Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
I tilted my chin down in confusion. “The room we’re standing in.”
“Yes.”
It took me a moment to get it. No one knew we were here because the hotel had listed the room as uninhabitable, and now they were claiming a second one was affected. “Jason wants us in separate rooms.”
He gave a slight smile. One which conveyed that was not what he wanted.
“Okay, what else did he say? He was obviously upset.”
His rich brown eyes turned serious. “He said I shouldn’t have fucked you.”
“Yeah.” My voice was dry. “I figured that part out.” Why did he have to say it like that? I liked him least when he sounded the most American. “That couldn’t have been what it was.”
“He pointed out you’re not someone I can do that with and never see again. That my niece or nephew will be yours, too.”
His revelation settled in and started a slow burn that built into an inferno of anger. That was what had made him panic? “You’re freaked out you can’t, what? Make a clean getaway? Escape from a one-night stand with me?”
He frowned, and it seemed like he was trying to put the words together, assemble something that wouldn’t make me ballistic, but it was wasted effort.
“Don’t worry about it.” I hardened my voice. “I don’t have a problem being another notch on your belt,” I lied. “You’ll only be one on mine.”
His face skewed and gave the impression that whatever he was about to say was pushed aside. “I don’t believe that any more than you do.”
“Why not? It was just sex, and I got what I wanted out of it. Didn’t you?”
His expression went dark, like my lie offended him. It filled me with liquid fire, and I approached the threshold of my anger.
“Stop being like this,” he commanded. “If it was just sex, you wouldn’t have been crying.”
I pulled in a deep breath and slammed my eyelids shut. I had a temper, one which had severed the connection between me and my sister for half a decade, and it was a terrible struggle now to keep it in check.
When I calmed, I found him staring at me with a different expression. I didn’t understand it.
Frustration edged into my voice. “That was—”
“You can lie to yourself, but I don’t want to hear it. It meant something.”
Oh, my God. This reaction was because I’d bruised his massive ego. “Do you expect every woman you sleep with to fall head over heels in love with you? Because, believe me, I haven’t. I’m not even sure I like you.”
He gestured to the unmade bed. “You want me to remind you how much you do?”
“No. No, that won’t happen again.”
“More lies.” He snatched up his glass of wine and took a long sip.
“I mean it, Shawn.”
“All right, fine, but don’t tell me it was just sex.”
His arrogance made me ball my fists.
“Because,” he added, “maybe it was for you, but it wasn’t for me.”
15
SHAWN
I watched Kara’s sexy mouth fall open then immediately slam shut, and the fire in her eyes burned brighter. She thought this was manipulation. Her brain probably wouldn’t let her consider any option where it was the truth. She stormed over to the window, as far away from me as she could get, turning her back.
When she claimed I meant nothing, well . . . I didn’t like that. The loss of control over my emotions that followed was shocking. She disabled my ability to think. Around her, I didn’t know up from down. Good choices from bad ones. Lust from . . . whatever this was.
I raked a hand through my hair to settle myself.
Apologize.
Every second that passed made it worse. I knew how it was with women, how they could stew in simmering anger and, left long enough, it would boil down to rage.
“Jason called me a selfish bastard, among other things.” I didn’t keep the shame from my voice. “He made it clear you were off limits, because . . .” I struggled to find a way to put it into words. “With women, I’ve been known to—”
She glanced over her shoulder to give me a plain look. “You sleep around.”
I sighed. “That’s a nicer way of phrasing it than the way he did. You deserve someone who wouldn’t do that to you. He asked me not to get involved, but I didn’t care. I wanted you.” My voice was resigned. “I had to have you, and I always get what I want.”
Her eyes were as cold and clear as a glacier and her whole body stiffened. “I am not yours to have.”
Her reaction told me how dangerous the conversation had turned, and a wrong step could be catastrophic. “I know that.”
“This was a mistake.” She folded her arms tight across her chest and turned again to stare out the window. Like she could block me out. The word mistake stung. What the fuck did she mean it was a mistake?