A thrill ran down her spine at his assessment, but why did it seem as if he wasn’t happy about it. Had she missed something?
She twirled her finger in front of her like she was stirring a bowl. “This thing going on between Ash and me? It’s just temporary. You know, for fun.”
Rand shrugged and picked up a cup that had fallen under the table. “All I know is that he’s never brought a woman here before.”
Never? “That doesn’t mean anything.”
“Listen, Olivia. You know he’s not…from around here, right?” She nodded. “Did you know that where he’s from, just the act of living together—you know, as a couple—can be taken as a betrothal?”
She nearly dropped the cups she was holding. “You can’t be serious.” Ash must’ve been laughing inside when she’d made that offhand comment to the army interrogators about living together.
“In his culture, sharing the same living quarters means a lot more than it does to us here. He wouldn’t have invited you to stay for the week if he didn’t have feelings for you that were more than just—” He looked around to make sure there were no little ears listening in. “Sexual. He’d have found a motel. Gone to your place. That’s all I’m saying.”
No way. They’d only just met when he offered up his proposal. How could it have meant anything more? “He didn’t tell me that.”
He jammed a few more plates into the bag. It definitely seemed as if something about the situation was bothering him. “Maybe it hasn’t occurred to him yet.”
“But it has to you?” she asked skeptically.
“I don’t mean to get all up in your business, it’s just that I’m an observant sonofabitch and a damn good judge of character. Not much gets past me. How else could I run all this, employing the kind of people I do—the kind of people that society has thrown away—and succeed?”#p#分页标题#e#
Obviously, there was something more going on here. Why wouldn’t he just come out and say it? He didn’t strike her as the kind of man who tiptoed around anything, and yet…
She narrowed her eyes and looked at him again. Was his odd reaction because he was in love with Ash? She hadn’t gotten that vibe from him before, but then she hadn’t been looking.
“If you want to know the truth,” she said, “we’re just doing it for the sex. There’s nothing emotional going on.” If only she believed that. “So if you…uh…have feelings for him, I won’t stand in your way.”
Rand had just taken a drink and was now spitting it all over the table in a fine mist.
“Daddy!” Caitlyn shrieked from across the room. “That was sick.” All the girls in the piñata line turned to look.
“Sorry, honey,” he called. “Olivia just told me a funny joke.” He turned back to Olivia, his eyes sparkling with amusement. “You think I’m…that we’re…” He had to put his hands on his knees to keep from falling over as he laughed. “That is fucking hilarious.”
“I take it I’m wrong.”
Wiping his eyes, he straightened to his full height. “Hey, he’s a good-looking dude, I’ll give you that, especially when he’s wearing the boots he stole from me in a poker game. But I don’t roll that way. The only cock and balls going into this mouth are the ones from Voodoo Donuts.”
Okay, she really had read him wrong, then.
As she finished cleaning up, she still couldn’t figure out why he was bothered by the fact that Asher might have deeper feelings for her.
Dark and Deadly: Eight Bad Boys of Paranormal Romance by Jennifer Ashley, Alyssa Day, Felicity Heaton, Erin Kellison, Laurie London, Erin Quinn, Bonnie Vanak and Caris Roane
CHAPTER 14
Asher made love to Olivia slow and easy that night, every movement fluid and rhythmic. Again, he was amazed at how well they fit together. Until Olivia, he’d always held back a little—a fact that was just dawning on him now. With her, he could lose himself without worrying that he was hurting her. It was carefree. Liberating. And addictive as hell. As her muscles tightened around him, increasing the friction to mind-blowing levels, he drove in deeper and joined her in ecstasy.
When it was over, he rolled to his back and tossed the condom in a nearby trashcan. She snuggled into the crook of his arm, throwing one knee over his leg.
What would it be like to make love to her without any barrier between them? For her body to receive his seed rather than the latex sheath? What would it be like to have a child…with Olivia? To hold in his arms a human being that they’d created together. A piece of the two of them, and yet completely different.