So Toxic(Bad Boy Next Door Book 4)(256)

He leans back and pushes his hands over his face and through his sun-bleached hair. “Yeah. I got a hold of her yesterday. She’ll be flying in tomorrow.”

I catch my breath and let it out slowly, allowing it to fill my cheeks before the air escapes. “Is she okay?”

“She’s not good. I think this is pretty tough for her. She’s always kind of put Dad up on some sort of pedestal.”

My stomach churns just thinking about the things Dave probably saw. I heave a sigh.

Danny brushes the hair out of my face. “How are you doing? I hoped to spare you from this. I thought I’d found all the cameras. I told him—”

My brain stumbles over his words. I jump up and back around the low table. His brow wrinkles, and he opens his mouth like he’s going to say something.

Closing my eyes, I turn away and hold up my hand. “Wait. Stop. You knew he did this before I found that stupid camera in the shell? And you didn’t tell me?”

“I didn’t want you to feel violated.”

My mind fries in my skull. “You didn’t want? You? What about me?”

He stands and grabs at my hand, but I snatch it away.

“God, Danny. That’s not something you keep from someone. I had a right to know.”

He throws his hands in the air. “Well, pardon fucking me for trying to protect you.”

I grind my teeth. My words burst from my mouth in a rush. “Maybe I don’t need you to protect me. Maybe I just need you to know I’m capable of handling my own shit life. I can deal, Danny. I’m not going to fall apart. I’m not going to crumble. I’m not going to—I don’t know—whatever it was you thought I’d do.”

He pulls me against his hard chest, whispering, “I know you won’t crumble or fall apart. I’ll always know that, but that doesn’t mean I won’t always want to shield you from a world too imperfect for you. As the man who loves you, it’s my job to protect you.”

His breath catches and his voice lowers. “And I—failed.”

The break before that last word slays the last of my anger. I lean into him. His citrus scent brings back a thousand memories of his hands on me—of him holding me safe in his embrace.

He lays kisses along the curve of my shoulder. With his mouth still pressed against the skin left bare by the straps on my sundress, he says, “I meant what I said, Mo.”

A little ball of hope grows in my stomach, trying to push out the uncertainty lurking there. “Which thing did you say?”

“I love you. And I want you. God, do I want you.”

His erection firm against my stomach confirms that last part.

Somehow, even with the turmoil in my heart, and tough decisions hanging over my head, knowing what I do to him, physically, gives me a sense of power. Pressing against him, I run my hand up his shirt and around his neck. My fingers push through the hair at his nape.

Maybe I can just let this play out? See where it goes? Perhaps Danny will stick around.

Or maybe I just want to feel him inside me again. Let him take me to that place where I can fully let go and lose myself in him. Is it possible for me to enjoy this relationship while it lasts, even knowing it probably won’t be long-term?

Danny brushes his mouth across mine. His tongue runs along my bottom lip. I open to him. He backs us around to the sofa again as his hand smoothes up my spine. We fall together onto the tweed fabric.

He lays over me as his hand slips under the hem of my dress, over my knee, and up my thigh. His lips finds mine, exploring, probing, nipping as though he’s never going to get to kiss me again—like he’s desperate.

He moves to my neck, his fingers inching closer to my throbbing center. I lick my lips and suck in a deep breath. Do I let this go on?

What will it mean to us?

Does it change anything for me?

For him?

Somewhere, deep inside, I want it to. Even if just for the time I have now, this moment of bliss before my world changes forever.

I let my palms glide over his muscles, until I find the bottom of his shirt. I tug on it.

He pulls back, his glass-green eyes glinting with—hope? Anticipation?

Then he yanks his shirt over his head. He dives back to me, taking my bottom lip between his as he starts again, kissing, stroking—loving me into oblivion.

When he moves lower, sliding my straps over my shoulders, he whispers, “This is okay?”

I close my eyes. A knot of fear sinks into my soul, but is enveloped in a shroud of my own hope, covering it long enough for me to give in to my desire.

I nod.

Danny lets out a breath as though he’s been holding it, waiting for my answer. “I love you, Sweets.”

He finds my folds. His touch feathers them until I open my legs wider. Whiskers skim the tops of my breasts as he uses his chin to push the top of my dress down. He slips the tips of his fingers between my pussy lips. Warmth flows to my entrance.