Page 25 of Playing with Temptation

She made her plate in silence as he waited for his to finish heating.

Nate removed his plate from the microwave, grabbed his utensils and headed back to his room. He needed to put space between them, get a good night’s rest and let his annoyance subside.

“Wait.” Kendra’s plea halted him. “Have I done something to upset you? Everything seemed fine, then suddenly I’m getting grunts and one-word answers.”

“Everything is fine, Kendra. I’m tired, and I’d like to go to bed, if that’s all right.”

She shrugged. “You don’t want to talk about it? Fine. But if I’ve somehow pissed you off, you should at least be mature enough to tell me what I did wrong.”

“Like you were when you packed your bags and took off seven years ago?” He swung around. “That the kind of maturity you’re talking about?”

Kendra lowered her gaze. “I didn’t know exactly how to handle what I was feeling.”

“I was prepared to spend my life with you, and you gave me the ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ speech. You said the life you would’ve had with me wasn’t the one you envisioned for yourself. Do you have any idea how that made me feel?” Nate put the plate on the table and clenched his fist.

“Shitty,” he supplied when she didn’t respond. “Everything I’d done up to then was so that I could give you the life you deserved.”

Head tilted, her brow creased. “That’s sweet, Nate, but I never asked you to take care of me. I’m fully capable of caring for myself.”

“I know, but…” Nate ran a hand through his hair and huffed. “All those years I watched your mom struggle to support you and Dash, working long hours and still managing to be a good mother. Most days she was tired to the bone. Apologizing because she couldn’t be at your brother’s track meets or your school plays. I didn’t want that for you. For us. I wanted to give you everything. Anything you wanted.”

“What I wanted was to have a relationship and a career. I wanted to do what I loved during the day and go home to the person I loved at night, just like you did. But you couldn’t cope with that, as if it infringed upon your manhood.”

“I didn’t object to your career. I just didn’t want you working with random athletes.”

“Why?” She stepped closer.

“You know how those guys are. Chasing skirts. Going after anything pretty that moves.”

“Exactly.” Kendra’s self-satisfied expression said it all. He’d justified her reasons for walking away.

His cheeks flushed with heat. “C’mon, Kendra, you know what I meant. Not every guy is like that. I’m not.”

“Okay.” She shrugged. “Let’s look at the most essential point. You didn’t trust me.”

“Now you’re turning this on me? You’re the one who walked away because you didn’t trust me.”

“And you sabotaged my career because you didn’t trust that I could deal with your colleagues without ending up in their beds.”

They were both silent, stewing over the unhealed wounds they’d inflicted on each other.

Nate inhaled deeply, then released his breath slowly. He shook his head. “For the record, I did trust you. Just didn’t want you to put yourself in a bad situation. Besides, I couldn’t be sure of what I’d do if one of those guys ever laid a hand on you. Figured it’d be safer if we never had to find out. I didn’t realize how important it was to you until it was too late.”

“You should’ve talked to me instead of trying to lay down the law like you were the sheriff in a one-horse town.” The corners of her eyes were damp. “Like what I wanted didn’t matter.”

Nate studied her face. “I was wrong, and I’m sorry. I wish I could take it back and do it all over again.”

“Me, too.” Kendra swiped a finger beneath her eye; her voice quavered. “The choice I made…it was a mistake. One we all ended up paying for.”

Nate had waited a long time to hear those words. For confirmation that what they’d shared was real.

“I shouldn’t have brought it up.” His fists were balled at his sides as he resisted the urge to take her in his arms.

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