Page 17 of Wrecked
“I’m not here to…spy on you. You carry on doing whatever you do, and I’ll do the same.” He dropped his arms and crossed them over his wide chest, covering his stomach, but now her gaze moved to his strong forearms, the way the muscles bunched, the thick veins, all corded and sexy.
She forced her gaze back up and lifted a brow in question. She wasn’t buying it. Not one damn bit.
He rubbed the back of his neck, guilt flashing across his expression, just for a split second. “Look, Pipe, I think we need to talk about the other…”
Noooo. They weren’t going there. “So,” she said a little too loudly. “You’re telling me, you’re not here at Deacon’s request?” If he started talking about what happened between them, he’d ruin everything.
He cleared his throat, expression softening. “My apartment was only meant to be temporary. Deke offered me this place. Simple.”
She watched him for a few long seconds, waiting to see if he’d break and tell her the truth. But being an ex-cop, the likelihood of that happening was pretty slim. “You’re going to stick with that story?”
His mouth quirked up on one side, humor dancing in his eyes. The effect was devastatingly handsome. “Yep.”
She wandered over to the box on his kitchen counter and looked inside, so he didn’t see how that small grin affected her. Soup, cereal, and boxes of macaroni and cheese. She pulled out a packet of macaroni and shook her head. “You want to be Deacon’s Robin, that’s your deal.” She put the box down. “And I can’t believe you eat that stuff.”
He frowned harder. “Robin?”
“To his Batman, his sidekick, his lackey?”
He snorted. “I don’t really have the legs for tights.”
Her eyes skimmed over his long, powerful legs. He was lying through his teeth. “Hmm.”
He took a step toward her, and his expression softened further. “Pipe, I think we should talk…about the other night.”
Dammit. She forced a laugh. And winced when it came out sounding shrill and a little desperate. “I don’t think?—”
“Piper.” The muscles in his arms bunched, veins bulging. “You kissed me, and I didn’t handle it the way I should have…I should never have?—”
“I’d had one too many glasses of wine, and you, well, you just happened to be there, right when I was in the kissing mood. No harm, no foul.” She laughed again, this time it came out a loud snort, like a deranged donkey.
“Piper...”
“You could have been anyone. I’m a kissing fool, you could say. Stick a pair of lips in front of me and I’m all over them.”
What the hell? Shut up. Now.
His brows shot toward his hairline, then his eyes narrowed.
Wrap it up. Her skin heated, but she shrugged carelessly, though she wasn’t sure she pulled it off, not when her face was glowing like a stoplight. “Right. I’m glad we cleared that up. There’s absolutely nothing to talk about. We’re cool. It was nothing.”
His mouth thinned into a hard line, and he dipped his chin, which she assumed was his way of agreeing to end the discussion.
She clapped her hands together and smiled brightly at him. “Excellent! And if you ever get sick of soup and macaroni and cheese, just let me know.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets. “I’ll do that.”
She doubted it. She felt the smile on her face turn wooden. When she’d called him a couple months ago, leaving that message on his answering machine—and yeah, large quantities of alcohol had been involved, but even so—she’d all but begged him to come for her, to be with her. And what did he do? Nothing, that’s what.
Her idea to tease him into making a move was doomed to failure. She’d offered herself to him, couldn’t have said it any plainer, and he’d turned her down. She should just quit while she was ahead.
Could she do that? Go back to the way they’d been before?
The answer to that was an emphatic no.
If she didn’t give this one last shot, she’d always wonder what if. She was sick of getting tied up in knots over him. It was time to find out one way or the other. She couldn’t let this chance slip away without trying.
He’d brushed the call under the carpet, pretended it never happened. Now it was the big pink elephant in the room that no one wanted to bring up. Because bringing it up meant he’d have to admit the way he felt about her. And going by his swift departure the other night, he had no intention of doing that. But his actions recently, the way he looked at her, the way he’d kissed her back, they told her something entirely different. He wanted her all right.
