Page 4 of Just Once

“Why?”

I sigh. “Don’t make me explain. Just do it. Leave.”

Suddenly, she looks extremely worried. “Is something bad going to happen? Are my parents in danger?”

“No,” I say. Fuck. “It’s nothing like that. And I only needyouto leave. It’s because I can’t be around you. You’re too…tempting. So I need you to tell your parents that you’re not feeling well. And I need you to go home.”

Comprehension spreads across her pretty face.

“Oh,” she says. “I see.”

“So you’ll leave?”

“I…guess I can.”

I squeeze her wrist. “No. That’s not good enough. Promise me right now that you’re going to go.”

She stares at me for a second. Then, completely seriously, she asks, “What will happen if I don’t?”

Um…okay. That’s not the reaction I was expecting. I was expecting her to be disgusted with me. To threaten to rat me out to her dad. But I guess she’s not like that.

“If you don’t leave,” I growl, “you’re going to drive me crazy with lust.”

She smiles. “I don’t think I’ve ever had that effect on a man.”

“I highly doubt that.”

“Well, no one’s ever said it to me before.” Then, daringly, she takes a step toward me.

“What are you doing?” I growl. I squeeze her wrist tighter, which is pointless. She’s obviously not trying to flee.

“I’m letting you kiss me,” she says.

“I’m not going to fucking kiss you,” I say.

“Why not? I thought you just said you wanted me.”

“Don’t toy with me like this, Angel. You know damn well why I can’t kiss you.”

“Because you’re in business with my dad?”

“Yes,” I hiss. “Not to mention that I’m too old for you.”

“How old are you?”

“Thirty-six.”

“That’s not very old.”

“It is for a twenty-one-year-old.” She’s so close to me now that I can smell the clean, flowery scent of her skin.

But then she steps away.

“Okay, fine,” she says, turning away from me. “We won’t do anything, then. But for the record, Dante, I want you, too.”

Fuck.Fuck. She shouldn’t have said that.

I lunge forward and grab her by the waist. I spin her toward me and see the flash of surprise in her eyes. Then her mouth curls up into a smile and her hands raise up and she cups my face in her hands.