Cocky Roomie_ A Bad Boy Romance Novel(24)

Did my voice actually just crack? Really? Come on!

“You married at nineteen,” he says frankly, leaning back with toast in his hand. He takes a huge bite of it, his face totally casual.

“I could have slept with other boys in high school.”

“Did you?” he asks through the chewing. Now his eyes betray him. They’re suddenly on fire with curiosity.

I pick my fork up and push my food around, keeping my eyes down. “I’ve only been with Edward.”

“Until today.”

Lightning cracks in my veins.

I lay the fork slowly down. “Yes.”

We can’t look away from each other. He sets his fork down, too, and leans forward to rest his elbows on the table. Under his steady gaze my heart starts pounding in all kinds of unusual places. What does he want me to say? That I want him? I do, God help me. But I will not sacrifice my sanity when I’m just getting secure footing.

I hold my breath, waiting for what he’s going to say. His eyes are full of unspoken things and his muscles are bared to me, tense with determination to keep his hands off me, or on me, I can’t tell which.

Frankly, I don’t know if I have the courage to turn him away.

“Drew…”

“Mmm?”

“I want to throw this table to the ground and pin you to this wall.” The stubble sways as he clenches his jaw. “It’s taking all I have to resist the urge of making you beg me again. I know I could do it.”

“Well, that’s very assumptive of you.”

He says, dead serious, “I know I could do it. But I respect you, and I respect what you’re trying to do. Starting your life up. A real life. Of your own.” He pauses. “I think it’s wrong that you’ve waited this long to work for yourself, have your own place, be in a city that has so much to offer you. I’m glad you went to the park today. I’m glad my Uncle gives people with empty resumes a chance. I don’t know what’s going to happen to you. You may not like it here after a while. You may move back. You may become Mayor one day, who knows?”

I laugh softly at the idea. “Oh please, I’m not going to be…”

“You have no idea what you’re going to be, Drew.” He holds my look with meaning. “You’re only just now trying to find out.”

My smile vanishes because an ache in my chest has gotten too strong. “Thank you, Jake. That’s very nice of you to say.”

“I don’t know how much more time I have before I go to Denver, but I need you to know this. You’re right. The main reason I won’t be stripping you naked every day until I leave, isn’t because I wasn’t planning on anything serious, and you want serious. It’s because I really respect what you’re doing, and I don’t want to confuse you. If I continued to fuck you the way I want to fuck you – and today was only a taste of that – it would make my leaving very hard for you to concentrate.”

“You’re a cocky asshole, Jake. I would be able to concentrate.”

“So, you want me to turn this table over and shred those clothes, and your sweet-tasting, tight little cunt with them?”

The spark that snaps to attention is intense and immediate. “No. I do not want that.”

“You’re lying. But that just makes it easier for me to keep my word. I won’t try fucking you again before I leave. I can’t make any promises for when I return.” He rises up, abs flexing as he reaches over and grabs my plate. “You done with this?”

“I’ve lost my appetite.”

“For food.” He lays one plate on the other, picks up my toast, puts it in his mouth, grabs the silverware and heads off. I watch his perfect ass until he disappears into the kitchen, thinking, my hands gripped onto that ass today, only it was naked then.

My body is on fire and I’m very confused. Blinking around me, I have no idea what to do with myself. He may be the most obnoxiously cocky man I’ve ever met when it comes to awareness of his sexual skills, but he’s right about his abilities. One hundred twenty percent on the money. He’s amazing. He’s also right about how it would affect me. I can barely concentrate now and I’m only thinking about sex.

Screw it. He can clean up the orange juices glasses. I’m going to bed…and to my vibrator.

“Goodnight,” I call to the kitchen.

His tone tells me he’s hot and bothered right now, too. “Night, Drew. Lock your door.”

Lock my door? Is it really that hard for him to follow through with what he just said? That he wants me that badly is beyond wonderful. It makes me feel beautiful.

I don’t want to go to bed alone.