Finally she sighed in exasperation. “Look, just tell me. Give me a number. How many women have you been with during the last three months?”
He made a show of thinking about it, counting softly under his breath, until she swatted him again. “Okay, okay,” he said, grinning. “One.”
She stared at him. “You’ve only slept with one woman besides me during the last three months?”
He held her gaze. “No, Holly. Only you.”
“Oh,” she said, blinking in surprise.
They were lying on their sides, facing each other, and Alex ran a finger down her forehead to the tip of her nose. “New topic,” he said. “Let’s talk about our greatest sexual experiences ever. I’ll tell you mine and you can tell me yours. You first.”
She pillowed her hand under her cheek. “I’m not about to make your head any bigger,” she said severely.
“I just want to hear you say it,” he persisted, grinning.
She sighed with exaggerated patience. “Fine,” she said. “If you insist on having your ego stroked. On a scale of one to ten you were a hundred and three. Anything else you need me to tell you?”
He hid his grin this time. “That’s good for now,” he said, and then deliberately didn’t say anything else until she poked him in the chest.
“Don’t you dare,” she warned him. “I have limited sexual experience and my self-esteem is precarious. You will immediately begin complimenting me in extravagant terms or there will be consequences.”
He let his grin show then, but almost immediately it began to fade as he traced the side of her face with the palm of his hand.
“I don’t think there are words,” he said, and his voice was serious. “I’ve dreamed about what it would be like with you, and even my wildest fantasies fell short. I’ve never experienced anything even close to that with anyone else. You…” He paused and then smiled again. “I thought you were a good girl,” he teased gently.
“So did I,” she retorted, smiling back at him. “And I am, normally. You bring these things out in me.”
Like lightning he rolled her over, pinning her beneath him. “I hope I do,” he said, looking down at her, loving the way her cheeks flushed and her eyes widened and her breath started to come in little gasps. “I look at you when you’re trying to be all prim and proper and I have to get under your skin. It’s a compulsion.”
“An extremely childish compulsion,” she said, trying to speak sternly. “Also, you agreed we would not be having sex again tonight.”
“Who’s having sex?” he said innocently. He lowered himself enough so she could feel his erection between her thighs. “I’m just lying here.”
“Well, cut it out,” she said, pushing at his chest, and he moved away immediately, lying back down on his side to face her.
“Sorry,” he said ruefully. “It really is hard for me not to get carried away around you.”
She laid a palm against his chest. “I need a little time before that happens again,” she said, and her voice was almost pleading. “Maybe it’s hard for you to understand, but I need a chance to…to process. That’s just how I am. Take it or leave it.”
“I’ll take it,” he said immediately, knowing it wasn’t the offer he was looking for but willing to wait. Then he held out his arms.
She hesitated a moment and then scooted over so she was nestled against him, and he wrapped his arms around her as if she belonged there.
Which she did, Alex thought as he reached across her to turn out the light.
Now all he had to do was convince Holly of that.
Chapter Nine
It was morning. Holly knew this because she could feel warm sunlight against her eyelids.
She knew something else, too. It was hovering just out of reach, some fact of immense significance, something with consequences.
She opened her eyes and saw Alex lying on his side, facing her, a foot of space between them. The blankets covered him to the waist but he was unmistakably naked. He was also awake.
“Hi,” he said, smiling. In the morning light the crinkles at the corners of his eyes were easily visible, and his irises were the color of the sky.
“Oh, my God,” Holly said in dawning horror. She sat bolt upright in bed, but that reminded her of the fact that she, too, was naked. She snatched at the top quilt to cover herself.
Alex continued to lie beside her, one arm pillowed under his head. “You know, that’s really a pointless gesture. I’ve been watching you sleep for an hour. I know what you look like naked.”