“No,” she mumbled beneath her fingers.

He frowned. “Why not? I kissed just about every part of your body last night,” he reminded her.

“For one thing, I have morning breath . . .” She stopped speaking and he continued massaging her breasts. Her breath was coming out faster and he could feel her heartbeat accelerating.

“I woke you up twice in the middle of the night, and you didn’t complain about breath then,” he reminded her.

“Nick, this is moving too fast,” she said, but the words ended on a moan as he tweaked her nipple. She wanted him even if she didn’t want to want to.

“You weren’t worried about that last night,” he told her. Since she wouldn’t let him have access to her lips, he leaned over and took one tasty nipple into his mouth. Her back arched off the bed before slowly going back down. Then she grabbed his head and pulled him away.

He looked into her eyes and saw the desire there, but he also saw fear. That he didn’t understand. What could she possibly be afraid of? There was no possibility of her being embarrassed. She had a fantastic body, and he’d taken his time studying every single inch of her skin.

“I didn’t force you to have sex with me last night,” he reminded her.

“I know you didn’t. I wanted to make love. It’s just that I don’t normally move so quickly,” she said. Her breath was coming out in pants. And he was working himself up as much as he was arousing her.

“It’s too late to take it back,” he pointed out.

She sighed as she yanked on the covers. Much to his disappointment, she covered up her luscious breasts and then scooted up and leaned against the headboard, hugging her knees and the blanket to her chest.

“I understand that, but just because we had sex last night doesn’t mean it’s now an open invitation. I have a job to do here,” she told him.

His eyes narrowed as he studied her. “What kind of game are you playing?” he asked. He’d rarely been around for the morning-after chat, and he wasn’t loving how this one was going.

“I’m not playing a game. We both were worked up last night. We had sex. Can we forget about it and go back to normal now?”

Nick was stunned into silence. He’d been making plans all morning, and she wanted to pretend like nothing had happened. His ego was taking a major hit.

“Or I could keep you in this bed all day so you forget about anything other than having sex with me,” he told her, liking his idea a whole lot more than hers.

Her eyes widened and he could see her breathing deepen. She still wanted him. What he didn’t understand was why she would try so hard to fight it. Maybe it was a mystery he had to figure out before he went completely insane. It would probably be smarter for him if he just let it go, but Nick wasn’t the type of man to back down. But this wasn’t the time to get too much into the conversation. When they finished the discussion, he wanted to make sure there were no possibilities of an interruption.

“Get dressed. We have company coming over.”

He stood up and walked to her bedroom door. He was angry, but he wasn’t sure if he was more frustrated with her or himself.

“Nick,” she called out. He stopped but didn’t turn. “I’m sorry, okay.”

He didn’t respond. He just walked out the door. Nick went straight to his gym and pushed himself as hard as he could before his leg began to give out on him. Normally when he was angry, he could run hard for a good ten miles, and that would wear him out enough to push the rage away. With the knee injury, he didn’t have that luxury. That just riled him up all the more.

When he came back to the living room, he found Chloe fully dressed, her eyes following him, slightly rounded as if she were afraid to speak. That irritated him all the more. He liked how they acted around each other. He didn’t want her to be some meek little mouse too afraid to stand up to him.

Yes, they’d had sex. That didn’t have to change the entire dynamic of their relationship. If anything, it should make it that much better. He moved past her and heard her slight intake of breath. He wanted to grab her, push her down onto the couch, and make her scream with pleasure. He wanted her to admit how badly she still needed him.

He didn’t get it. Yes, she was beautiful. So were millions of other ladies in the word. Yes, she stimulated him, but again, many other women did the same. He wasn’t fascinated with all of them. So what was it about her that had him breaking all his normal rules? Why couldn’t he just push her aside and forget about what had happened?

Maybe it was the unknown. Maybe he wanted to unwrap her, figure out exactly why she acted the way she did―what her secrets were. She wasn’t the usual type he went after, so what was it that made her so special? He might find that it was nothing. He probably would see, after a short while, that she was just like every other woman on the planet and his interest would wane. He didn’t believe his muddled ramblings, but it helped him try to work through it.

Neither of them spoke as they drank their morning coffees, both of them in their own heads. Nick wasn’t quiet by nature, but the tense silence in the room was suffocating. He wanted to break the silence, but he also didn’t want to be the first one to do so. It was a battle of wills, he decided.

His doorbell rang, and Nick nearly let out a breath of relief. He didn’t think he’d be able to sit there too much longer without either strangling her or pulling her onto his lap to straddle him. If this was a prediction of the days to come, he was in for some serious trouble.