Leave a Mark (26 page)

Lee seemed to read her mind. “You do realize that if you say yes, I’ll get to see you two days in a row, right? The Mustang’s just a bonus.” He tightened his arms around her. “I work a twelve-hour shift starting at six in the morning. Do you work late?”

Wren shook her head. “I don’t work at all.”

Delight overtook his face. “You don’t?”

“Nope. Thursdays through Sundays, noon to ten.” But then disappointment hit her. “Oh, but I’m having dinner at Mamaw Gigi’s tomorrow.”

Lee’s brows drew together, and she knew that she wasn’t the only one disappointed. He gave her the same hesitant look he had a moment before.

“Well… can I come with you?”

Wren felt her heart contract. “You want to come to dinner with me at my grandmother’s?”

Hope filled his eyes. “Yeah, why not?”

Why not?
She couldn’t help it. Her lip trembled. And tears filled her eyes.

“
WREN, BABY, WHY
are you crying?” Lee asked, so confused. She had agreed to come home with him, and she seemed to love his house. Having her in his home felt
right
. What had he done wrong?

She pulled out of his arms and wiped her eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry." She sniffled and shook her head. “I’m just being stupid.”

Lee frowned. “Um, no,” he said, moving in and settling his hands at her waist. “I don’t know why you’re upset, but that’s not it. You don’t do stupid.” Lee pulled her close again and reached up to catch a tear that slid down her cheek. Even crying, she was fairy-tale beautiful. “Smart? Yes. Sassy? Yes. Sexy? Most definitely, but not stupid.”

This earned him a watery smile and a hiccup. “You don’t understand.”

He tucked a blue lock behind her ear. “I understand that you get me,” Lee said, loving the way the truth felt. “And sharing things with you makes me happy. What else do I need to know?”

“Look, Lee, you’re a really nice guy—”

“Stop." He had to stop her. She was going to walk away from him — again. And he couldn’t let her do that. A certainty — one that drove from the top of his head down into his heels — told him that if he let her walk away, he’d never forgive himself. “You don’t get to tell me why you think we won’t work.”

Wren rolled her eyes. “But we
won’t
work. I’m not what you want.”

Lee froze. “How can you think that?” At her words, Lee realized he wanted Wren Blanchard more than he’d wanted any woman in his life.

“Guys I date don’t want to have dinner at my grandmother’s.” She eyed him meaningfully, as if he should have already known this.

“You’ve been dating the wrong guys.”

Wren only frowned.

He had to make her understand. “Do you know who likes this house almost as much as I do?” Lee asked.

Wren’s frown deepened. “No…? Who?”

“You.” The startled look on her face almost made him laugh. “I love this house, Wren. As soon as I met the realtor on the front porch, I knew I wanted it. Seeing the inside only sealed the deal for me.” He remembered the day with a sense of vindication. “My dad and stepmom told me not to buy it. Marcelle told me not to buy it, but I bought it anyway.”

“They didn’t like it?” Wren asked, horrified.

Lee shook his head. “My dad didn’t like the neighborhood. He says this area’s too ‘unstable.’ Barbara, my stepmom, said the house was old and would require too much upkeep.”

Wren raised a brow. “What did Marcelle say?”

Lee couldn’t be sure, but he thought he saw a little head swagger when she spoke. He already knew Wren was no fan of Marcelle’s, but the move stirred him. She had no reason to be, but Wren was jealous. And threatened.

Lee brought his hands to the small of her back and pulled her closer to him. “She hated it. All of it." He ducked down and planted a kiss against the slope of her neck, wanting her to know how special she was. Lee met her eyes. “And you like it—”

“I love it,” she blurted, looking almost indignant. “Who couldn’t love this house?”

A smile that was half joy and half gratitude split his face. Did she understand what she was saying? The house held so much of what he valued, so much of who he was. Her approval of his house felt like an affirmation of him.

He brought a hand up to her face and cupped her cheek. “Being with you is so easy.” But instead of smiling at his words, doubt filled her gaze. “When you aren’t trying to push me away, I mean.”

The look in her eyes changed, her doubt edged with fear. “What do you mean by easy?”

