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All I could do was nod before Ryan grabbed hold of my arm roughly and dragged me away.

“Have you fucking lost your mind?” Ryan barked, once we were alone in a quiet corner of the venue.

“
Me?
Why are you mad at me? You’re the one that attacked another guy in public.”

“Fuck, Evangeline!” He threw his hand up and scrubbed his face in annoyance. “Couldn’t you see what he was doing to you? I heard you tell him no and he kept going and you just let him!”
Whoa. What?

“Wait just a minute!” I snapped, refusing to let him speak to me that way. “No, I didn’t ‘just let him’. I was in the process of telling him off before you came and tried to beat the shit out of him. It was my father’s funeral today, of all days! What’s your problem anyway?”

“Scumbags like that are my problem!” he growled, pointing a long, firm finger in the direction from which we came.

“Yeah, well you don’t have to take it out on me, asshole!”

“Oh, so I’m the asshole? For sticking up for you?”

Man, this was getting nowhere. Why wasn’t he giving up and letting this go?

“You didn’t have to go crazy. You could’ve told him politely.”

He snorted and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, because your technique was working very well for you.”

I glared at him. I wasn’t upset anymore, I was angry. “You’re such an ass! You know that?” I growled. “You’re such a―”

I couldn’t say anymore because he had me in his arms and his mouth was covering mine. I melted at his touch and opened my mouth to welcome him in. Even though I was angry, my body clearly missed him. Realizing what I was doing, I pushed him away before I could get ahead of myself.

“How
dare
you!” I hissed, getting up in his face and giving him a hard jab in the chest with my finger. “You lose your mind after what Nick did, and now you’re doing the exact same thing!”

“Tell me to stop and I will.” His eyes narrowed slightly, challenging me to say the words, as he wrapped his entire hand around my single finger.

I frowned with irritation, but remained unmoved. “When were you going to tell me that you played professional baseball?”

The corner of his mouth lifted into a smirk but the look in his eyes never faltered. “About the same time you were going to tell me you were Rupert Montgomery’s daughter.”

“You’re an ass.”

“I’ve been called worse. Wait— Why are you mad at me? Is it because I hit that idiot, or because I kissed you and you crave more,
or
that I didn’t tell you who I was?”

I opened my mouth to speak, but shut it immediately. I was mad about everything! Where do I begin to tell him that everything about him infuriated me?

When I finally thought of a good enough response, it left my mind as quickly as it came, when his lips came crashing down on mine again. I should’ve asked him to stop but I couldn’t; my body wouldn’t allow it and deep down I’d be lying if I said I wanted it to stop.

My mouth parted to allow his powerful tongue to slip inside and take over. Between our needy kisses and our hands running feverishly over each other, I never noticed that I had been pressed up against the wall until we finally pulled away. We were both breathing heavily and my entire body left weak and tingling. “
Shit
,” I whispered, licking my lips together. How was he making me feel all of this?

“I’ve been craving those kisses. You have no understanding of how badly I’ve wanted to do that since last time,” he said trying to catch his breath.

“Ryan…” Everything was racing around inside my head. I had so much to say but it was hard to concentrate with my heart bashing hard against my chest. “Come back to my place.” I suddenly slammed a hand over my mouth.
Where the hell did that come from?
What was wrong with me? This was
not
the sort of guy I wanted to get involved with!

Instead of running far, far away in the opposite direction like I should be, I found myself holding on for the answer and preparing myself for the disappointment if it wasn’t the right one.

He studied me for a moment, “I can’t.” It didn’t look like the answer he had wanted to say but nevertheless it was the one I got.

“Oh.”
Idiot!

“It’s not because I don’t want to, believe me,” he assured me. “I just have training early tomorrow morning and I live close to the ballpark. But perhaps you could come back to mine?” he asked, taking a loose strand of my hair and twisting it.

All I could do was stare at him. I knew the answer coming from my eyes was a ‘yes’; jeez, my whole body was just itching to touch him again. But was it the right thing to do?
Stop making excuses! You know you want him
, my mind hissed.

“You don’t have to, Evangeline. Especially since today was, you know…”

Still lost for words, I nodded, trying not to seem overly eager.

With a small smile, Ryan bent down and kissed my forehead. “Let’s go then.”

CHAPTER 8

Other than having his arm around my shoulders and drawing a soft, circular pattern on my arm, Ryan kept mostly to himself, and didn’t say one word the entire cab ride home. The few times I dared to cast a glance at him, he remained in the same position: staring out the window, lost in his thoughts. I found the situation oddly fascinating, as I watched the lights from the street lamps move across his handsome features. He wasn’t acting like the hotshot womanizer everyone was claiming him to be. I wanted to question this but the electrifying sensation coming from his touch was too hard to ignore. I was glad when we were finally in the privacy of his house.

