My cheeks burned like I was sunbathing in hell. “I want that—I want you. I want to be with you.” I watched him stand and I thought for a second he was going to leave the room. Knots formed in my stomach, so tight I thought I’d hurl, but he just stood there. “I’m not asking for you to be my boyfriend or to marry me. I know you don’t do relationships. I know you’re not into that kind of thing.”

“And you’re not either?” Derision dripped from those words.

Now my entire body flamed. He said that like I was Miss Conservative USA. It made me go on the defensive, and the need to prove I wasn’t a frigid little goodie two shoes hit me hard.

“Not with you. I just want you. For one night. That’s it.”

Kyler went very still. I don’t even think he breathed. Then his eyes narrowed on me. “That’s what you want?”

My hands twisted in front of me and I whispered, “Yes.”

“And that’s it?” He prowled a step forward, and my heart tripped up as I took a step back. “Say it a little louder, Syd.”

Throat dry, I swallowed and went with a minimally louder, “Yes.”

Another measured step from him, and I found myself backing up until I hit the glass window. A slow predatory smile graced his lips, and heat flooded my veins in a maddening rush. “Since when?”

Words were so hard to form. “For…for a while.”

“How long?”

“A long time.”

He shook his head. “That doesn’t tell me much.”

“Long enough,” I said.

“And what is it again that you want?”

I wasn’t sure if I could speak, not when he was looking at me like that. “You.”

“You’re going to have to be a little more detailed than that, baby.” He stopped in front of me, and I had to crane my neck to see his expression. “Waiting…”

Was he really going to make me go into a detailed thesis? I started to look away, but his fingers landed on my chin, holding my gaze to his. His eyebrow arched. “I…I want you.”

His gaze dropped, and even though I wore a heavy sweater I felt bare and vulnerable. I shivered and my nipples tightened. Everything in me tightened. “You’ve said that already. You’ve also said that you want what the other girls have gotten. You know what that is?”

I nodded the best I could.

Kyler lowered his head so that his lips were a scant inch from mine. “I fucked those girls. That’s it. No strings. No commitments. Nothing. And that’s what you want? You want me to fuck you?”

No. I wanted more, so much more. “Yes.”