Lee sighed. He wanted to explain without making the people in his life into villains. They weren’t villains. They were who they were, and he loved them. But that didn’t make them easy to be with.

“It’s like that Ingrid Michaelson song. You take me the way I am.”

He watched her eyes, but they were still cautious, unyielding.

“You don’t want to change me. You don’t want me to be something else. With you, I feel good enough." Lee shook his head, not liking the words. “Not just good enough.
Good
.”

She almost wilted in his arms. “You aren’t just good enough,” Wren said, looking miserable. “You’re
too
good.”

His breath left him in a rush. “What?!”

Wren just stared at him.

He couldn’t believe what she’d said, but Lee could see she wasn’t joking.

“Wren, what the hell do you mean?”

She looked down and shook her head. “I mean… I’m not good enough for you, and you might as well know it now, before…”

Lee frowned, the now-familiar ire building in his chest. “Before what?”

She shrugged, but she still wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Before things get complicated.”

His heart started to beat an angry rhythm in his chest. “You mean before I make love to you? Or before I start having feelings for you?”

She looked up, blinking in shock.

“Because it’s definitely too late for the latter, and it’s almost too late for the former.”

“Lee—“

“I swear, for someone who’s such a straight-talker, you’re so full of shit.” Lee gripped her arms and held her tight. “Yeah, we aren’t exactly the same. You’re inked and pierced and dyed from head to toe — literally — and I wear a coat and tie to work. Big fucking deal.”

“That’s not—“

“And you lost your mom to addiction, and I lost mine to cancer. So what?”

“But you don’t—“

“And maybe you’ve dated guys you shouldn’t have given the time of day. Newsflash, babe. I’ve wasted time with the wrong people, too. But I can tell you something, Wren Blanchard. You’re not one of them.”

She worried her bottom lip between her teeth. Her chest rose and fell as fast as his own.

“I want to be with you, Wren." Lee ached to crush her against him, but she had to be the one to take the last step.

She opened her mouth to speak, closed it, and opened it again. “I want to believe you.”

“Then why don’t you?” He brought his palms to her face and ran his thumbs over her cheeks. It was subtle — almost imperceptible — but Lee could feel her settle under his touch. Just like when they kissed. He could move them past her fears if she would just let him.

Wren took a stuttered breath and looked at him, the fear in her eyes making him more determined.

“If you knew everything about me, you wouldn’t want me anymore,” she said, her trembling voice just above a whisper.

Slowly, so slowly, he closed the distance between them and took her lips with his. She hesitated at first before she opened to his tongue. The touch of hers thrilled him. He felt her grip his shirt and pull him closer.

“Mmm…” he murmured against her mouth and pulled back to look into her eyes. “Learning everything about you sounds like an adventure.”

“Adventures are dangerous,” she whispered. “Someone could get hurt.”

“Since I’ve already promised not to hurt you, I have to ask. Do you plan to hurt me?”

Wren pulled her head back, stunned.

“I won’t hurt
you
,” she vowed. “I couldn’t hurt you.”

Lee shook his head. “That’s where you’re wrong,” he whispered. “If you deny me the chance to know you, I’ll be crushed.”

He smiled at her as he spoke, but his words were too true. Somehow, he knew that if she turned him away now, he’d feel it for years. Maybe longer.

Wren seemed to study him for a moment, weighing the words against the look in his eyes. And then, to his surprise and his boundless delight, she pulled him down to her lips again.

It was
her
kiss, and it felt different. She placed her hands on his cheeks and seemed to beckon him into her mouth.

He eagerly accepted the invitation, loving the way she pressed her chest into his. Wren moved, holding him by the chin in one hand and sliding the other into his hair. Lee moaned as she gripped him tighter, sealing him to her and fitting her body to his. He clasped her hips and tugged her closer. She shifted so that his right thigh came up between her legs.

The heat there threatened to drive him mad.

Under his hands, her hips rolled. She ground against his thigh, her left leg pressing into him. As they kissed, his breath changed, coming faster to match the runaway beating of his heart.

He reached a hand down, caught her behind the knee, and hiked her leg over his hip. Her kiss didn’t halt, and her hold didn’t free him, so he let his fingers run from the back of her knee up her thigh. Wren’s skin was so soft; he flattened his palm against it and sunk into the sensation.

