Page 25 of Prince of Tides
“Thank you for the ride,” Rip said, following me to the door, still naked. “Home, I mean. In your car.”
I blushed furiously at the double entendre. “No problem.”
Then I was gone, out the door and hammering the plastic button for the elevator, cursing the stupid design that meant I had to wait.
“Come on, hurry up,” I hissed, tapping one foot impatiently as the lights over the door slowly ticked up to the top floor.
The ride down felt just as long as the wait, and I turned sideways to squeeze through the doors before they were even fully open, eager to get in my car and away. Regrets were starting to set in, and I wasn’t sure what else to do but drive as fast and as far as possible.
With the turmoil in my mind, I was halfway to my car before I realized someone was bent over the driver’s side door, fiddling with it.
I stopped dead, an icy spear stabbing into my stomach, leaving my blood chilled. Slowly, I backed away, but my abrupt stop had already gathered their attention.
“Well, well,” Eric sneered, shaking his head at me. “Look at you. Went home and fucked the help, did you? I should’ve known. I’m surprised you even came down tonight.”
“How the hell did you get in here?” I snapped, knowing the underground garage was key-coded. There was no way Eric had access. “And how did you find me?”
“There isn’t a guard monitoring it,” my ex-fiancé said with a snort. “I just walked in when someone else opened it. Come on, now. It’s not that hard.”
I glared at him.
“You know, I thought you had higher standards than sleeping with the help. But I can forgive you. We can get over this, Laurie. We’ll work through it. The wedding can still be on.”
“You’re joking, right? You have to be joking,” I said, staring at him wide-eyed. It was like he didn’t actuallylistento anything I’d told him earlier. “We’re done, Eric. You and I are no more. There’s no ‘work through.’ Nothing to forgive because we aren’t together anymore!”
“Don’t say that,” he said. “We can move past this.”
I shook my head. “No. We can’t. Why are you so obsessed with marrying me? It’s over!”
None of it made sense. Eric clearly didn’t give a rat's ass about me, my opinions, or what I had to say. He was doing it all for himself. What I couldn’t understand waswhy. What did he get out of it? Why did he need my money, if that’s even what it was really about?
“Don’t say that,” Eric said, his eyelids so far retracted I could see the whites of his eyes as he advanced on me. “It’s not over. I haven’t said so.”
I started backing away across the garage. “Eric, stop. Leave me alone.”
“We’ll find a way,” he said, a maniacal gleam to his gaze reflected from the underground lights. “You and me. We’ll make it work. Somehow, we will. Then we’ll be married. It’ll be okay. I can forgive you.”
“Forgiveme? You’re the one who was using me, asshole! Now, go away.”
I kept backing away from him, moving in a long loop around the next row—until I was between him and my car. Turning, I made a dash through the parked cars, unlocking mine and trying to slide into it before Eric could get close enough.
“Get back here!” Eric roared, coming after me.
He got to the driver’s side before I could hit the lock button, opening it just a crack, pulling on it, trying to open it while I held on for dear life, trying to keep it closed. If he got it open, he would—
Eric bellowed and yanked mightily, flinging the door open so hard it practically embedded itself in the car next to mine.
“You’re mine,” he hissed, reaching into the car for me.
Chapter Fifteen
Rip
Ilet her go.
It wasn’t easy. Pretty much the exact opposite, actually, and I left a fist-sized dent in the wall that emphasized how frustrated I was with myself and the situation.
That wasn’t how I’d envisioned things going. At all.
