Page 41 of Fracture

“No, you didn’t.”

“Yes, I did! When you had those panic attacks, you didn’t know I held you. I violated your privacy, your personal space. I never should have touched you.”

She shook her head. “We talked about this. I haven’t slept since I left the hospital because I keep having panic attacks. I wake up every night, wishing you were with me. Wishing you were holding me and telling me I was safe. I’m tired and wound up and so damn—” She rolled her lips in to stop the next words from leaving her mouth.

“So damn what, Lorelei?”

She glared at him. The challenge in his gaze pushed her to answer him. “So damn horny I’m about to lose my mind. Which is pretty tough to do since my mind has already taken a hike.”

“Lorelei.”

“Just let me leave, Vinnie. Let me pack my stuff and get out of your life. You don’t have to take care of me anymore.”

He moved into the room, stopping right next to her. He grabbed her wrist and plucked the shorts from her hand. “You’re not going anywhere, Lorelei.”

“You’ve made it clear you don’t want me here. You offered because you felt some sense of obligation or something, but now you regret it and want me to leave. I’m not going to force myself on you.”

“I want you here. More than I should.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I’m a selfish asshole who offered to let you stay because not being in the same room as you made me feel like I was missing a piece of myself.”

She sucked in a breath. Part desire, part relief. “What?”

He cupped her jaw and tilted her face up to meet his gaze. Desire burned in his brown eyes. “Tell me not to kiss you, Lorelei.”

“What if I want you to kiss me?”

He didn’t give her a chance to say anything else. His lips came down on hers hard, stealing the breath from her.

She lifted her arms to wrap them around his waist, pulling him close. She nearly cried with relief, with desire.

He pulsed against her stomach, and she moved closer, needing to feel the proof that he wasn’t just telling her what she wanted to hear.

She whimpered, and he pulled back.

“Did I hurt you?”

She shook her head. “No. More. Please, more.”

10

Vinnie was going to hell. A hell of his own making. How was he going to resist her? The doctor said nothing strenuous for ten days. He was already about to burst. Another week would kill him.

“Please,” she breathed, and he was done.

Resistance wasn’t an option. Claiming her was the only thing he could think of.

His lips came down on hers again, crashing against her mouth and demanding of her. He parted her lips and devoured her, his mind lost to the temptation of Lorelei. A temptation he’d resisted for far longer than he thought possible.

She whimpered and pressed herself closer, then sucked in a sharp breath and pulled back.

“Ow,” she breathed.

“Are you okay?”

She nodded, but the grimace on her face said otherwise. “I forgot about the ribs.”