Lee traced his fingers to the hem of her shorts, her skin even softer and warmer there than he could have imagined. He wanted to touch her all over. “I need to take you to my room,” he murmured against her mouth.

Wren’s only answer was a nod, but it was all he needed. In one motion, Lee grabbed her other leg, settling her astride him. She was almost weightless, but as she clung on and kissed him while he crossed the house, Lee feared he’d go dizzy.

Mounting the bed with her, Lee knew he had to be careful. He knew Wren’s fears hovered close, so he would rush nothing. He wanted her with him every step of the way, and if there was a step that was too far, Lee wouldn’t dare push.

He laid them down, knowing instinctively not to let their bodies lose contact. Above all else, Wren needed to be reassured that he wanted her. Of course, there could be little doubt since he had gone as hard as steel again. But he needed her to know not only that he wanted her, but how. He wanted her for today. And tonight. And next week. And next year.

And he knew he’d want her for the years after that if she gave him the chance.

She was peace. She was exhilaration. He could share anything with her. Wren might tease him playfully — like she had about his ringtone — but she didn’t want to change him. With her, he could be himself. She freed him and bound him to her all at once.

Lee gave thanks that the late afternoon sun streamed through his open curtains. There was a long list of things he wanted to do with Wren, and discovering the wonders of her skin was definitely in the top three.

But there would be time for that. He had yet to get his fill of kissing her. Lee rolled them onto their sides, cradling Wren in his arms. Stretched out beside her, the length of her body pressing into his, he lost himself in her kiss.

Her leg found its way to his hip again, and Lee welcomed it. When he drew his fingers along the soft flesh behind her knee, she gave a small cry against his mouth. The sound lit his skin on fire. He had to hear it again.

Moving his fingers slowly, deliberately, Lee traced a swirl behind her knee. He was rewarded with the softest moan he’d ever heard, and his cock leapt.

“You like that?” Lee whispered against her mouth, continuing his sensual swirl.

Blushing, but beginning to smile, Wren turned and buried her face in his shoulder.

Helpless against her blush, Lee grinned like a fool. “Oh, don’t hide now. This bear’s exploring.”

Wren pulled back, eyes wide. “What—”

But Lee pushed himself up and rolled Wren onto her stomach. His fingers ran down the backs of her thighs, and Wren’s head dropped to the mattress.

“Ohmygod,” she muttered.

“You
do
like that,” Lee murmured, lying down again next to her legs and propping up on an elbow. With his right hand, he traced the colorful bird behind her thigh. “What’s this?”

“Huh?” she asked into his comforter, sounding only semiconscious.

Lee smiled wider at her obvious pleasure.

“This colorful bird with the blue head,” he said, outlining the bird’s beak and red chest with his pinky. “I’ve never seen it before.” The creature had dark green wings and a touch of yellow on its shoulder.

“Oh… Painted Bunting,” she said.

Shrouded in jewel-like leaves, the brilliant bird perched on a thin branch. Lee drew over every leaf edge, every feather.

“It’s incredible.”

“It
feels
incredible,” Wren mumbled.

Smiling, he ran his fingers down to the inside of her knee again, earning himself another delicious moan. “Have you always liked this? Is this, like, your off switch?”

Wren turned to face him, pressing her cheek into his mattress. “I don’t know. No one’s ever done this before.”

Lee couldn’t hide his surprise. “No way. Seriously?”

She nodded, her expression unreadable.

Lee leaned forward and pressed his lips to the inside of her knee, and she settled even deeper into his mattress. When he drew his tongue along the crease, Wren reached up and slammed her hands against the headboard.

“Sweet Jesus!”

Lee smiled against her leg. “You’ve definitely been dating the wrong guys,” he murmured, before letting his teeth graze over the sensitive skin.

“Oh. God… You’ve got to stop,” Wren panted.

He kissed her flesh once more, and before he could do it again, Wren reached down and gripped him by the shirt. In an instant, she was back in his arms, and in another, he felt her hands on the flesh of his stomach, and it was his turn to moan. She pressed into him so that he knew to roll onto his back, and then she straddled him.

Even fully clothed, he could feel her heat again, and his breath went shallow.