The Taming of a Wild Child(20)

The why caught him off-guard. Why should he bustle her out the door like she was some kind of bad bar hook-up? He’d been working under the assumption that this was insane. Crazy. A bad idea.

But now he couldn’t quite articulate why.

They weren’t kids anymore; all that foolishness had to have a statute of limitations that had long since passed. Lorelei was smart, articulate, challenging—not to mention absolutely gorgeous. So why, then, was this such an insane idea? He didn’t want to marry her; he just wanted to get her back to bed. Why couldn’t they just enjoy this?

No reasons came immediately to mind.

What did come to mind was the sincere wish that she’d lean back just an inch or two … “At least let me offer you a drink or something.”

“The time to buy me a drink is before we …” She glanced at the bed, giving him a view of her profile, and swallowed hard. “Well, it’s not really necessary now.”

“Lorelei—”

“Look, Donovan—” She turned as she spoke, stepping back another foot and snapping that electric strand between them. “Sorry. Go ahead.”

“No, ladies first.”

She ran her fingers through her hair, taming the tangles and pushing it back from her face. “I don’t want you to think that this … I mean, that I’m …” She sighed and cursed softly. “And here I didn’t think anything could be more awkward than last Sunday morning.”

“Just spit it out, then.”

“I just don’t want you to think that I think that this—that—was … um … anything.”

His surprise must have shown on his face, because Lorelei hurried on.

“It was great—really great—I just don’t … expect anything from you, okay? It just … was. It’s not—well, it’s not … Well, you know?”

Lorelei couldn’t keep eye contact, and Donovan found his temper rising as she muddled through her speech. “No, I don’t know. I’m not sure that was even English.”

She sighed. “I’m just trying to say that it’s all good now. I don’t expect this to be anything other than what it was. Or that it’s supposed to become anything.”

“I have to give you credit for honesty.”

Her smile was weak. “Thanks.”

“But that doesn’t make what you’re saying sound any less insulting and tawdry.”

She shook her head. “Oh, don’t be so thin-skinned. It’s not tawdry, and there’s no need to take it personally. I’m just trying to move past this.”

“Dare I ask why?”

“Because I think it’s pretty clear that’s the best idea. For both of us.” She shrugged. “It’s not like this can go anywhere.”

“I don’t recall saying I wanted it to.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

That was an excellent question. He only wished he had an answer for it. He leaned against the foot of the bed. “Not quite a week ago you told me to forget it ever happened, yet here you are.”

Lorelei’s mouth twisted. “I know.”

“Am I supposed to believe that this time you really, really mean it?”

“That would be nice.” She sighed, but then caught herself and crossed her arms over her chest. “You were pretty adamant about the whole forget-it-happened-thing yourself, yet here we are again.”

“Hey, you kissed me.”

“You weren’t exactly fighting me off,” she fired back.

There was that. “I’m only human, Lorelei.”

“As am I.” She sighed. “I’ll be honest with you. You’re a good-looking guy, and there’s obviously chemistry between us. But we’re adults, and it looks like we’re going to be running into each other now. These chemistry experiments have to stop.”

“Because God forbid two healthy, consenting adults have sex just because they want to?”

He watched her swallow and then lift her chin. “Something like that.”

Whatever. Lorelei should carry a warning label because, as a whole, she could drive a man right off the edge. And since he valued his sanity, he should probably just let this go. She had a point about chemistry: it was a great thing, but it could also be very dangerous and blow up in your face.

So why were they both still standing here?

“Then go.”

Donovan’s words dropped like a gauntlet and Lorelei felt like a fool. An idiot. The right thing to do would be to breeze right out of here, head held high.

But her feet felt nailed to the floor.

It didn’t help that Donovan was stark naked—and seemingly completely unselfconscious about it—and the evidence of what she’d be walking away from was impossible to ignore. She tried keeping her eyes on his face, but he looked like a freakin’ sex god, all tousled and sexy, and her mouth watered at the acres of skin and muscle to be explored and appreciated. And even though he was basically telling her to get lost, it was also very clear that he was interested in something else entirely …