Bad Behavior(127)

His teeth left my shoulder as he rested his head on the pillow. I wanted to wrap up in him and the sheets and never leave the room. His heart hammered into my breast as I stroked his hair. We lay there, coming back down to earth, for a while. I winced when he pulled out and knew I'd be walking funny for the rest of the weekend.

He moved to my side and propped his head on his hand. "Are you okay? I didn't hurt you, did I?"

I leaned up and kissed his nose. "No."

He gripped my waist and pulled me closer to him, his eyes studying me as if I were a painting. "What am I going to do with you?"

"You seem to be doing just fine so far." Hot sex and amazing orgasms? Yeah, he was doing great.

"I can't seem to stop complicating things." He sighed. "But you make it impossible." He rested his hand on my cheek. "You overwhelm me. You know that?"

I couldn't stop my smile and the pink that rose in my cheeks. "I do?"

"Yes. I've never felt . . ." He blinked hard.

I held my breath. Go on.

"I've never done this before. Let's just leave it at that." He kissed my forehead and settled on his back next to me, hiding his eyes.

A pin stabbed into my heart as if Wash were treating it like a voodoo doll. I wanted to be satisfied with our night together and the morning after. I did. But I'd wanted him, all of him, for so long that his reticence to open up burned. My eyes stung, but I forced the tears away. Not here. Not now.

As the sun rose on us, the sweetness of the sex faded, and I was left with nothing but a bitter aftertaste.

"Look what the cat dragged in." Terrell must have been sitting and waiting in the living room, because he opened the door before I could gingerly place the key into the lock. My down-low walk-of-shame plans were blown to bits.



       
         
       
        

"Good morning to you, too." I brushed past him and retreated to my bedroom.

He wasn't going to let me get away so easily and followed close at my heels. "I want details."

"We had a good dinner, and then I stayed in his hotel room." I tossed my shoes into my closet and stripped my dress off before turning the shower on.

"That's fascinating." He leaned on the bathroom doorframe as I finished disrobing and stepped under the hot stream. "But you know what details I want. Tell me about the P in the dreaded V, Caroline." He sighed extra loudly.

I spent the rest of my shower giving him play by play, with random interruptions of "Are you sure he doesn't want this D?" I ignored the warmth that coursed through me as I remembered Wash's touch, his kiss, his words. It was all more than just sex for me. I wanted more. But he'd made clear he wasn't comfortable with more.

I toweled off and wrapped my hair before sliding into my sheets.

Terrell crawled up next to me and turned me around so I faced him. "I liked the sex parts of the story. I truly did. But I'm not a dummy. What's wrong?"

I shoved my face into the pillow to hide my tears, and Terrell pulled me closer and rubbed my back.

"Did he hurt you?" Terrell's hand froze on my back, and he tensed.

"No. Nothing like that. I just . . . I'm an idiot."

He started rubbing me again. "That goes without saying, but what are you specifically referring to?"

I stopped suffocating myself in the pillow and lay face-to-face with him. The concern in his eyes reminded me why he'd been my best friend for years.

"I just thought he would, I don't know, say it wasn't just the sex or say he, I don't know, wanted more. You know?" My tears flowed silently.

His eyes sobered. "Wash isn't the sort of man who would just jump into feels like that, Caroline."

"I know." I sighed. "But after last night, I thought he'd . . . I thought we had a connection. I felt it, you know?"

Terrell wiped my tears away with his thumbs. "I do. Breeders aren't the only ones who fall in love."

He'd given voice to what I'd feared for a while. I wasn't in like with Wash anymore. I'd graduated to the big leagues quite some time ago. I was in love, but he didn't love me back. The realization cut deep.

"Why doesn't he love me back?" I asked the question, though no one could answer it but Wash.

"Just because he isn't forthcoming with the words doesn't mean he doesn't feel it, Caroline. Don't give up on him yet. This is all brand-new. I've done my homework on him. He hasn't had a serious relationship in like, ever. You've gotten to him in a way no one else ever has." 

"You've been spying on him?" My sob hitched in my throat.