After paying the cab fare, Ryan led me straight toward his bedroom. We stood, facing each other silently for a moment, until I dropped to my knees. I didn’t need to ask for his approval, I knew guys liked this kind of thing― famous baseball stars were no exception. I reached for his belt, unbuckled it and slid it off, throwing it somewhere over my shoulder. The button of his dress pants was next. I quickly undid that, and reached for his zipper, gently tugging it down, and letting his pants fall freely to the ground. I looked up to see that he had his jaw clenched tight; not the look I was expecting. The troubled expression on his face had me puzzled but I chose to ignore it. I let my eyes fall; allowing myself devour the superb view I had of the half-dressed man. My eyes stopped when they reached the obvious bulge in his underwear. I went to reach for the top of his boxer briefs, when his hand suddenly grabbed hold of my forearm.

“Stop,” he ordered. Determined not to look humiliated, I immediately shot to my feet and ripped my arm out of his grasp. Why was I here if this wasn’t what he wanted?

“But I thought―”

“No, Evangeline. I’m not going to ask you to do that.”
Huh?

“But you’re not asking anything. I want to do this, Ryan.”

“I said
no
, okay?” he said more firmly.

Before I had the chance to say another word, he turned away and stalked over to the large bed, dropping down and resting over the edge with his hands over his face, leaving me standing there to wonder what just happened.

I just stood there and watched at him, contemplating whether it was wiser to get the hell out of there, or to go over and comfort him. Something was troubling him. Was he still furious over the bar incident? Was he regretting the decision of bringing me home? Clearing my throat, I inched closer. “Perhaps I should just go.”

“No, don’t,” he immediately responded. His head snapped up, worried hazel eyes locked with mine. “Please don’t… I mean I don’t want you to go.” I shifted uncomfortably but remained where I was. “Sorry, it’s not you,” he continued. “I just… This is going to sound
really
lame, and I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but do you mind if we just cuddle tonight?”

My eyes widened.
Is he kidding?
“Are you serious?” The words escaped before I could stop them.

His eyebrows rose before they pulled together and he frowned. “I’m dead serious.”

The smirk I had on my face dropped. “I don’t get it. The kiss… Why would you ask me to come back if you don’t even want me?”

Ryan snorted then pulled a face. “Oh, I want you, don’t you worry about that. It’s just wrong, that’s all.”

“Because it was my father’s funeral today?”
Of course that’s why, you idiot! What’s wrong with you?

“That has something to do with it but no, it’s not everything.”

“So, then what is it? Because I’m strong enough to handle a little rejection from the likes of someone like you.”
Am I?
I wasn’t entirely sure about that.

A lop-sided grin appeared on that damn near perfect face of his. “It’s nothing I want you to worry about, and I already told you that I want you.”

“Just not tonight?”

“
Correct
,” he said with a wink. “So are you going to come over here so we can cuddle, or do I have to come over and grab you then tie you down?”

I wasn’t completely sure what I was getting myself into but it was late and I was exhausted after the big day. I stepped towards the other side of the bed while watching Ryan; mesmerized by the way he slipped out of his suit jacket and tie so effortlessly.

“Do you have anything I can wear to sleep in?” I asked, shaking the outrageous thoughts that were running through my head.

I turned away about to unzip my dress when he answered, “What’s wrong with just your underwear? I’ve seen you in much less.” I immediately spun around to face him with a scowl firmly in place. “I’m joking.” He laughed shaking his head. “I’ll go grab you something.”

He got up and crossed the room to the black double doors, skillfully unbuttoning his dress shirt at the same time. He slid one of the doors open, which revealed a huge walk in wardrobe, and stepped inside. I could see him rummaging around, then stop once he grabbed hold of something. As he made his way back, he tossed the material over at me before he reached the bed again.

“Err, thanks,” I managed to mumble, trying to look anywhere but at his now exposed, rock hard chest.

After I forced him to turn around while I changed out of my dress and into the oversized tee he had given me, I scrambled into bed beside an almost naked Ryan. He’d removed everything except for his boxer briefs. Thank goodness for that!

I lay there quietly staring at the ceiling, unable to believe how my night had panned out. Some huge man-whore he was turning out to be.

With a single clap of Ryan’s hands, the lights went out and everything went pitch black. Everything was silent; not even the traffic from the streets below could be heard. Was this room soundproof? That wasn’t a bad idea actually. Perhaps I could look into that for my own place―

“Come here,” Ryan, said in a low voice, distracting me from my thoughts.

As I shuffled closer, he put an arm around me and rested his head against the crook of my neck. I could feel a slight tickle from his stubble and the warmth from each breath he made against my skin. Having him like this was sending my body crazy. My heart started pounding inside my chest and the heat between my legs got uncomfortable. How was I supposed to get any sleep with our bodies so close together and with his arm wrapped around me?

“Goodnight, Evangeline,” he whispered breathlessly in my ear. My body tingled in response.

“Goodnight,” I managed to reply, as I lay on my back, perfectly still and wide-eyed.

I don’t know how much time passed,
minutes? Hours?
However long it had been it felt like an eternity and I was still awake trying to settle my overactive body. Every so often it would start to calm but as soon as Ryan made any slight movement, it would start back up again. It was useless. Although I didn’t want to move from where I was, I couldn’t stay the night if I wanted to get any sleep at all.

“
Ryan?
” No answer. “Ryan?” I whispered louder.

There was a sleepy groan before he answered. “Yes, Bella?”
Bella?