“Why would they do that?” she wondered out loud. “They don’t know me.”
“No, but they know me. Know I haven’t had a woman I cared about in years. Know I’ve been drownin’ in shit for two years and am just now comin’ up for air. Know I’ve got a woman that needs protection and one call was all it took. They were over here yesterday makin’ sure my woman was safe.”
“You keep saying your woman. I’ve never said I was your woman. In fact, I don’t recall you asking.”
“I told you, baby. You became my woman, the first time my dick was in you.”
She looked up and pierced him with a glare. “So you’re saying that any woman you have slept with has been ‘your woman’?”
His expressive eyes changed from amused to something else she couldn’t read, but was very visible nonetheless.
“Baby, part of us seein’ where this goes is hammering out things from the past. But that is not a conversation we want to be havin’ right now.” Seeing her eyes narrow he continued,
“At some point, we’ll share about our pasts. Gonna let you know right now, mine is not pretty, but you already know a lot of that. I’m no saint when it comes to past women, but again, that is not a conversation we want to have now. But you were different from the moment I laid eyes on you. Never felt that before. Never cared about watching a woman come before. So yeah, since our first time, you’ve been my woman.” He paused, spearing her with his sharp gaze. “Now can you honestly say you don’t want that?”
Sighing loudly, she agreed. “You’re right. I’m too tired to have a conversation that will undoubtedly piss me off. She lowered her head, studying her shoes for a moment.
“What’s goin’ on in that pretty head of yours, baby?” he asked gently.
She lifted her eyes back to his, feeling as though she could really see him now that she had expressive blue eyes to peer into. “Shane, I’ve never done any of this. I barely date much less have the craziness that we have had. Leon told me that I should be more spontaneous and have some fun. Look where that got me? Questioned by the police, men breaking into my clinic trying to kill me, me needing a security system…” Shaking her head again, she sighed. “It just seems so backwards. We should have met. Been honest. Got to know each other. Then and only then, if we were sure there was a connection, have sex.”
“In a perfect world, baby, that’s exactly what I would have wanted to do with you.” He leaned closer until they were almost touching, keeping his eyes on her the whole time.
“Shane, how do I know that I’m not just the first girl that gave in to you that wasn’t in that other world? I mean, this could all seem bigger to you because you’re not undercover anymore.”
He could see self-doubt cloud her expression as he lifted his hands to cup her face. “Annie, I haven’t been undercover my whole life. Hell yeah, the last two years sucked. But before that, I dated, and never met anyone that made me want to know them the way that I want to know you. I can’t give you promises right now, but I can honestly say I want to explore what we have.”
Peering up into his eyes, she nodded and whispered, “I’d like to see where this goes too. But I want to back up, Shane. I need us to do this slower.”
Smiling, he pulled her in for a kiss. One that started out slow. Gentle. Then with a touch of her tongue, went wild. Untamed. Wet. Unrestrained. Just like him.
Chapter 11
That evening, Shane ordered Chinese and he and Annie sat at her little table eating. He noticed that she was quiet. Almost uncomfortable.
“What’s up baby?”
A guilty look crossed her face as she raised her eyes to his. “I’m sorry,” she said.
“Don’t want you to be sorry, Annie. I just wanna know what is goin’ through that beautiful head of yours.”
“Shane, I don’t know anything about you. I was just thinking that I’m sitting here with someone that I know intimately, but don’t know at all.” Shrugging, she added, “It just seems weird that’s all.”
Finishing his food, he stood and took their plates to the sink and rinsed them out. Returning to the table, he took her hand and assisted her to her feet before leading her over to the old sofa. Sitting down he pulled her down into his lap. “So let’s talk, baby. What do you want to know?”
Smiling, she said, “Now I can’t think of anything with you staring at me like that.”
“Okay, how about I just start out telling you what I think you might want to know.”