Gritting his teeth with the pain of wanting to fuck her until she was screaming his name, he watched her face, waiting for a sign—any damn sign—that she wanted the same thing he did, felt the same way he was feeling.
“I’m here to do a job,” she said brokenly. “I can’t do this.”
“Fuck the job. This is about you and me. It’s never been about the job. You’re incredibly talented, and I wish you’d do your magic on every damn wall in this house, but it isn’t why I wanted you here,” he admitted, frustrated.
“You brought me here because of your sister and Max?” she asked, her voice resigned.
“I brought you here because I couldn’t let you go. It’s pretty simple. I just want you,” he said hoarsely, knowing he was giving her enough rope to hang him, but he didn’t give a shit. For once, control and keeping his emotions in check didn’t mean a goddamn thing to him. “I want to breathe in your scent, and I swear, from this day forward, the smell of jasmine will always make my cock hard enough to pound nails. I want to taste your orgasm on my tongue, make you come until you can’t think about anything but me. And I need to be inside you, fucking you until you don’t even know your own name.” Kade swallowed hard, and added, “Then I want you to sleep with me, and I want to keep you so close that you’ll never know another moment of wondering if anybody wants you—because I do, Asha. I want you enough to make up for every person in your life who didn’t.”
She looked at him, her open-mouthed expression completely stunned. “I’m nobody special. I don’t understand.”
Kade dropped his head to her shoulder with a groan, knowing he’d made a complete ass out of himself. “You are special. That’s what I’m trying to tell you.”
She yanked at her wrists, and Kade released her reluctantly. His mind and body were screaming at him to keep her, but she obviously didn’t understand how he felt. Hell, he didn’t even understand it himself. His feelings for her were out-of-control crazy, but he couldn’t help being a lunatic. His emotions were stronger than his common sense.
Expecting her to push him off her, Kade shuddered as he felt her hands hesitantly push underneath his shirt and up his back, exploring and wandering across his bare skin. Her lips against his ear, she whispered, “I’m homeless and barely surviving. My boobs are too small, and I’m no seductress. I’ve only been with one man in my entire life, and sex was never something I really wanted or thought I needed. But I’m starting to crave you, and it scares me. I don’t know why you want me, but I can guarantee I want you more. I know I shouldn’t be telling you how I feel, but I can’t let you think I don’t want you back. Because I do. I want you so much it hurts.”
Kade lifted his head, his expression incredulous as he started to drown in her swirling chocolate eyes. Her words made him come completely unraveled, but he needed her to understand that he wanted more than a fuck. “I don’t care where you come from, or how much money you do or don’t have. I just want to be with you because of who you are. You’re brave, talented, smart, sexy and completely insane to want a lame, washed-up jock like me, but I’m glad you do,” he answered in a shaky, low voice, his emotions out of control. Asha had tapped into his hidden emotional well, and he was tangled in a web of need so tightly that he couldn’t extricate himself, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to escape.
“Stop it.” Asha speared her hands into his hair and pulled his face close to hers. “You’re the kindest man I’ve ever met, you’re incredibly handsome and sexy, and I couldn’t care less if you can’t play football anymore. And I think your ex-girlfriend was either crazy or incredibly superficial if she couldn’t see what she had. I want you because of who you are, too. I don’t even understand football. It’s just a silly game.”
“Whoa! Hold on. Don’t call football silly,” he scolded her in a teasing voice, resting his forehead against hers. “It was my entire life for years.”
“Maybe it’s time to make a new life,” Asha suggested hesitantly. “You have so much more to offer the world than just playing a game. I know how much it meant to you. It would be like taking away my ability to do my art. But you’re more than just one thing, Kade.”
He swallowed hard, moved by her faith in him. Yeah. Maybe it was time to start a new chapter in his life, just like Asha was trying to do for herself. And he could think of nothing better than beginning it with the woman beneath him. He could happily drown in her seductive scent, bury himself inside her until he didn’t give a shit about anything else but her. And he’d quite gladly take on the task of making her happy and keeping her that way. “Maybe it is time to do something else,” he agreed in a graveled voice, moving the few inches needed to cover her tempting, lush lips with his own.