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“We’re running out of time,” I say, “especially now. We need to be on the same page and move things along.”
Scarlett nods and bites her lip. Then she leans forward. “We have, don’t you think?”
“Sex?” I laugh. “That’s got nothing to do with it.”
“I didn’t mean the sex.” The irritation is strong in her voice and it makes me want to smile, but I don’t, because down deep I’m pissed off with her for such a stupid lie.
“Then what did you mean?”
“The moving things along, getting to know each other, hanging out. You know…”
“No, I don’t. This is a transaction. I blurred lines I shouldn’t have to scratch an itch I should have ignored, no matter how good that was, but Scarlett, if we’re moving things along and you’re lying to me about something so simple, what else are you lying about?”
She goes pale. “People don’t always tell the truth about where they live. Especially when…” She swallows and looks at her hands. “Especially when they’re doing this. For money. Because they can’t afford to live here.”
I look at her and touch her now. I shouldn’t, I know, but that pull goes both ways and I’ve got myself under control enough to use it. I brush my knuckles slow and light along her cheek and then with my other hand draw her in closer, so our mouths almost touch. I can feel her like a beat in my blood, almost taste her again.
It’s a dangerous little game I’ve decided to play, but she’s not good at controlling her emotions, so I’m going to use that.
Her breath comes in little, short erratic bursts and her pupils dilate, and it takes real effort not to sample her mouth, just to make sure it’s as soft and sweet and ripe as it was this morning.
“Even with money problems,” I murmur, “your family has places all over Manhattan.”
“Hudson, please…”
“Please what? Kiss you? Let it go?”
That mouth is a siren’s song.
And her tongue touches the bottom lip, wetting it and the sight and what it sets off in my imagination makes me hard.
“Don’t humiliate me.”
“I’m not.” I slide my thumb over her bottom lip, along that tiny patch of wetness, wanting to dip inside. “I already know your situation, I’m just asking a question to understand. You put this place down as your address.”
“I…it’s a family place, but I don’t live there. I wanted you to think so.”
“I see.”
I did. Sort of. Her weirdness about me getting her a car to take her home now made sense. But why the hell would she hide where she lived from me unless that guy was part of it, the one she called Danny, the one who looked familiar for some reason…
“Hudson, look, I…I’m sorry. I am.”
I run my finger over her lips. And she sighs. The sound is soft and slides right through me as she leans further into my touch.
“We’re meant to be falling in love,” I say. The words are a little too easy, but I clarify. “On paper, and to the right people watching. So, it’s decision time for me.”
She frowns, pulling back a little, her hand now on my thigh, fingers suddenly tight. “What do you mean?”
“I need to decide whether to end this now or continue.” It’s hard to concentrate with her touching me, even if it’s not a sexual thing, because I’m still touching her and she does things to me, reaches in, and the line between me using this and me being tangled gets finer by the second.
“Hudson…” She takes a breath. “I—”
“This is very important to me and you know that.” The temperature in the air should be cooling fast with my words, but her proximity makes it rise. “And now it’s become even more important than I thought. If I go forward and you screw it up, I lose more than I ever thought. And if I back out now…”
“You lose.”
“Maybe. That would be on my terms.”
