Unwrap My Heart

Capítulo 10

I should leave it alone. Her anger would keep a wedge between us and I wouldn’t be tempted to get too close to her again.

Problem solved.

But I sensed the underlying hurt or confusion under the anger and I didn’t like being the cause of that.

“I want you, Rue. It’s as simple as that. But it’s not simple because there are so many reasons why I should leave you alone.”

“Yes, there are,” she said quietly. “And yet... I want you, too.”

“So what the hell are we supposed to do about that?”

It was a question I sincerely hoped she had a good answer to because I sure as hell didn’t.

I watched her take a couple of steps toward me and inhaled through my nose, a deep breath to steady my nerves.

“We can keep playing this game,” she said. “We touch or kiss and try to pretend it didn’t happen, and then live with all of the tension. Or, we can just... you know.”

Her words lit a fire in me, but I tried not to let it show.

“And what comes after the you know part? That’s an awfully hard thing to pretend didn’t happen.”

“We won’t have to pretend it didn’t happen. But we don’t have to make a big deal out of it, either. We’re attracted to each other. We’ve both been lonely. We’re adults.”

“And that’s it?”

“The awkwardness and the tension comes from not knowing what’s going on between us, and trying to fight it. If we accept it, there’s no more tension.”

It sounded good in theory. Hell, it sounded great in theory. But Ruelle Espinosa didn’t strike me as the kind of woman who’d have a casual fling and then just go on as friends.

“I’m still not sure it’s a good idea,” I said, though I had to dig deep for the willpower to mean the words.

When she got close enough to tuck her finger under the neck of my T-shirt, my willpower drained out of me.

“Do you think it’s a better idea to keep fighting it and frustrating ourselves and each other?”

That wasn’t going to work.

“I’m not the man you need, Ruelle Espinosa.”

“I don’t need any man at all, Guillermo Arriaga. But right now you’re the man that I want.”

And that was enough for me.

“Come upstairs with me. We have to go out in the cold and around to the outside stairs, though, and I can’t tell you why.”

***

RUE

I didn’t allow myself to entertain second thoughts as I followed Willy out into the cold and up the stairs to his apartment. I focused on his wide, strong shoulders in front of me and the hand he’d reached back so he could interlace his fingers with mine.

My body was practically vibrating from nerves and desire, and I paused at the threshold. Because he was holding my hand, Willy felt my hesitation and turned to face me.

Looking into his dark eyes, I tried to calm myself. I’d meant what I’d said to him downstairs. We couldn’t continue as we were, trying to keep the lid on a pot bubbling over with sexual frustration, but staying out of each other’s lives wasn’t really an option.