He paused at her bruised cheek, staring so intently that she felt his concern. “I’m not pressuring you, you know. No reason to look so spooked. You can have all the time you need to get used to the idea.”
“Uh…thanks?” She would never get used to that idea. Sure, most women had body issues. She’d always wished to be a few pounds lighter, a little more athletic, less…rounded. But after her last lover, well, she’d had her body issues driven home in a big way.
“Thanks?” He kept touching her in small ways, as if doing so gave him pleasure. He put a barely-there kiss to her bruised cheek, then another just below her eye. “What kind of reaction is that?”
“I don’t know.” He was so close, she could see the striations in his honey-colored eyes.
“You’ve taken me by surprise, that’s all.” She knew Evan was a nice guy, so he’d never insult her—not the way she’d been insulted. And with Evan being as male as the next guy—maybe more so, at least in her opinion—a naked woman equaled thoughts of lust.
Except that she cared too much for him to blow their relationship with a quick fling. She wished it was different, because, holy smokes, she’d wanted him a long time. Sometimes she couldn’t sleep for thinking about how it’d be….
But she wasn’t the type of woman who would ever keep him for long—except as a friend. And she wasn’t about to give up that friendship for a night or two of sex.
No matter how mind-blowing it might be.
Misunderstanding her lengthy silence, Evan reassured her. “For tonight at least, you can trust that I’ll keep my hands to myself.”
Bummer.
“I just thought it was important for you to know how I feel.”
Yeah, she got it: he felt momentarily turned on. The rush of the danger, the intimacy of seeing her nude, had affected him, as it would affect almost any guy.
But he wasn’t just any guy, not to her.
“Evan…” How did she clarify things? “You did see me, right?”
“Oh yeah.”
The way he said that… “And?”
His eyes went heavy. “You have a great body.”
Such a nice guy. “But?” she said, encouraging him to honesty.
“There’s a but?”
Her face pinched. “You know there is.”
For the longest time, he studied her. Finally he seemed to come to some decision. He sat back, putting distance between them and breaking her heart just a little.
“ But,” he said, stressing the word, “your body would look even better—”
Here it comes. She braced herself to hear him say: If you lost weight. If you did some cardio. If your figure wasn’t so overblown-
“—under mine.”
That bombshell turned her spine into a noodle, and she slumped against him. “What?”
“Or over mine.” He warmed to the subject. “Your naked body could only look better if it was against my naked body.” He reached for her. “In fact, naked or not, I want your body closer.”
He pulled her right up and into his lap.
Surprised, she let him arrange her comfortably, almost as if she was a tiny person instead of a full-figured, grown woman. “Evan?”
“You have a totally kicking body. Smoking hot. No ‘but’ to it.” He kissed her hard and fast, sort of annoyed but also determined. “How could you not know that?”
“I’m…” No way would she insult herself, so what could she say? “I’m not slim.”
“No, thank God.”
Was he being obtuse on purpose? “You know women are expected—”
“To be sexy,” he interrupted. “And you are.” He tunneled a hand into her hair, careful not to hurt her stitches. He lifted her face to his. “In your clothes, you’re hot enough to drive me nuts. But without clothes… Damn, Cinder, that’s not something I’m ever going to forget.”
She blinked at him. “You mean—”
“I want to see you again. At my leisure. While I have permission to touch as well as look.”
He sounded so sincere. “Touch as well as…?”
“Look. Oh, and taste.” He used his pinkie to brush