“You need to leave,” she said, ignoring his smile as she gestured for him to get his ass off her bed and get the hell out of her apartment.

He sighed heavily as he tossed the DVDs aside. “You’re canceling another date.”

“Another date?” she repeated back, realizing that she was starting to sound like a parrot thanks to him.

He nodded, looking boyish as he explained, “Our third date.”

“Our third date………….,” she repeated, wondering how’d she missed the first and second date, but she didn’t have to wonder for very long.

“Our first date last night when you kicked me out for work and earlier tonight when we had to call it an early night because of the………incident,” he said with a shrug as though that horrifying experience that she’d somehow survived was no big deal.

“Those weren’t dates,” she pointed out between clenched teeth. “And neither is this.”

“Wow,” he said, shaking his head as though he just couldn’t believe what he was hearing, “I can’t believe that you keep leading me on like this.”

“I never led you on!”

“It’s really not nice leading guys on, Tinkerbelle,” he said in a chiding tone as he climbed off the bed.

“Oh my God! Are you insane?”

“Probably,” came the unconcerned answer as he walked up to her and cupped her face in his large, warm hand and caressed her cheek with the pad of his thumb. “Now, why don’t you tell me why you’re scared of me?”

Chapter 15

“I-I’m not afraid of you,” Jodi argued, stepping away from him.

He tilted his head to the side as he considered her. “No, you’re not,” he murmured softly. “But you are afraid of what’s going on between us.”

She snorted. “There’s nothing going on between us.”

“Really?” he asked, moving closer.

“Really,” she said firmly and he would have believed her except he didn’t want to. He refused to believe this insane attraction that he was feeling was one sided.

“Then prove it,” he said, moving closer until there were only a few inches separating them.

“I don’t need to prove anything,” she said on a tired sigh as she pushed past him and went to the bed.

“Then why are you running away?” he asked, watching as she picked up the large bowl of popcorn and set it on the nightstand.

“I’m not running away,” she said, sighing heavily as she pulled back the covers and climbed in.

“Then what are you doing?”

“I’m going to bed,” she said, and with that she turned over and curled up.

“You’re afraid of men,” he said, sitting on the bed by her side.

“No,” she said, shifting away from him, “I’m not.”

“Uh huh,” he said, not believing her as he reached over and gently swept her long hair back onto her pillow.

“Yeah, that would explain why most of my friends are guys,” she drawled, reaching back to slap his hand away.

“I see,” he said, because he did. It all made sense now, the comments that she’d made while drugged out on Benadryl, her reaction to him and her choice in friends. “You’re afraid of sex,” he blurted out before common sense could take over and help him keep his mouth shut.

“I’m not afraid of sex!” she snapped, sitting up to glare at him.

“Look, I’m sor-”

“I’m just not into sex, okay? Are you happy now?” she demanded angrily and it was at that point that he decided that he’d already fucked up past the point of redemption so what was one more fuck up?

“You have absolutely no idea what you’re into, because you were with a man who had absolutely no idea how to please a woman in bed,” he snapped right back.

Her mouth moved, but no sound came out as she registered his words and he realized something rather important. She didn’t remember what she’d said to him the other night. Well, if she wasn’t pissed at him before, she definitely was now. So, there really was no point in apologizing at this point, not when he’d ruined any chance he’d had with her. Not that he’d ever really had a chance with her, he realized.

“Look, men just aren’t attracted to me. They go out on one date with me and by the time the appetizers arrive they start looking at me like I’m the sweet little sister that they never had, but suddenly realize that they want. There’s never going to be anything between us, because sooner or later you’re going to realize just like every other guy before you that I’m just not the kind of girl that drives a man crazy.”

He blinked down at her……just blinked, because really what was there to say?

Except maybe……..

“You’re an idiot.”

*-*-*-*

“What the hell?” Danny demanded just as she nailed him in face with the pillow.

“I’m an idiot?” she demanded, pulling the pillow back and with another swing, nailed him in the face again before he managed to grab the pillow from her.

“I’m the idiot?” he asked, tossing the pillow aside.

“Yes!” she hissed, grabbing another pillow and-

“Really?” he calmly asked as he picked her up and placed her on his lap, adjusting her until she was sitting sideways with her legs hanging over the side of his legs. He wrapped his arms loosely around her, but it was clear that he wasn’t going to allow her to move.

“Really!” she said, trying to shove his arms away, but he simply ignored her and kept his arms where they were.

“You’ve been standing me up all this time, because you think that I’m not really attracted to you,” he mused with a rueful shake of his head and a chuckle that she really didn’t appreciate.

“All this time…….,” she repeated back slowly, shaking her head in disbelief. “You only started to bring up this asinine idea of going out a few days ago!”

“True,” he murmured, leaning down so that he could brush his lips along her jaw, startling her. “But, I most definitely don’t see you as a little sister,” he said with a chuckle as he tightened his arms around her and pulled her closer so that she could feel-

“Oh my God,” she whispered around a choked gasp.

“Definitely. Not. A. Sister,” he said, stressing each word as he turned his head and pressed a kiss against her neck, robbing her of the ability to speak or think.

“So,” he continued pressing kisses along her neck and jaw, “why don’t we finish our date and at the end of the night you let me show you just how enjoyable a goodnight kiss can be.”

*-*-*-*

“What the fuck just happened?” he asked as he stood there, staring at the door and wondering where he’d gone wrong.

He’d had Tinkerbelle in his arms, holding her, brushing his lips against her soft skin, and was saying all the right things one minute and the next……..

He’d been unceremoniously kicked out, the bowl of popcorn shoved in his hands and the door slammed shut in his face. She’d even ignored him when he’d inquired about a goodnight kiss. He stood there for another minute until he accepted the fact that she wasn’t coming back and he realized that he was starting to look like an idiot standing there.