Inside Out - Lauren Dane [44]
Ducking into the car and starting it gave her a chance to compose herself. “Thanks. I suppose there are things in life you learn the hard way. I’d have preferred to learn this lesson from the hot young stud teaching me self-defense.”
“Hot young stud, huh? Hope we’re both talking about me, or I’ll be all embarrassed.”
She laughed. “Yeah, I’ll wait for that moment.”
“Ha. I wish you could have skipped that hard lesson too. To answer your question, it’s the usual stuff. My dad called. Ben’s upset.” He shrugged.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
He paused, and she didn’t push. God knew she understood what it meant to have to stay silent on things. But that came at a price, and she hated to think about Cope having to pay it.
“I do. But I can’t. Not now.”
Her heart ached at the sadness in his tone.
“All right. But if you change your mind, you know where I am.”
“I do. It means something to me that you care. That I know you do.” He shrugged, and she felt the emotion behind the words blanket her.
They drove on for a while in comfortable silence until they got to his condo. Once she turned the engine off, the silence drew around them. Just Andrew and Ella. Alone. Butterflies in her belly, nervous and excited all at once. He did something to her, and she liked it.
He smelled incredibly good. Manly and sexy, and how is it that she’d never really noticed how good a man could smell? She hoped he couldn’t see her sniffing at him and think she was a weirdo.
He looked out the window for the longest time, and she unabashedly stared at him, taking that opportunity to do so without him noticing. Truly Andrew Copeland was simply ridiculously handsome. Outrageously so. Strong features, his cheekbones were perfect, his lush lips surrounded by a closely cropped goatee and mustache. His lashes, dark and long, only highlighted the intense blue of his eyes. Add the body, tall, broad, muscled and tattooed and the slow, sexy drawl and you had an irresistible picture. And that didn’t take into account what a fabulous person he was in addition to the way he looked.
Each time she was with him, she learned more; he let her in a bit, and that trust, being a woman who found it hard to give trust herself, meant a lot.
Andrew Copeland was so much more than she’d known before. Complicated. Sensitive. Talented.
He sighed, not in a beleaguered way, but as if he’d come to some sort of internal decision. She fisted the fingers itching to touch his skin. To comfort and to inflame.
“Andrew, thanks for all your help tonight. With the lessons and all. I appreciate it.”
He turned to her, and the breath gusted from her lips at the raw intensity he wore on his features. She swallowed and tried not to gawk. He was so utterly gorgeous he stole her words. And he didn’t look grateful just then. He looked hungry. For her.
He took her hand, turning it upward, and pressed a kiss to the heart of her palm, sending a shiver through her.
“You move me, Ella. It’s my pleasure. It’s win-win for me. Keeping you safe and being with you.”
She struggled to keep her composure, leaving her hand in his. “I can’t believe you’re saying all this after all these years.”
“At first you were with someone else. And then you were hurting and had other priorities. I had to wait it out. Wait you out.”
She wanted to cry, wanted to jump on him, wanted to throw her arms around him for understanding and for wanting her anyway. He said things to her, things that burrowed beneath the self-doubt and pain, warming her, making her believe in more than just getting through each day.
All she could do was look at him there, so very close to her, smelling all sexy and stuff, rumpling up her thoughts.
“Damn it, Ella,” he stopped, running his free hand through his hair. He leaned toward her, and she stilled inside, knowing he meant to kiss her. Again.
She closed those few last inches, moving her