Page 64 of Phillip

“Hey.” His gaze narrowed, and concern was inflected in his tone. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” She waved him back, nowhere near understanding what had happened today and how she felt. “Dehydrated, maybe.”

Worry darkened his eyes, and he handed her the cool tumbler filled to the brim with water.

“Thanks.” The water didn’t help. She replayed every moment leading up to their encounter at the restaurant. Phillip had almost swung at Sean over the jab about his aunt and uncle. In the hallway, she had done what she’d needed to do to calm him down. But their tensions had already been so high, their anger toward one another maybe even higher, that when he’d kissed her, she couldn’t hold back… and neither could he.

Her stomach dropped. They didn’t have sex because they’d lost control and acted on impulse. Sex had been nothing more than a distraction. Phillip hadn’t fought Sean nor fled the restaurant. He’d fucked her.

“I’m sorry, but I have to go.” She stood unsteadily, not sure how to even get home. Her napkin tumbled down her legs, and she let it fall.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

What just happened?Phillip remained dumbstruck, staring at the hall that Ashley had disappeared into.

Then he started after her. Hell if he was going to let her leave like that. He found her by the front door, furiously texting. She didn’t turn as he approached.

“Ashley.”

Her brow tightened, but she didn’t look up from the screen. “Mary Beth can pick me up.”

“Ashley.”

She stole a quick glance up, but Phillip couldn’t decipher her distraught expression.Lost? Angry? Filled with regret?“I’ll take you home.”

Again, she studied her text messages as though they were vital to life and death. “Don’t worry about it. It’s okay.”

He stepped closer. “Then tell her that you need a few minutes.”

“I don’t need a few minutes.”

He closed the distance between them and covered her phone with his hand. “Ashley. You do.”

Her chin jerked up, and her lips parted, but she didn’t speak.

“Ineed a few minutes,” he amended.

Slowly, she dropped her hands to her sides and put her phone into her purse. “She hadn’t answered me.”

“Come on.” He lightly took her elbow and led her the opposite way from where they had come.

She fell into stride with him, easier than he had expected, but she asked, “Where are we going?”

“Somewhere that we can have privacy.”

Without the barrage of expected questions, Ashley remained by his side as they went upstairs and entered his bedroom suite.

“I shouldn’t be in here,” she said.

He led her to the sitting area across from the bed and backed away. She needed space.

She eased into a matching chair an arm’s length from him.

“You were right,” he said. “We need to talk.”

Earlier, he had planned to talk about work, specifically the things they hadn’t gotten to the day before when they’d fought about Sean Paget.

Ashley shook her head. “No. I mean, yes, but downstairs… I’m fine.”

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