“Shit,” he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck as he reluctantly turned around and headed back to his apartment.
He paused in front of his broken door long enough to pick it up and lean it against the doorway, making a mental note to fix it tomorrow along with his wall and furniture. Greedy bastards, he thought, shaking his head in disgust as he kicked a piece of what was left of his entertainment center out of his way and headed towards his bathroom.
What the hell was wrong with him? he couldn’t help but wonder as he forced himself to stand beneath ice cold water ten minutes later. The first woman that he’d been attracted to since he woke up from the coma wasn’t interested in him. She didn’t want him, didn’t like him and he was a fucking moron for not seeing it sooner. He should probably move on, but……
He wasn’t going to give up, but he was going to back off for a few days and start all over again, he decided as he shut the water off and stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. He’d force himself to keep his hands to himself, he’d take his time getting to know her, but more importantly he’d give her the chance to get to know him. He’d fucked up, made a horrible first impression and had startled Tinkerbelle.
It was going to kill him to take this slowly, but he was going to do it, he decided, resigning himself to more ice cold showers in the future. He crawled in bed and pulled the sheet up over his lap, ignoring the way that the cool cotton sheet brushed over his straining erection. He folded his arms behind his head and stared up at the ceiling. It was going to kill him to keep his hands to himself, but he would do it because he had a new game plan.
He was still planning on wooing her, but now he was going to have to be sneaky about it. He’d give her a few days to cool off and when she stopped giving him looks that caused his balls to tighten up in fear, he would approach her, start with small talk, grab coffee, drinks after work and when she finally let her guard down, he’d go in for the kill.
For now, he’d just bide his time.
He would-
“Tinkerbelle?” he asked, sitting up as he watched her walk the rest of the way into his bedroom. “Is everything okay?”
“I need to know something,” she said as she toyed with the ends of the belt holding her terry cotton robe closed, shifting nervously as she looked anywhere but at him.
“What’s that, sweetheart?” he asked, leaning back against the headboard even though everything in him was demanding that he get his ass off the bed and pull her into his arms to make sure that she was okay.
“I need to know if you’re toying with me?”
At his blank look she sighed. “I just want to know if this is a game for you,” she clarified.
“No,” he said, shaking his head, “I’m not playing with you.”
“So, you’re suddenly interested in me?” she asked, looking up and meeting his gaze head-on.
“Very.”
“Why?”
“Why what?” he asked, not sure what she was trying to get at.
She rolled her eyes with an exasperated sigh as though it should be obvious. “Why are you suddenly interested in me?’
“Would you like the polite answer or the truth?”
Frowning, she slowly said, “The truth?”
The polite answer probably would have been a better choice, but……
What the hell?
“Are you sure?”
She nodded once, firmly.
Shrugging, he admitted, “Because I can’t stop fantasizing about you. I can’t walk into a room without thinking of at least a hundred ways to fuck you in it. I can’t stop fantasizing about how your body would feel against mine, how hard your nipples would get in mouth, how good your skin would taste on my tongue, how it would feel to run my hands all over you, how good it would feel to slide inside you, how wet you would be when I-”
“I get the picture,” she said, cutting him off with a blush and….was that a pleased little smile that she was trying to hide? “Why don’t we try the polite answer?”
“Fine,” he said with a shrug, “I like you, Tinkerbelle. I’m attracted to you and I want to get to know you better.”
She nodded absently. “Is this just about sex?”
“No,” he said softly, watching her reaction.
“So…….then what do you want?” she asked, cocking a brow in question.
He thought that over for a moment. He wanted to hold her, to kiss her, to make love to her, to piss her off so that he could see that cute little murderous glare of hers, he just wanted…..
“A chance,” he answered. “Just a chance.”
Chapter 16
“I can’t do this. I’m sorry,” Jodi said, swallowing nervously as she stepped away from him.
“It won’t hurt,” Danny said, reaching out to stop her from running away, and she desperately wanted to run away, by taking her hand into his and giving it a reassuring squeeze.
“You lying bastard!” she bit out, yanking her arm back so that she could point to the 6’2” hulk of a man who was currently curled up on the ground, cupping himself and whimpering pathetically for his mommy. “He sure as hell looks hurt to me!”
Giving her an incredibly sexy grin that had her narrowing her eyes on him, he said, “He’s fine, Tinkerbelle.”
She shifted her glare back to the man who was now openly crying and then back to Danny, who stood there wearing military gear stained with old paint, a paint gun thrown over his shoulder, several paintball cartridges strapped at his side and over his shoulders and that damn sexy smile that he’d used on her this morning when he’d shown up at her door dressed as Rambo.
“Tell me it’s not going to hurt,” she said, daring the bastard to lie to her.
“Just a little pinch,” Danny said, picking up the second paintball gun and handing it to her.
“Can’t we do something else?” she asked, sounding like a wimp and not really caring.
“No,” he simply said, taking her by the shoulders. He turned her and gave her a gentle push towards the outside obstacle course where grown men were running around shooting each other with balls of paint, “you said that I could choose our first date.”
“But-”
“But it will be fun, I promise,” he said, giving her another little push when she dug her heels in.
“But-”
“I’ll let you choose the restaurant if it will make you feel better,” he said, continuing to push her towards her doom.
“No, it really wouldn’t. What would make me feel better is if we could maybe go and do something else? A movie? Zoo? Museum? Back to my place for an afternoon of nonstop sex?” she suggested, only half-kidding about the last one as she reached up and pushed her safety helmet back in place.
Okay, so maybe she was completely honest about the last one, but the giant bastard shoving her towards her doom was determined to take it slowly. Last night when he’d climbed out of his bed, completely naked and aroused, very aroused, she’d expected him to take her to bed and show her how sex was supposed to be. Instead, he’d kissed her softly, pulled on a pair of sweatpants, taken her hand in his and walked her back to her apartment where he’d given her another kiss goodnight and promised that he was going to call her in the morning.