Hard and Fast by Erin McCarthy Page B

used the word kink . “Doesn’t matter, babe. We can forge our own path. You want to talk about it now, I’m on board with that.”
    Ty pulled onto his street and opened up the engine a little bit. It would disappoint his neighbors if he didn’t fly into his driveway at sixty miles per hour.
    Imogen grabbed the dashboard again and held on. “I don’t think I do want to talk about it.”
    Glancing over, he saw she was biting her lip. “What’s the matter?”
    “I’ve sucked the spontaneity out of this, and I’m annoyed with myself.”
    She did look upset. “No, you haven’t. We can go on in and be totally spontaneous. Like whose shirt will come off first? That’s still a mystery at this point.”
    Now she was actually chewing her bottom lip with her teeth, frown lines etching into her forehead as they sat in the idling car in his driveway. “That’s not spontaneity. That’s simply variances of an already established intent.”
    Say what? “Speak English, babe.” He gestured to himself with his thumb. “Dumb driver here.”
    “You’re not dumb. That’s ludicrous. You’re obviously quite intelligent.”
    That made him feel oddly humble and flattered. He thought of himself as fairly street smart, but in no way was he book smart, yet it felt good to hear Imogen say she didn’t see him as a box of rocks. “Well, I can’t balance my bank account, but I do alright, I guess.”
    “And the reason you can’t understand me is because I’m not making any sense.”
    That seemed fair enough to him, but he wasn’t about to point that out. He had learned enough in his lifetime to know that you didn’t point out to a female that she was making no sense. “We’re here,” he said, turning off the car. “Come inside and let’s see if we can make sense of it together.”
    “Okay,” she said, but she still looked worried.
    Ty was starting to wonder if this was a bad idea. He was looking at Imogen’s face and seeing tomorrow’s regrets written on it.
    She opened her mouth like she was going to speak again, then shut it.
    He waited, but she didn’t say anything so he prompted her. “What are you thinking, babe?”
    “That I’m keyed up, and you’re going to be disappointed.”
    Now he knew this was a bad idea. If Imogen went into sex with that mind-set, she was going to be nervous and inhibited. No matter what he did, it had the potential to wind up awkward and unsatisfying for her.
    Damn it. He should have driven faster.
    “I can guarantee that I will not be disappointed.” Ty turned and brushed her still-damp hair off her cheek. “I find you fascinating. And I don’t want this to be a one-night stand that leaves you feeling like you can’t even look me in the eye next time we see each other.”
    She opened her mouth, but Ty leaned over and gave her a soft kiss to stave off any protests. “So I’m going to get out of the car now, and I will call you tomorrow and hope like hell that you’ll agree to go to dinner with me.”
    “You’re going in and I’m supposed to go home?” she asked. “Is that what you’re saying?”
    “Yep. I don’t want to screw this up, Emma Jean. So I think we need to call it a night right here and pick up where we left off another day.” He saw things going nowhere but south if he tried to get her naked. As nervous and agitated as she looked, she just wasn’t going to enjoy herself.
    “I see.”
    Ty waited for her to expound on that statement, since Imogen seemed fond of using seventeen words to his one, but she didn’t. She just got out of the passenger side and walked around to his side. The rain had stopped and the glow from his garage lights turned her face a pale pearl white.
    “Good night,” she said with a smile that was anything but genuine.
    Shit. He knew that look and it wasn’t a good one. “I’ll call you tomorrow,” he said.
    “Fine.”
    That was it? Ty sat in the car and stared up at her, trying to read her expression. She looked irritated.