Be With Me(33)

Sawyer put a finger under her chin and pushed upward until she reluctantly met his gaze again.

“No.”

She cocked her head. “No? Just like that?” He sighed. “Reggie, no one’s keeping score except you. No one expects it. It’s not what we want.”

“What do you want?” she pleaded. “I think I know. I tel myself I know, but then I tel myself that it’s crazy.

What sane person would even contemplate it?”

“I never claimed to be sane.”

She punched him in the gut with her good hand.

He grunted and caught her fist. He careful y uncurled her fingers and kissed each tip.

His gaze met hers again as he kissed her pinky.

“Why don’t you crawl up and get comfortable, and I’l find us a loud, obnoxious movie. I’m looking forward to spending the time with you, and I’d rather not waste it analyzing my sanity or lack thereof.” Cal her nuts, or crazy, or maybe as insane as he was, but she leaned forward and kissed him. Maybe she needed to prove to herself that she wasn’t running, or maybe she just wanted to make the move for once. Whatever the case, she found her lips pressed to his, inhaling his sexy male scent.

He stil ed against her, and then she heard his sharp intake of breath. She slid her hand over his chest and up the column of his neck. His goatee brushed against her chin, prickling, eliciting a shiver from her.

His lips were warm and pliant against hers. Soft, but not too soft. A hint of firmness.

She sank her teeth into his bottom lip, and he groaned.

Slowly, she pulled away. Her breath came erratical y. His eyes were half-lidded as he stared at her, desire clouding the blue eyes, darkening them to midnight.

As if he sensed the moment was over, he turned away and got off the bed. He walked to the TV and knelt to dig in the cabinet where the movies were stored.

Regina crawled up and settled among his pil ows.

She sucked in several steadying breaths. Wild.

Hungry. Those were words that came to mind after kissing Sawyer. She knew he wasn’t the type for fril y lovemaking. She knew it long before that night a year ago.

He wasn’t the soft, sensitive kind who could murmur just the right words and take al night to make love to a woman. He liked it hard, edgy, the rock-your-world kind of sex. And yet, when he touched her, she stil felt . . . cherished.

There was an edge of steel to him, like having sex with him would be akin to chasing a storm. He’d held back the one time they’d made love. She knew it.

Part of her wanted to tap that wildness. The other part of her was scared shitless.

It was also why she was convinced that this thing . .

. what they wanted . . . would never work. How could it when each of them held back, reserved that part of himself that made him uniquely him?

The mattress dipped as Sawyer eased onto the bed beside her. He pointed the remote at the television then turned back to her.

“You ready?”

She nodded, and he patted the pil ow he was resting on. She moved over, and he raised his arm so she could nestle in the crook of his shoulder.

“Put that hand on my chest so it doesn’t get bumped or smushed,” he said.

She smiled and settled her brace across his body.

His arm tightened around her, and his fingers brushed up and down her arm from her shoulder to her elbow.

“This is nice,” he murmured. “Been a long time since we did this.”

Yeah, it had. And she was to blame. She’d missed it too, though.

Despite the action and noise of the movie, she settled into a comfortable haze. Sawyer’s body heat seeped into her and lul ed her closer to sleep.

“Sawyer, for God’s sake, turn the damn TV down.

You’re going to wake—”

Regina turned to see Cam standing in the doorway in just his shorts. His hair hung to his shoulders with just enough muss to make him look damn sexy.

“You were saying?” Sawyer said dryly.

Cam walked into the bedroom. “Sorry. Didn’t know you were up, Reggie. I could hear the TV al the way in my bedroom, and I worried it would wake you.” She smiled. “I couldn’t sleep, and Sawyer was the only one up.”

“You could have wakened me. I wouldn’t have minded.” He turned his attention to the TV. “What are you guys watching?”

“Rush Hour,” Sawyer replied.

Regina lifted her hand off of Sawyer’s chest and careful y patted the space beside her. “Want to watch?”

Cam climbed onto the bed and lay down beside Regina, his shoulder touching her back as she turned toward Sawyer once more.

“Are you al right? Having any pain?” Cam asked.

“I’m good,” she replied. She yawned even as she said it.

Sawyer looked down and smiled. “Getting sleepy?”

She frowned. “No. I’m comfortable. Let’s watch the movie. I don’t want to go back to my room yet.”

“Honey, no one said you had to move. Stay as long as you like.”

She burrowed deeper into the pil ows and nestled between the two men, and it suddenly occurred to her how right it felt. Her brow furrowed as she contemplated that notion.

No, not tonight. She wasn’t going to rehash it al . It made her head hurt. For now she just wanted things to be like they used to be. When they were al friends and comfortable around one another. Before sex had screwed up everything.