Page 35 of Something New

He silently studied her for a long moment, as if debating the question to ask. She could almost see him rifle through a series of questions in his head. About their break up. About her life in California. About her career. What would he choose to ask? “Come on, Wyatt. Ask,” she demanded, impatience getting the better of her.

He only stared at her coolly, then said, “If you could do one thing differently, what would that be?”

Well, that wasn’t the question she had expected, especially after their conversation on the beach earlier that day. She discarded her immediate answer, the flippant one that would only piss him off. No, she owed him the truth; she owed herself the truth. Well, the only one she could give. She wasn’t even sure she knew what it was.

Eyes locked on him, she said quietly, “I wouldn’t give up everything for my career.”

His jaw locked, and he glared at her, clearly pissed off. She met his gaze evenly, daring him to challenge her. But the group’s appetite for the game was over, and he had lost the opportunity. He nodded once, acknowledging her answer, but his eyes promised a reckoning. She inclined her head, regal as her character would have done, accepting the challenge.

Now to figure out what to say.

Chapter Sixteen

Wyatt stared after Anna as she slipped away into the house. After she dropped her little bombshell of a non-answer, everyone seemed emotionally wrung out and, by unspoken agreement, all parted ways for the night. Ethan and Delaney headed for the beach, while Grady and Brigid disappeared inside. Caroline and Matthew seemed comfortable by the fire pit, and Wyatt didn’t want to be a third wheel. Besides, he and Anna had unfinished business. She sidestepped his question so neatly, dropping a pile of nothing, and everyone let her get away with it. He needed to know if she regretted anything about them, specifically, leaving him behind.

He caught up with her in the hallway just as she was going into her room. He grabbed her arm before she could sneak inside. “Anna, what the hell kind of bullshit was that?”

She glanced at his fingers on her arm, then coolly up to his face, looking like a regal princess. “I don’t know what you mean. You asked a question. I answered it. That was the game. If you didn’t like your answer, you should have asked a better question.”

“That’s a load of crap, and you know it. You avoided answering me. You owe me.”

“I don’t know what you think I owe you. If you had a problem with my answer, then you should have said something tonight, challenged me during the contest to see what the judges’ ruling would be.” She jerked from his grasp and folded her arms in front of her, glaring up at him.

He dropped his hands to his sides, clenching his fists as he tried to figure out the next steps. “This has nothing to do with them and everything to do with us. What would you have done differently?”

She tilted her chin defiantly. “That wasn’t your question, and I don’t have to answer anything now.”

He crowded her against the door and braced himself with his hands near her head, caging her. “After everything we’ve meant to each other, after what we talked about today, you’re still going to hide from me?”

Her hand fumbled for the doorknob. Before she could turn it, he lowered his head and took her lips in a punishing kiss, reminding her of who they were, who he was. He absorbed her shocked gasp, his tongue sweeping inside to coax her response. She grabbed his forearms, fingernails digging into his skin, but she wasn’t pushing him away. She was holding onto him, meeting his kiss. His hips pinned her to the door, letting her feel the evidence of the arousal that only existed for her.

One hand released him and fumbled for the door again, and he grabbed it, pinning it in place. She tore her mouth from his, panting slightly.

“Not out here. Not where everyone can see.”

“There are no reporters here.”

“I’m not an exhibitionist for anyone, no matter what the tabloids say.” She cocked her head. “You have protection?”

He cursed under his breath. “Hang on.” He went to his room across the hall, leaving the door open, hoping Anna wouldn’t take that opportunity to sneak away and slam her door shut in his face. He rummaged through his duffel to find the string of condoms he always kept there. Thank God for his mom’s lectures about always being prepared.

He emerged and dangled the strand of condoms. Anna only shook her head. “Either I should be offended that you thought you might get lucky or damn glad that you were prepared. But tonight, I’m won’t think about it too hard.”

“That’s all right. I’m hard enough for both of us.” He waggled his eyebrows, and she groaned.

“God, I forgot you like to make corny jokes during sex.”

“They’re not corny jokes. They lighten the mood.”

She gave him a sour look. “Don’t darken it too much or you’re sleeping alone.”

Not when he was this close to the promised land. She walked into her room and glanced at him over her shoulder, a slight tilt to her head as if to see if he was coming in. He closed his door and followed her with alacrity, closing and locking her door firmly.

“Now, where were we?”

He tossed the condoms on the bed and reached for her at the same time as she reached for him. Their lips met in a duel of tongues and lips, on fire for each other as if it had only been yesterday, not five years since they had seen each other, been in each other’s arms. Wyatt cupped her ass and lifted her, walking toward the bed until he could lay her down across it, following her down onto the comforter, his lips never leaving hers. He had waited five years to be back here, and, while he had not been celibate, no one else compared to her taste on his lips, the feel of her in his arms, her sounds she made when they made love.

But this was not making love. This was pure, raw sex. Her hands slid under his shirt, tore at the buttons, and ripped it off, flinging it off of him somewhere on the floor. She explored his chest, her nails lightly scoring his nipples and tugging on the sprinkling of hair there, making him hiss when she scraped his nipple with a nail. He grabbed her tank top and pulled it off of her, breaking the kiss briefly, then returning to trail nips and sucks down the column of her neck to the pulse throbbing at the base of her throat. He sucked there hard, and she cursed.

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