Crave (Billionaire Bachelors Club #1)(35)

I should have her sprawled naked and needy beneath me, screwing her brains out at this very moment. Forget emotion, forget everything but that driving need to consume. That’s how I usually operate.

Yet here I am. Acting like I’m in junior high and holding hands with a girl for the first time. Terrified and out of my mind with it.

“Is this just an excuse to get in my pants?” she finally asks, her voice wary. She’s so damn smart. “You wanting me to work for you in such close circumstances? Seems pretty desperate if you ask me.”

Slowly shaking my head, I let my thumb drift across her plump lower lip. Only a month since I last kissed her and I can vividly remember her taste. The sounds she makes. The way she wound her arms around my neck, her slender fingers threading through my hair. Her touch had felt so damn good. Too good.

Fuck. That’s exactly it. She’s too damn good for me. I need to remember this.

“You’re the only woman I can trust, Ivy,” I murmur, my heart lodging in my throat, making it hard to speak. “The only woman who understands me and my life and my career and what’s required. I know you won’t leak any information about the new location. And I know I can trust you to help me make the right decisions when it comes to designing the interiors.”

A trembling breath escapes her, the gust of air brushing against my thumb. My heart rate kicks up into a steady gallop and I inhale deeply. Trying my damnedest to act like she doesn’t affect me.

But holy shit, does she ever affect me.

“How can I understand you when I don’t even really know you, Archer? We’ve never been close.” Her gaze drops to my lips, lingering there. “Despite what . . . happened between us last time, there’s nothing between us.”

I feel like there’s too much between us, but I won’t go there now. “You’ve been a part of my life for a long time. You’ve known me since I was a teenager. Before I became . . . this.” The consummate playboy who can have any woman I want at any time. The workaholic hotelier who throws himself into his business until all he can do is live and breathe Hush. And now there’s Crave . . .

“Yeah, well my feelings still haven’t changed about you. I think you’re crazy.” She gasps when I lean in and brush my lips against the right corner of her mouth. That quick sample of her soft skin makes me ache for more. “Wh—why are you kissing me?”

“Because I need to.” I kiss the left corner, moving to capture her upper lip between both of mine, nibbling a little bit before I release her. “I need your help, Ivy. I can’t get the resort ready without you.”

“Stop it.” She’s pushing at my chest but I’m not going anywhere. “Don’t say things you don’t mean.”

“You really think I don’t mean it when I say I need you?” I’m incredulous. I sure as hell need her. More than I care to admit.

I have to convince her back into my bed. At least one more time—possibly a few dozen times before I let her go back to her world and I go back to mine. She was there the night of Jeff and Cecily’s wedding reception. All that pent-up chemistry swirling between us, exploding the moment my lips first touched hers. She knows how combustible it can be between us.

So why is she full of so much doubt?

“You don’t need me. You just want me to bail you out of trouble. I’ve never mattered to you. Not really.” She tilts her head away from mine when I lean in for another kiss.

“Damn it, Ivy,” I start, but she cuts me off.

“You abandoned me, Archer.” Ivy’s voice is so soft, I can hardly hear her. “I know we agreed our having sex was a mistake, but the way you touched me in the suite at Hush right before Gage texted you, I was so confused. I thought you wanted . . . oh my God, I don’t know what you want. Not really. I don’t get you. Since I left you that afternoon, you haven’t called. I haven’t heard one peep out of you, not that I expected to.” She takes a step back, withdrawing from me completely, and my arms feel empty without her in them. “This back and forth between us is . . . difficult. I can’t risk getting close to you again only for us to end it before we really gave ourselves a chance. Not that there’s an “us” . . .” Her voice trails off and her cheeks turn pink. She probably didn’t mean to admit such a thing.

Her small admission gives me hope.

“I won’t touch you. Unless you want me to.” I smile but she doesn’t return the gesture. Heaving a big sigh, I cup her cheek, briefly sliding my fingers across her soft skin before I let my hand drop away from her. I can’t help but touch her, but if she doesn’t want me to, I won’t. “I promise.”

Pressing her lips together, her hazel eyes go wide as she trembles. I draw her back into my arms, protecting her from the cold. She has to be freezing since she left her coat in the restaurant. “Let’s get out of here and you can come back to the hotel with me downtown. I have the penthouse suite and the view of the city is amazing. It’s too damn cold out here to talk.”

Ivy stiffens in my arms just before she withdraws from me yet again. “Come with you back to your hotel room? I don’t think so. Next thing I know, I’m flat on my back and you’re all over me.”

I smile. Damn, that sounds amazing. “And that’s a bad thing, why?”