Rush (Breathless #1)(27)

If it were any other woman he’d either take his pleasure or suggest they both sleep, and he’d turn away, isolating himself from any intimacy. But with Mia he found he had other…needs. Needs he didn’t even understand. Nor did he particularly want to analyze them or dig too deep. He wasn’t certain he’d like what he discovered.

“Come here,” he said, offering his arm so she could lie as she’d done before.

Mia pulled the covers up and snuggled into his side, resting her head on his shoulder.

For a long moment they were both silent and then Mia stirred, turning her head so she could look up at him.

“You aren’t going to make me call you master or anything like that are you?”

His eyebrow went up and he glanced down to see a mischievous twinkle in her eye. He shook his head. She amused him, and he found himself wanting to laugh. “No. It sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? I’m not much on the appearances of a certain lifestyle or stereotype.”

“No yes sir or no sir?”

He relaxed into their playful banter and smacked his hand over her ass. He was comfortable around her, and he found he enjoyed this…moment. Or whatever the hell it was. He should be f**king her again, and yet he was savoring just being here in bed and watching her smile and flirt. Holy hell, but if she turned that flirty, innocent smile on another man he wouldn’t be responsible for his actions.

“You’re already a disrespectful little baggage. And no, don’t call me sir. It makes me sound like your father and I already have enough reservations over our age differences to not want to draw even more attention to that parallel.”

She lifted herself up, her hair falling over his chest as she stared down at him. Jesus, but she was beautiful. All that gorgeous hair spilling over him. Suddenly he was beyond the playful-banter stage, and he was seized all over again by the need to roll her underneath him and f**k her for another four hours.

“Does my age bother you so much? If it does then why would you want…this. I mean us.”

He sighed, resigning to control himself at least a few minutes longer. His dick was screaming at him, but Mia was in the mood to talk and he’d accommodate her for now.

“It bothered me in the past. It doesn’t bother me as much now. But there are fourteen years between us. You’re much younger. A whole world away from where I am in my life.”

She frowned a bit and a pensive look entered her eyes.

“What are you thinking?” he asked, curious at her hesitation.

Her chest rose with the forceful inhalation of her breath. “You’ve hinted that you’ve wanted me for…a long time. How long, Gabe?”

He was silent a moment as he pondered how to put his words. The entire conversation turn made him uncomfortable, but he’d pursued the question in her eyes. He couldn’t very well refuse to give her an answer when he’d encouraged her to ask.

“I think it was when you came back from Europe, when you took a break in your studies to go overseas. I hadn’t seen you much as it was. Just on the occasion when you were with Jace or at holidays. And then when you graduated college. No longer did I see you as a girl, Jace’s baby sister. I saw you as a desirable woman. One I wanted to possess. It caught me completely off guard.”

“Why now?” she asked softly. “If not then, why now?”

He had no answer for that, other than seeing her on the street the day he’d taken the photo. It had been a fist to his gut. All of the desire and need he’d suppressed had come roaring to the surface. She was an itch under his skin he couldn’t rid himself of. Even now that he’d had her, the itch wasn’t alleviated. It was more intense than ever.

“It was time,” he said simply. “And you, Mia? When did you decide you wanted me?”

She flushed and averted her gaze. Color bloomed in her cheeks making them a delightful shade of pink. “You were my teenage crush. I’ve fantasized about you for years but you’ve always been so far out of my league.”

Something in her tone alarmed him. It shook him. And he realized just how disastrous this could be if she weren’t able to separate her emotions from their physical relationship. Perhaps it was why he’d held off for as long as he had. Aside from the difference in their ages, there was the fact that she was a girl. A young woman who hadn’t had the emotional experience that the other women he’d associated with had.

“Don’t fall in love with me, Mia,” he warned. “Don’t take this for anything more than it is. I don’t want to hurt you.”

Her lips twisted in scorn and her eyes narrowed. She leaned back, putting more distance between them. He didn’t like it. He wanted her close. Touching him. Where he could feel her softness and warmth against his skin.

He leaned up, curling his arm around her, and then pulled her back until she landed against his chest. She had no liking for that. Too bad. She could say whatever she wanted to say with him touching her.

Her mouth scrunched into a frown. It was adorable and cute, but it would only piss her off if he said as much. His own mouth twitched, threatening to smile, but he quashed that urge and stared expectantly at her as he waited for what she had to say.

“That’s awfully presumptuous of you, Gabe. Not to mention arrogant and assholish. You’ve been clear in your expectations of our arrangement. I’m not an idiot. Do you assume every woman you meet falls head over heels in love with you and can’t live without you?”