“I might have other plans. How do you know if I even have time to do that?”
He moved closer. Big mistake. The alluring scent of her perfume filled his nostrils and made the struggle to keep from touching her even harder. “Make time, Layla.”
She glared up at him. “What game are you playing, Rashad?”
“This isn’t a game. I want to spend time with you doing something other than fucking. Is that so crazy?”
Several beats passed as she eyed him with narrowed eyes. Then she flung her hands in the air in exasperation. “I don’t get it. I thought this was what you wanted.”
“I did, but after the last time you were here…” He shook his head, upset about the memory of how she’d screwed him and left. “I didn’t like your behavior, okay?”
“My behavior? You’re something else.”
“I want to start over with you. I want to go to movies and dinner and do all the things we used to do together.”
“Sounds too much like a relationship, which is exactly where we were years ago, which didn’t work out because you wanted something different and pulled back.” She pulled the yellow blouse over her head and plopped onto the mattress to put on her shoes.
Rashad snatched them up before she did, and they stared at each other, at a sort of standoff. A battle of wills.
He crouched before her and cradled one foot in his hand. She went still, and he knew she was holding her breath.
He carefully and gently placed the pump on her foot. He did the exact same to the other foot and then slid his hand up her left calf. “You think it’s easy for me to let you walk out of here? It’s hard as hell. Two seconds ago you were half naked. But I want more, Layla.”
He gently massaged her soft flesh, and she inhaled sharply, the sound dropping like a grenade in the silence of the room. Finally, he settled on his knees, rested his arms on either side of her hips, and pushed himself between her thighs.
“I’m different,” he said.
“Different how?”
“I don’t want to screw around like I used to.”
“Then you’ve changed quite a bit.”
“I could say the same about you,” he said.
She laughed briefly but gave no other response.
“What are you thinking?” Rashad asked.
“Trying to figure out why I should believe you when at Eli’s Restaurant you quickly agreed to my suggestion that we only have sex. That makes me think not much has changed, that you want to keep me at a distance. We both know the reason you wanted to slow down was because I was getting too close to you.”
He lowered his gaze.
“You can’t even look at me because I’m right,” she said softly.
There were things about his past that very few people knew. They were shocking and tragic, and if she knew about the monster in his past, she wouldn’t feel the same way. Though part of him wanted to share that aspect of his background with her, he worried about the fallout and doubted she could handle his secrets.
He met her gaze. “I understand you have doubts, but I’m not the same person. I’ll be different. You’ll see.”
“I saw you, you know. After you gave me your talk, I saw you walking down the sidewalk in your neighborhood, with your arm around a woman. Blonde, pretty, and you came into your building together. When I called and asked what you were doing—to test you—you said you were out with Alex. You lied to me, because you didn’t want me to know you were with another woman.” Pain shimmered in her eyes.
“Blonde…?” Rashad briefly closed his eyes and groaned internally. “I know who you’re talking about. That was my sister.”
“She was white, Rashad.”
“She’s like a sister. Heather. She spent the night—”
Layla turned away, crossing her arms over her chest.
