Hot Protector(51)

She heard the bedroom door open—her bedroom door because he hadn’t left her alone the way she’d thought he might when they were finished—and she turned. Her heart flipped and then pounded faster.

He was dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved gray Henley with the top two buttons undone. There was a mark on his neck, right above his collar, and heat pooled between her thighs at the sight. She’d done that. She’d marked him the way he’d marked her.

God help her, she wanted to do it again.

His dark hair was still damp after his shower, but his eyes smoldered as he looked at her across the room. They simply stared at each other, and she wondered what was going through his mind. Was it regret? Desire? Disgust?

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

How was she feeling? Uptight. Jumpy. Needy. Angry because she wasn’t here to have fantastic sex with a gorgeous man but rather because some asshole was threatening her life.

And then there was the tenderness between her legs, the delicious little hurts of the love bites on her skin, and the tingling in her nipples even now as she stared at him. How could she quantify any of that into words?

“I feel fine,” she said. It was a lame response, and his eyes narrowed.

“Fine.” He stalked toward her and her pulse fluttered. When he stopped in front of her, he didn’t touch her. But he was close enough that his body heat enveloped her. “What’s that mean, Sophie?”

She swallowed as she stared up at him. “It means I feel fine. I’m not hurt or upset or anything.”

His gaze dropped to the vee of her sweater. Bless whoever had picked out clothes for her, because they’d managed to get things that flattered her body instead of making her look and feel fat. She knew they’d hacked her credit card records, but there were things in there she’d bought that she didn’t like. Thankfully they hadn’t chosen those styles.

“How do you feel about what we did last night?”

Wow, that was blunt. She could feel the heat blossom in her cheeks. “How do you feel?”

He snorted and pushed a hand through his hair. “You want me to answer before you do. I get it.”

He took a step closer to her and put a hand on her hip, drawing her into him. She didn’t resist because what kind of crazy woman would?

“I feel like I want to do everything we did last night again,” he said. “I feel like I’d fucking kill for the chance to taste you right now—and yeah, I feel guilty too.”

That shocked her. He was such a hard, dangerous man that she hadn’t thought he could feel guilty about any of this. She’d thought he might be angry with her, or with himself, for what they’d done. She’d thought he’d be pissed because of the connection to his father. She’d never thought guilt would enter into it.

“But why? Why are you feeling guilty?”

“Because you’re sweet and inexperienced. Because this can’t end well for us, no matter how hot we are together. There’s no future here, Sophie, and you need to know it. I should have told you before—but I didn’t.”

Her heart ached at his words even though she knew they were true. “I didn’t ask you for a future, did I?”

“No.”

“I’m not stupid, Chase. I know why we can’t be together, assuming we’d even want to be after this. It’s sex, nothing more.”

Surprisingly, it hurt to say that. There was something about being with Chase that made her feel things she’d never felt in her life. It wasn’t love or anything like that—how could it be?—but it was something more than just sex.

For her anyway.

He threaded his fingers into her hair and cupped her head in his hand. “You haven’t had a lot of experience,” he said softly, and her stomach hitched.

“What makes you think that?”

His smile was tender. “Honey, a man knows.”

“So now you’re telling me I suck? Geez, Chase, way to make a girl feel grand.”

He snorted. “You definitely don’t suck. You’re pretty damn hot in bed, in fact. But you haven’t fucked a lot of men. It’s not a criticism. In fact, I find it to be a bit of a turn-on.”

“That’s because you’re lecherous.”

“Show me a man who isn’t.”

He had her there. She put her hand on his wrist, held him lightly. She loved that she could do that. That she had the right to do it, at least for now.

“So I haven’t been with a lot of men. So what? It doesn’t mean I don’t know what this is, okay?”

His gaze settled on her mouth. “I’m not sure I know what this is.”