“Fair enough.” Felix stopped right in front of her and gave her a small smile. “I was going to call you.”
Yeah, right. “Well, now you don’t have to bother because I’m here and we’ve established that you’re still attending the party and that you’re going to stop watching my house every night.”
There. She’d said it. She was in control, she was not going to be passive and hide behind her curtains every night, wondering and worrying what he was doing, what he was thinking.
“I’m not going to stop watching you,” he said. “I need to know you’re alright. Has the sleepwalking happened again?”
Regan bit her lip, not wanting to admit the truth.
“So that’s a yes. Which means I’m going to keep an eye on you whether you like it or not”
“It’s not your responsibility. You need to sleep, you have your own life. You must have better things to do than sit on the sidewalk all night.” She still didn’t know whether to be flattered that he cared about her safety, or completely creeped out.
“Just because it isn’t my responsibility doesn’t mean I won’t.”
My God, he was so stubborn and hard to understand. Regan made a sound of frustration. “So, if you want to make sure I’m okay, why don’t you do it from the inside?”
“From the inside?”
“Yes. Watch me sleep from inside my house. Actually get some sleep yourself. You can put bells on me so you’ll wake up if I get out of bed.” She hadn’t really meant to suggest that he spend the night with her, but now that she’d thrown it out there in irritation, she was going to back it up as a more sensible plan than sidewalk loitering.
“Share your bed? Every night?” Felix reached out and touched her pearl necklace. “Is that what you’re suggesting?”
She shivered, desire already pooling in her inner thighs, shoving her anger aside. “Sure. For a few nights anyway. Until you’re satisfied I’m not going to balcony surf again.”
“I think it’s safer for me to stay outside on the street.”
Rejection smacked her in the face and she stiffened. “Why? What is that supposed to mean exactly?” She was tired of his riddles and half statements, and while her instinct was to retreat, out of his touch, she stood her ground, determined yet again not to be passive anymore.
“It means that if I’m allowed into your bed, to spend all night next to you, I might not want to leave. Ever.”
Oh, my. Regan lost the ability to breathe. She had not expected him to say that. She didn’t know what she’d expected him to say, but it most certainly was not that.
“It could be dangerous,” he murmured. “To me.”
“I’ve never invoked fear in a man before,” she said, letting her arm and her bag drop down so she could be closer to him.
“I’m very afraid of you ... afraid that you are the one woman who could make me want to stay the night, every night ”
It could be a line. Regan didn’t care. She wanted Felix, regardless of what her friends or her head might tell her about getting involved with a man like him, regardless of whether or not she was capable of having casual sex, or if she was ready to be involved with anyone this soon after her divorce. Her body had experienced a passion she never had before with him, and she wanted it again, for whatever amount of time it was available.
“Confront your fear. Swallow it,” she told him, amazed she’d managed to shove the bold words out of her mouth. “Like you told me to do.”
Felix gave a soft, sexy laugh. “My own advice thrown back in my face. I like it. And you’re right, of course. Why miss the opportunity to lie next to you from the basic primitive emotion of fear? I’m cautious, not stupid.”
He had shifted again subtly as they talked so that they were now standing close, bodies brushing. Regan put her hands on his waist, wanting to feel him. She was tired of always trying to please, of walking the narrow fence of propriety, of putting everyone’s needs ahead of her own. This was her life, and she could live it on her terms, without hurting anyone.
Chances were the only one who would get hurt was her when Felix inevitably pulled the plug, but she was willing to take that risk.
“You are so sexy,” he whispered, lips brushing against her cheek, teeth nibbling her ear.
“Thank you.” She wasn’t sure what else to say to that, and she was concentrating on breathing evenly as his teeth did interesting things to her flesh.
“So I’m staying the night.” He slid his tongue inside her ear, hands moving up and down her sides.
It wasn’t a question. But she still confirmed, “Yes.”
“Come upstairs. I’ll pack a bag.”
He was going with her right then? Her desire kicked into overdrive, but even as her body applauded the idea, she asked, “Don’t you have to stay in the store?” She didn’t want to pull him away from his business.
“I can close whenever I want.” He kissed her neck. “Do you notice any customers in here?”
“No.” Though she couldn’t say she’d really been looking, which was a little disconcerting. She’d never been one for public displays of affection. Though affection was a misnomer for what they were doing.
“Then let’s go upstairs: ” Felix pulled back and started to move to a door she had assumed led to a storage room.
“Aren’t you going to lock up?” It would be really easy for someone to stroll in when they were upstairs and steal hundreds of dollars’ worth of merchandise.
But Felix looked unconcerned. “I suppose I could. Not that it matters.”
“Don’t you care?”
“Not really. It’s only money. And if someone needs a love oil so desperately they’re willing to steal it, I say more power to them and their libido.” But he did move toward the front of the store.
Regan knew Felix didn’t want to be greedy, but there was such a thing as business sense. But it wasn’t her business or her money so she said nothing, even as she thought locking the door against thieves wasn’t exactly a major inconvenience, and she was glad he was going to take the two seconds to do it.
Watching him walk toward the door to lock it, Regan stared at his butt and thought about how it had felt to scrape her nails across that tight muscle when he was thrusting inside her. Blowing her hair out of her eyes, she shifted in her black sandals and said, “Do you have any condoms?”