Center Stage
Page 10

“I don’t believe you.”
She turned away again and pressed against him, wrapping his arm around her. No, he was wrong. She certainly didn’t tell her sister everything. Regan had no idea what had made her come back to Nashville.
Chapter Six
Arianna had fallen asleep wrapped in John’s arms, atop her bare mattress with only his flannel shirt draped over both of them. When she’d awaken, he was propped up on his elbow staring down at her.
“You didn’t run away.” She rolled against him, resting her cheek against his chest.
“Did you expect me to?”
“You didn’t want to do this, remember?”
“No, I just didn’t think it was a good idea. But I’m having second thoughts on that.”
Arianna tipped her head to look at him. “So you did think it was a good idea?”
“I was thinking that doing it again would be the good idea.”
She bit down on her bottom lip to keep from smiling, but she was sure it carried in her eyes.
“I think we should eat first,” she offered as she brushed her fingertips over the hair on his chest.
John gave a glance at his watch. “Too late for grilling, I think.”
Arianna gave a grunt. “I only have the few groceries you bought yesterday.”
“And I only have Hungry Man dinners.”
She propped herself back up on her elbow. “Tell me you have Salisbury steak.”
“All of this getting tangled up and your eyes light up with the thought of a Hungry Man salisbury steak dinner?”
She nodded and rolled from the bed.
“Let’s go.”
“Don’t you think you should get dressed first?”
“It’s not like we have to drive there.”
John shook his head. “And how many times have one of your siblings just showed up?”
She thought about it. Logically, Curtis and Regan were much too busy to just drop by, but then again, she hadn’t talked to Carlos in a day which meant he just might check up on her even at, she glanced down at John’s watch, eight forty-five.
Arianna crawled back up on the bed and pressed herself up against John. “Maybe we should stay right here for just a little bit longer. You know, at least my clothes are close.”
“Thought you were hungry.” He brushed his fingers through her hair.
“I think I could wait a little longer. Couldn’t you?”
“Oh, hell yeah.”
He rolled her onto her back and began what would be another hour of thrilling her and causing her mind to go blank.
Arianna sat at John’s kitchen table and watched as he prepared her dinner in the microwave. She felt bad that her house hadn’t been put together, but she had to admit that rolling around on the mattress that tried to kill her was much more fun. But now what would happen?
John was quiet again. That was normal, but it was killing her. They had just had mind blowing sex and he wasn’t talking. Did he regret it? She sure didn’t. She’d like to think they’d do it again and again. This man had occupied her mind for almost a year. She didn’t care that he thought he was old. She didn’t care about his ex-wife or his crazy work hours. But she was finding she cared an awful lot about him.
The beeping of the microwave snapped her out of her daze, and she looked up to see John remove the dinners and set them on the counter.
“Did you want another beer? I also have soda.”
“I just want some water. Where are the glasses?”
He pointed to the cupboard, and Arianna stood to get the glass. There were two.
She glanced at John who was still fussing with the dinners. This man was an island. Two glasses, two coffee cups, a basement apartment with one chair and a tiny couch. People like this didn’t invite others into their lives. What had she done?
“You okay?” John touched her arm, and she jumped.
“Fine.”
He moved in closer to her and rested his hands on her hips. “You’re not feeling bad about what we did upstairs, are you?”
“God, no.”
“Good.”
She cleared her throat. “Are you?”
John shook his head and raised his hand to her cheek. His warm, rough hand on her skin sent a surge through her that nearly made her knees give out.
He bent slightly and gently brushed her lips with his. “I’m not going to lie. I’m still not sure this is the right thing, but I’d say we are two, very mature individuals. We will handle it.”
That stopped the warmth that had coursed through her veins. “Handle it? What’s to handle. We kissed. We had sex. Great, amazing sex.”
“And you are Regan’s sister, and Zach is my boss. I watched him grow up. Now I’m sleeping with you and…”
“Had sex with me,” she snapped out. “You’re not sleeping with me.”
He pulled her in tighter. “So I can’t convince you to stay down here tonight? My heat works really well, my bed is made, and my coffeemaker is plugged in.”
Arianna dropped her shoulders. “John, what are we doing?”
He kissed her again. “It looks like we’re letting our dinner get cold.”
“I didn’t come back to get into a relationship. I…” She stopped and gathered her thoughts. “I don’t want you to hate me.”
“I don’t think that is possible.”
“And you still want to spend time with me? You don’t think we made a mistake?”
“Oh, I think it was a big mistake, but honey, I’d been thinking about it for a long time.”
“Okay, before this goes any further, we have an agreement. If this having sex in the same house we both live in doesn’t work out, we can’t be awkward around each other. I mean, you can’t go quitting your job over it or never being part of my sister’s life. I can’t be responsible for you not being around the people who are family to you too. Does that make sense?”
“It means we have to act like grownups?”
“Right,” the words squeaked out of her throat.
“So, asking you to be my girlfriend would be childish?”
He was grinning at her, and she was standing there wondering what was wrong with this man. “Girlfriend? I just told you I didn’t come home to get involved with someone.”