Truly, Madly, Whiskey(13)
Who was he kidding? He hadn’t gotten a hard-on for another woman in months.
As if she felt his presence, Crystal glanced up at the door, and his body thrummed. Jesus, what was he? A horny teenager?
No, jackass. A guy who has gone without for too f*cking long and knows there’s only one woman to satisfy him.
Crystal strutted up the center of the store with the confidence of a model on a catwalk. Her hips swayed, her shoulders squared, and that long black hair he wanted to wind around his fingers cascaded behind her, as if she were walking into the wind. Or maybe that was just his sex-starved mind working overtime, because he also imagined her completely naked, save for those sexy stockings and heels, beckoning him forward with a come-hither stare. Come, baby, come.
The sound of the locks turning snapped his brain into gear. He shook his head to clear his dirty thoughts as she pushed the door open.
“You okay?” She dragged her eyes down his body, lingering on the erection he had no chance of hiding. “Hard evening?”
He stepped into the boutique and turned the lock on the door. She had a badass reputation as a girl who was into tough guys. Bear wondered if he hadn’t been aggressive enough with his playful banter. Tonight he’d step it up and give her what she seemed to find attractive in other guys. Or at least what she used to. He hadn’t heard her talk about any other guys in months, and his gut told him it was because she was totally, one hundred percent into him. He just needed to get past whatever was holding her back.
“Baby, you have no idea what you do to me.” He walked forward, backing her up until she hit the costumes hanging on a rack. “I’m not sure how I feel about you dressing like this in public.”
“You have no say in how I dress.”
He gathered her in his arms, and she squirmed.
“What are you doing?”
“More than eight months, baby.” His hands moved down her back to the dip at the base of her spine. “That’s a long damn time to be thinking about you the way I think about you.”
“Then don’t,” she challenged.
He touched his lips to her cheek, feeling her heart hammering against his. “What are you waiting for, Crystal? You know I want you. I know you want me.”
“What I know,” she said in a firm voice, “is if you move your hands an inch lower, my knee is going to put a permanent end to your ability to have a hard anything.”
“What’s wrong, baby?” he asked softly. “What scares you so much that you have to toy with me?”
She clutched his chest, the color draining from her face. “Bear, please stop.”
He stepped back, shocked by the conflicting emotions staring back at him, and fought the urge to pull her back into his arms and protect her. From himself?
“Crystal, you know I’d never really force myself on you. I was just playing around.”
She rolled her eyes, scoffing as she walked away. “No shit.”
“So, what’s wrong? Shit, babe. The last thing I want to do is scare you.”
“Your chick meter is off. I’m not scared. I’m just not in the mood for this. It’s been a long day, and it’s not nearly over.”
“Christ.” He let out a relieved breath. “You scared the piss out of me.”
“Sure it was piss?” She glanced at his jeans and raised her brows. He’d gone soft at the fear he’d thought he’d seen in her eyes. “Looks like we took care of that mighty sword of yours.”
“Not quite the way I had envisioned,” he mumbled.
Chapter Three
“REALLY, BEAR. I can drop you at your place before I go to the fabric shop.” Crystal started the car, feeling more in control than she had inside the shop. She hated the way she’d frozen up when things had gotten hot between them. She wanted him. After putting herself through three years of therapy, dealing with not only the trauma of the attack, but the bullshit with her mother and the loss of her father, she was sure she could handle anything. She’d dated other guys since she’d left college without issue. Why did it have to be different with the only guy she wanted to be close to? It pissed her off that her past still owned a piece of her, and she needed to get over it before Bear got fed up and walked away for good.
“I have to go to the store anyway.” He flashed one of his smiles. “We might as well go together.”
“You need to go to the fabric store?” she said flatly, knowing he was bullshitting her. She realized her car smelled different, cleaner. The seats were shiny, the dashboard dust free. “Did you clean my car?”
“Detailed it,” he said casually, as if he did this type of thing every day. For all she knew, he did. “Changed your oil, topped off your fluids. You really need to do those things every three thousand miles.” He touched the doll hanging from her rearview mirror. “I dusted off this, too, even though I’m a little worried that it’s a voodoo doll.”
She wasn’t about to tell him it was a worry doll that she loved more than life itself.
“Bear.” She couldn’t suppress her smile about the voodoo doll as she drove toward the store. “You really need to stop acting like you have to take care of me. I appreciate you handling the inspection, which I’m paying you for, by the way. But you don’t have to do all these things for me. I already like who you are.” Even if I have a hard time showing it.