Fall Gently (Red Light: Silver Girls series) by Debra Kayn Page B

of the bathroom. She'd brushed her hair, and her lips were rosy red from brushing her teeth. A curl of lust settled in his gut remembering the minty kiss.
    "I'm really tired tonight." She walked toward the bed and paused noticing the covers open to her. "Do you mind if I just go to sleep? I don't feel much like talking."
    Hell no, he wouldn't mind. He wanted her in bed beside him. "Go ahead."
    "Are you staying over?" She sat down on the edge of the mattress.
    "Can I?" he asked. It took everything in him to seek her permission even though he was staying. Nobody could make him leave.
    Her nipples peaked under her T-shirt. He raised his gaze to her face, wishing there was a way to get her past her leeriness. The attraction between them thick and unavoidable, she only made things harder on herself by denying herself pleasure. Though he still couldn't figure out how to broach the attraction knowing he needed to protect her from abuse or being used.
    It would be like giving a smoker a cigarette while preaching cancer risks.
    She nodded and laid down, cradling her head on the pillow. He turned off the light and laid down on the bedspread. He had no idea how to help her, except to show her he was a man of his word.
    Her experience made his goal an impossible feat. He was no therapist or even a man who put energy into relationships. Hell, he wasn't even sure when he went from wanting to help her out of a bad situation to wanting her for himself.
    An uncomfortable silence filled the air. Dawson latched his hands behind his head. His cock half hard as he tried to forget the sight of Roni's legs and the idea he'd like her thighs gripped around his hips and the soft scent of wintergreen blowing over his face.
    "Are you a smoker?" His voice vibrated his aroused body.
    "No."
    "Just thought you might be using the Lifesavers to try and kick a habit," he said. "In prison, a lot of the guys who smoked on the outside would use candy when they got the urge to light up and had no cigarettes left for the month on the inside."
    "I do have a bad habit." She turned over on her side and faced him. "Two, in fact."
    "What would those be?" He turned and propped his head on his bent arm. Laying together but still a foot too far away, he wanted nothing more than to feel her body along the length of him.
    "I bite my nails, and I'd like to stop." Her hand on her pillow fisted, and she hid her fingers from his view. "Nibbling on a Lifesaver gives me something to do with my teeth, and I can put the tip of my tongue in the little hole."
    Motherfucker. This conversation was heading somewhere fast, and he had to get control. "What's your other bad habit?"
    She raised her brows. "I use the flavor to get the taste of latex out of my mouth."
    "La—" He shut his mouth, and his cock lost all interest in the conversation.
    "I eat them all night long, and every twenty minutes or so during the day." Her lips puckered, and her gaze never left him. "Even when I'm not working I can taste the rubber on my tongue. Like right now. The aftertaste sticks around, and it makes me gag."
    He rolled to his back. The direction Roni took the conversation went south. Her attempt to piss him off and disgust him with her claim to suck other men's dick only made him more determined to get her the hell out of here. No woman should ever rely on her body parts or sexual talent to survive or feel they are powerless.
    "Even now, my lips feel swollen from the back and forth motion. Because of all the different sizes of dick I had tonight. My mouth has been stretched so far; my lips feel like they'll split right open at the corners." She paused, and he refused to give her the emotion she tried to draw from him.
    He let her stew over what she'd disclosed. Her pathetic attempt to push him into forcing sex on her wasn't going to happen. He wouldn't allow her to blame him for when they ended up having sex, and they would have sex. Just not tonight.
    When the time came that she'd come to him honestly,