Page 25 of Proof

“Seriously?” I responded. “That’s what you have to say to me right now?”

“Isn’t wanting to know where her clothes are the first thing the woman asks in the movies when she wakes up half-naked in the good-looking guy’s arms after some traumatic event? I was just trying to speed things along so you can get the fuck out of here.”

“Asshole,” I muttered as I remembered the way I’d been curled around him less than sixty seconds earlier. I threw the blanket off and swung my legs over the edge of the bed until my bare feet were touching the floor.

“I think it happens in romance novels too,” Cass continued as if he was talking to himself, though I knew he wasn’t. The prick was just needling me to get the response he wanted.

I was glad he remained in the bathroom because I didn’t want him to see how unsteady I was even while just sitting there. My head was spinning, and I felt sick to my stomach. As I hung my head, I noticed that my pants were covered in dust and pieces of underbrush that had snagged the fabric as I’d been running down the hill.

Or climbing back up it.

After Cass had saved my life.

“And I suppose she’s usuallyallnaked,” Cass said from somewhere behind me. “I figured we could bypass that particular drama if I left your pants on.”

I closed my eyes. Fear and anger whirled inside of me along with a busload of confusion. I hadn’t expected Cass to be there. I hadn’t expected the blinding light and searing pain at the exact moment I should have been pulling the trigger.

I hadn’t expected a lot of things.

“Why did you bring me here?” I asked as I put the gun back on the nightstand and scrubbed my face with my hands in the hopes of clearing some of the lingering fog from my brain.

“There’s an icepack behind you,” Cass responded.

Of course there was. That explained the cold I’d felt when I’d started to wake up.

“And to answer your question, you told me to bring you here.”

“You’re lying,” I automatically said, even though I knew he wasn’t. I had asked Cass to take me to his place so Sully wouldn’t find out what had happened. Part of me had been hoping I’d dreamed the part about asking Cass to take me to his place.

“Does that surprise you, JJ? I mean, that’s what I do, right?” Cass drawled. His voice changed to something softer, more intimate. “Or does it upset you to know that for once, I’mnotlying?”

“Why were you there? In the alley?” I asked because I wasn’t sure how to answer his question. Cass lied. He did terrible things.

“You know why.”

“God, can’t you just answer a fucking question straight for once?”

“Why do youthinkI was there, JJ?” Cass snapped. His momentary lapse in controlling his tone strangely made me feel better. Like he was still a little bit human and not full-on monster.

“You were following me,” I said. My head was starting to hurt again, so I glanced over my shoulder to find the icepack. There was no avoiding catching a glimpse of Cass. He was just outside the bathroom door.

And he was shirtless.

Dear God.

In addition to the pounding head on my shoulders, there was another head that was throbbing now too. Thank fuck Cass had left my pants on. The last thing I needed was for him to realize what his proximity was doing to me.

I nearly laughed because I’d never wondered about the character of any of the men who’d fucked me at Tank’s and yet, here I was trying to tell my dick that it wasn’t allowed to want this man, this murderer, no matter how drop-dead gorgeous he was.

The icepack turned out to be a plastic baggie with some half-melted ice cubes in it. “How long have we been here for?” I asked as I put thenot really an icepackagainst the scar on my head.

“A few hours,” Cass responded simply. “It’s six.”

“Fuck, Sully’s gonna be pissed,” I muttered.

“Not half as pissed as when he finds out what really happened in that alley.”

I froze at Cass’s words. “Nothing happened,” I managed to say. “My gun jammed and your weird obsession with me put you in the right place at the right time.”

---