Instant Gratification (Wilder #2)(44)

His place, she realized. He flicked on the mudroom light. The entry opened to a living room which was dimly lit by the single light by the front door, but she could see exposed wood beam ceilings and gorgeous distressed oak wood floors. There was a large comfy looking couch and several chairs facing the biggest TV she’d ever seen, and beyond that, a huge sliding glass door leading out to the black night.

Using only the mudroom light, he moved to the couch and plopped down, kicking his booted feet up onto the coffee table next to an SLR camera and a tool belt.

A study in contradictions. “I can’t figure you out,” she said.

“Ditto.”

She took her bag off her shoulder, set it at her feet, then crouched down to open it up.

“Don’t bother, I’m not letting you re-stitch.”

Glancing up along the length of him—and up, because damn, the man was tall—she wished he’d turn on another light. Especially since his broad shoulders blocked out the glow from the mudroom, casting his face in shadows. “I’m just going to disinfect and put on one of your standard medical go-to’s—a Band-Aid. Okay?”

He said nothing, so she flipped on a lamp herself, then pulled out antiseptic and a gauze. Bending over him, she wiped away the now drying blood. “You know, you ought to think about buying stock in Band-Aids.”

He said more of his loaded nothing. She put on a steri-strip, then straightened and sighed. “Okay, listen. There’s nothing going on between me and Spencer. At least not in the way you’re thinking.”

His eyes cut to hers. “Not that it matters, but your definition of nothing is interesting, considering I saw you playing tonsil hockey with him.”

“You saw him kissing me. He was proving a point.” At his raised brow, she raised one of her own. “That our chemistry is no longer there. How did you get hurt?”

He lifted a shoulder.

“Let me guess. You went to Moody’s and once again got beat up by three women?”

A corner of his mouth quirked, and he let out a breath. “I helped TJ on a climb, and as it turns out, our client is an idiot.”

“You should probably try harder to weed those out in the selection process.”

“We do try, but sometimes they get past us.”

“Huh.”

He slid her a look. “Hey, even you have to treat the *s of the world.”

“Yes, but I don’t have to put my life into their hands. What happened?”

“We were roped together and he screwed up on a grip. Kicked me in the head as he fell. He’s lucky that I have fast reflexes and caught him anyway, or we’d both be bleeding. Or dead.”

She stared at him. With those surfer boy good looks and that throwaway charm he exuded in spades, she kept forgetting how easy it was to underestimate him.

She’d underestimated him.

Because no matter how much he looked like a slacker, he was nowhere close. “I’m really not sleeping with Spencer, Stone.”

“Anymore.”

“Anymore,” she agreed. “I’m not sure why I feel the need to tell you this, but it’s the truth. And, as long as I’m opening a vein, I’ll tell you I haven’t had sex in nine months.”

“Long time.”

“At about the six month mark I stopped missing it.”

“How is that even possible?”

“I’m a girl. We aren’t programmed to think about sex 24/7 like guys do.”

“We don’t think about it 24/7. It’s 20/7, max.”

She smiled wryly. “I keep telling myself it’s not nearly as good as I remember it.”

He tugged her down to the couch with him. Those broad shoulders of his blocked out most of the light. His eyes were very dark. “It would be with me.”

Oh boy.

He shifted closer, then closer still. “Tell me one more time why you were kissing Spencer.”

“To see if there was a spark.”

His hands settled on her arms as he slowly but inexorably pulled her up against him.

He looked at her mouth, his eyes heavy and sleepy, and she shivered, anticipation racing down her spine, branching out into all her good parts, of which there were many more than she remembered.

Way more.

She could feel his hard chest against hers, the easy strength in him as he held her. He was still looking at her mouth as he dragged his teeth over his bottom lip, like it was taking no effort at all to hold her, but plenty of effort to hold himself back. “Do you feel a spark now?” he asked silkily.

If she felt any more sparks, she’d burst into flame.





Chapter 15




Stone absorbed the bone-melting sensation of Emma’s arms winding their way around his neck. “Do you, Emma? Feel a spark?”

She pressed even closer, letting out a hum of desire that went straight to his head. And parts south. Far south.

“It’s too soon to tell,” she murmured in his ear.

“Liar.”

“Okay, fair enough.” Her lips were brushing his earlobe with every word, and he was hard as a rock. “I think…I think I feel an entire set of fireworks.”

“Good.” He nodded, definitely feeling the same fireworks. He’d nearly made those fireworks work for him the last time they’d been alone together, when she’d nearly given it all up for him. Nearly…nearly…and then TJ had shown up and he’d been shit out of luck. Suddenly, he had hopes that tonight would end better. “Let’s make sure.”