Read Center Stage for Free Online Page B

was killing her. They had just had mind blowing sex and he wasn’t talking. Did he regret it? She sure didn’t. She’d like to think they’d do it again and again. This man had occupied her mind for almost a year. She didn’t care that he thought he was old. She didn’t care about his ex-wife or his crazy work hours. But she was finding she cared an awful lot about him.
    The beeping of the microwave snapped her out of her daze, and she looked up to see John remove the dinners and set them on the counter.
    “Did you want another beer? I also have soda.”
    “I just want some water. Where are the glasses?”
    He pointed to the cupboard, and Arianna stood to get the glass. There were two.
    She glanced at John who was still fussing with the dinners. This man was an island. Two glasses, two coffee cups, a basement apartment with one chair and a tiny couch. People like this didn’t invite others into their lives. What had she done?
    “You okay?” John touched her arm, and she jumped.
    “Fine.”
    He moved in closer to her and rested his hands on her hips. “You’re not feeling bad about what we did upstairs, are you?”
    “God, no.”
    “Good.”
    She cleared her throat. “Are you?”
    John shook his head and raised his hand to her cheek. His warm, rough hand on her skin sent a surge through her that nearly made her knees give out.
    He bent slightly and gently brushed her lips with his. “I’m not going to lie. I’m still not sure this is the right thing, but I’d say we are two, very mature individuals. We will handle it.”
    That stopped the warmth that had coursed through her veins. “Handle it? What’s to handle. We kissed. We had sex. Great, amazing sex.”
    “And you are Regan’s sister, and Zach is my boss. I watched him grow up. Now I’m sleeping with you and…”
    “Had sex with me,” she snapped out. “You’re not sleeping with me.”
    He pulled her in tighter. “So I can’t convince you to stay down here tonight? My heat works really well, my bed is made, and my coffeemaker is plugged in.”
    Arianna dropped her shoulders. “John, what are we doing?”
    He kissed her again. “It looks like we’re letting our dinner get cold.”
    “I didn’t come back to get into a relationship. I…” She stopped and gathered her thoughts. “I don’t want you to hate me.”
    “I don’t think that is possible.”
    “And you still want to spend time with me? You don’t think we made a mistake?”
    “Oh, I think it was a big mistake, but honey, I’d been thinking about it for a long time.”
    “Okay, before this goes any further, we have an agreement. If this having sex in the same house we both live in doesn’t work out, we can’t be awkward around each other. I mean, you can’t go quitting your job over it or never being part of my sister’s life. I can’t be responsible for you not being around the people who are family to you too. Does that make sense?”
    “It means we have to act like grownups?”
    “Right,” the words squeaked out of her throat.
    “So, asking you to be my girlfriend would be childish?”
    He was grinning at her, and she was standing there wondering what was wrong with this man. “Girlfriend? I just told you I didn’t come home to get involved with someone.”
    “Well, I don’t sleep around.” He let his hand drop, and then he walked back to their dinners. “I expect that if a woman is sleeping with me, she’s not sleeping elsewhere.”
    “Are you a possessive man?”
    “Over the women I care about, I am.” He hadn’t had to think about that.
    “So, what do you want out of this?”
    He picked up the trays and held them in his hands. “I want to enjoy my time with you as I always have. It just happens that I didn’t do so well keeping my hands off of you. I’d like to think if we’re going to be having sex that we’d have some kind of agreement to have sex with each other and not just when one of us isn’t busy with someone else. I’d like to