Page 59 of Jack

Chapter15

Zuri stirred languidly and stretched. Herbody felt gloriously used and sore in places, but it was a wonderfulfeeling. Her eyes flickered open and blinked at the thin sunlightstreaming through the naked windows.

It took her a few seconds to realize thathe was not lying next to her. Coming fully awake, she turned her headto see him sitting on the edge of the bed. They had been meeting eachother for a week now and instead of diminishing, the passion wasescalating. Last night he had made love to her three times, the lasttime was early this morning, and the tone had had a desperation to itthat had left her dazed and clinging to him.

"Hi."

"I made coffee." He handed herthe cup.

"What time is it?"

"Almost seven. I have to leave butwanted to talk to you first."

"Uh oh." Taking the cup from him,she eased up on the pillows. Taking a sip of the excellent brew, sheeyed him over the rim. "It's not a good sign when a manannounces that he wants to talk first thing in the morning."

His eyes narrowed as he stared at her. "Howmany men have you had a discussion with first thing in the morning?"Before she could respond, he shook his head. "Never mind, it'snone of my concern."

Tamping down the naked hurt, she tookanother sip of coffee. "You're right, it's not. But for yourinformation, I have never lived with a man and the only one I everspent the entire night with was a man I thought was interested inmarriage."

"You were engaged?"

"No. He led me to believe that hewanted long term. Are we done?"

Turning away, he put aside his cup androse. He had not slept a wink since making love to her the last timethis morning and he had a packed schedule. Things were getting out ofhand, way out of hand. And it had to stop. They were practicallyliving together. The passion was not sizzling out as he thought. Itwas getting hotter and getting to a point where he could not stopthinking about her.

Even in meetings, he would find his mindwandering. Several times he would be reaching for the phone, just tocall and hear her voice. He had to distance himself, trytoget back to the man he was before he met her. The man who knew whatthe hell he was doing.

Pacing over to the sturdy lookingfireplace, he stood there looking into the empty grate before turningto face her.

"I am going away for a few days,"he announced abruptly.

"I see."

Zuri's heart constricted, but shemaintained her composure. "For business?" she asked, tryingto keep her voice steady.

He nodded, avoiding her gaze. "Yes,for business. I need to clear my head and focus."

She took another sip of coffee, thebitterness mirroring her emotions. "When will you be back?"

"By the end of the week, I think."His answer was vague, but she didn't press further. He had spent thetime trying to think of the best way to end things. "Renovationis going to start back up within the next two weeks."

"Okay." Her heart was beating sohard, she wondered if he could hear it all the way across the room.

Shoving his hands into the pockets of hisdark blue dress pants, he rocked back on his heels. He felt like abloody coward, and it was pissing him off. Going on the defensive, heglared at her. She had the sheets covering her breast, but he couldstill see the outlines of her nipples and it sent heat thunderingthrough his entire body.

"This is not working out," hesaid it swiftly, better to get it out and be done with it. Ignoringthe aching in his heart, he continued. "I already told youinitially that I don't do relationships. We've had a good run and-"he swallowed the golf ball sized lump in his throat and pressed on."We need to step back."

The silence that followed his awkwardstatement stretched his nerves tight until it felt like breaking. Shehad put her cup away and was gripping the sheets in tight fists. Thehurt on her exquisite face had him hating himself with a virulencethat shook him.

"You're breaking up with me."

Her statement combined with the hurt on herface had him feeling lower than dirt. "This was never arelationship-"

"You did tell me that."

He tensed as she shoved the sheets off.Unselfconsciously, she moved towards the sofa to pick up her clothes.

"I am sorry-"

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