A Little Harmless Lie 4 by Melissa Schroeder Page B

caught him off- guard, and he studied her for a minute. He didn’t know what was going on in that beautiful head of hers, but something was bothering her. He hesitated, not wanting to leave the solitude they’d created at the ocean- side café. But he realized it was getting late and he had to input data from the night before.
    “Sure.”
    They had walked from the club earlier since she was on the roster to work that night. They paid their bill and then started walking down Paoa Avenue. She was trying to pull away from him. He could feel it, but he wouldn’t allow it. After her explanation, he understood her issues with trust. He would just have to work to overcome those worries, those fears.
    He slipped his arm over her shoulder and pulled her against him. It wasn’t easy to walk down the street that way, but he refused to let her go. For the first time in his life, he wanted everyone to know she was his. Maybe it was the fact they hadn’t had sex that made him feel he needed to mark his territory. She wasn’t truly his. And the tenuous thread he felt he’d tied the other night seemed ready to break.
    “Was there something I said?”
    She shook her head but said nothing more.
    He didn’t like it. She hadn’t looked him in the eye since he’d told his story. Dee didn’t strike him as insensitive. But why would she behave this way? They walked past the Hale Koa and he spied an alleyway. With ease, he stepped off the main street and pulled her along with him.
    “What are you doing?”
    He said nothing but turned her toward him and backed her up against the building. Without any words, he slammed his mouth down on hers. For a moment or two, she resisted. He pulled back slightly. “Don’t. Don’t keep yourself from me.”
    His voice shook when he said it, his emotions too raw to control. She looked up at him, those blue mermaid eyes watching him. Then she shuddered, closed her eyes and leaned into him. He wanted to shout with triumph, but instead, he slanted his mouth over hers and swiftly slipped inside past her lips and teeth. Her tongue danced alongside his as she slid her hands up his chest and then over his shoulders. He leaned in closer, skimming his hands down her back to her ass. He pulled her tight against his groin. The moment he felt the contact, he groaned and deepened the kiss. Micah knew he would never get enough of this woman. She was innocent and sweet with a dash of temptress. It was enough to make a man go insane. The blood in his veins roared, heated. Arousal, need and torment twined together and clutched at his gut. He needed her, now. It was at that moment he was thinking of stripping off her pants and taking her. In an alley, in the middle of the day, in Waikiki.
    He pulled back, his body protesting. They were both breathing heavily.
    He raised his hand to scrub it over his face and realized it was shaking.
    “Dee, I’m sorry.”
    She wasn’t looking at him, her head bent down.
    “Dee?”
    She did look up at him then. The desire still holding him by the short hairs simmered in her eyes. Her lips were swollen, her face as red as a passion flower.
    “I’m fine.”
    “Dee.”
    She held up a hand. “No. I’m fine. I just... ” She shook her head.
    “What?”
    “You make me want to forget all the rules.”
    The words were a punch to the gut. Damn, if the woman was going to drive him crazy. Micah considered himself a man who could manage any kind of seduction. But handling a straight- forward virgin like Dee was a little too much to ask of him. Especially when he had been wanting her for months. She didn’t even try to play games. Hearing what he did to her didn’t help cool his libido. If anything, it made him want her to call in sick for the evening so he could take her back to his place.
    He stepped forward and she shook her head. “No. I need a clear head to work tonight.”
    He wanted to push. His body was pleading for him to push her, take her, and she would go along. But this