than a woman you want to screw?”
He shook his head slowly. “All you have to do is breathe. I’ve been fighting the attraction between us since we met. I’m not doing it anymore.” He crossed his muscular arms over his chest and stared at her, as though he was waiting for some kind of answer.
She nearly knocked over her glass as she fumbled with it nervously. She had no idea how to deal with his bluntness. Part of her still insisted he was just playing with her, but reason couldn’t really support that theory anymore. He was rich, a Hollywood star. He had better things to do than go pick on some chubby redhead from a small town in Maine. She’d seen him with his relatives, his cousins, and his little brother. Julian wasn’t a mean bully. He was a guy who cared about the people he let into his inner circle.
“It’s just a chemistry thing,” she finally answered. “It will go away.”
The minute the words came out of her mouth, Kristin knew she was rationalizing. Her inexplicable longing for Julian had started a long time ago, and even though she didn’t really wear out her vibrator every other day, she thought about him when he was gone.
A lot.
“That’s what I thought, but nothing has changed,” Julian replied morosely. Moments later, in a more curious voice, he asked, “Do you really touch yourself and think about me when I’m gone?”
Kristin nearly spit out a mouthful of ginger ale. Swallowing hard, she coughed for a moment, not sure how to answer. “Honestly?”
He nodded.
She’d never felt this free discussing sexual needs. But the way he asked made it less uncomfortable. She was a medical person. Sex was part of life. It just wasn’t something she generally discussed with a guy who made her feel like Julian did.
He made her feel wanted.
He made her feel desired.
Like some kind of sexual goddess.
Kristin was used to discussing sex in clinical terms, not personally with the man who was causing her sexual frustration.
“Maybe occasionally,” she hedged. “Usually I’m so tired that I fall asleep when my head hits the pillow.” It was true, but she’d been lying awake a lot more often since Julian Sinclair had invaded her thoughts.
His brows drew together slowly. “How many occasions?”
Kristin blew out a breath, exasperated. “Okay. A lot. I do it a lot. I didn’t used to, but I guess you make me hormonally crazy.”