“What?” He looked floored. “You what?”
Oh hell. Her pity alert sounded. She shouldn’t have said that—no guy wanted to hear about a woman’s insecurities, and she didn’t want to emotionally manipulate him into doing something he didn’t really want to do. So now she laughed and shrugged, then took another deep, long sip of chocolate and tried to act like she hadn’t meant a thing.
Joe stared at her that entire time, his brow furrowed, his mouth thinning. Finally he spoke. “Why do you think I’m here?”
“To apologize.” Abbi smiled at him and spoke breezily, pulling herself out of the piteous funk. “Because you’re polite and actually a nice guy.”
“You think I’m a nice guy.” His frown deepened.
“Yeah.” She didn’t get why he was looking more grumpy.
“I don’t like you thinking of me as nice.”
“Oh.” She licked her lips, suddenly nervous. “Okay.” Too bad, because he was nice. Even if he was looking intense.
“I’m not a nice guy,” he said shortly. “You should know you’re better off without me.”
She rolled her eyes.
He narrowed his. “The dead fish thing. Is that why you ran away?”
“I didn’t run away. I thought we were done.”
“We’re far from done.” He grabbed her free hand and planted it palm-down on the crotch of his sweats. “Abbi, does this feel ‘not interested’ to you?”
Abbi gasped. His long, loose tee had been hiding something real special. Stunned, she stared up at him. He was that aroused? And angry?
Suddenly so was she.
“Does this?” she snapped back, squeezing her hand so she cupped his balls tightly.
Breath hissed between his teeth and he jerked his hips, pulling out of her reach. “You need some work on understanding men’s signals.” He glared at her. “I’m interested. In you. I’m not a horndog, happy to bed anything that breathes.”
She swallowed. “Sorry.”
His eyes narrowed. “How sorry?”
“I—”
“Have it wrong.” He stepped forward and towered over her. “I kissed you last night because I wanted you. All of you. I still want all of you. But last night wasn’t the right time or place and you deserve better than the super-quick, semipublic screw we were headed for.”
“Oh?” She couldn’t have gotten much better than that almost-public orgasm he’d given her.
“Some jerk did a number on you. Made you believe you weren’t sexy?”
She held the paper cup in both hands—warming her chilly fingers. “So I’ve been told.” Many times. And she’d proven it again last night.
Joe’s eyes narrowed. “And that’s why you’re building the app. Why you’re so interested in the veracity of the info it’s going to contain.” He studied her for a moment longer, his frown huge. But then he turned away with a sigh. “I’m sorry, Abbi. We can’t do this. I don’t have the time or the need for a relationship.”
Her jaw dropped. “Who said I wanted a relationship?”
“What?” He turned back quickly. “It’s really only about getting the home run?”
He looked like he didn’t believe her. But like he wanted to.
“It’s about learning how to play the game properly.” Abbi waved a hand in a vaguely apologetic gesture. “It’s about learning the skills to break out of Little League and go for the majors.”
He ran his hand through his hair, a rueful quirk to his lips. “Abbi—”
“You’ve done what you came to do. You’ve apologized, you can go now. I—”
“Need me.” He stepped right up close to her again. Smiling this time.
“No, I don’t.”
“Yeah, you do.” He put his finger under her chin. “I think you do. You really want to learn some skills? That’s all you want?”
She stared up at him, still clutching the cup close. Lifted her shoulders in a shrug that so wasn’t careless.
“So you’re studying all those articles and listening to the audiobooks.” His wicked grin appeared as he considered her attempts. “But theory isn’t the same as practice. Don’t all good little computer geeks test things in development before going live with them?”
She hesitated, mulling his words. “Maybe. Are you offering to help me test things?”
“If you like.” He stepped a little closer. “And I think you’d like.”
Yeah, he so knew she was hot for him—she’d come in less than a minute last night—no doubt he thought she’d never say no. And he was right. But she might delay the yes for two seconds. After all, hadn’t he told her not to make it too easy for a guy?