Page 595 of Love Bites

Inhaling a deep breath, I gently touched his hand. He didn’t take mine, but at least he didn’t yank his away. “I am so sorry,” I whispered brokenly. “I made a terrible mistake and I’m just so very sorry.”

He refused to look at me and I didn’t blame him. I didn’t want to look at me either. I slid out of the booth and stood. I knew we would have to work together to solve the crime, but I could give him his space when we weren’t working. The tiny pieces that were left of my heart tore at my insides.

“I’ll check in tomorrow morning before my appointment.” I moved to leave, but his hand snaked out and captured my wrist in a vise-like hold.

“If you think you’re about to run again, you have another thing coming.” His voice was low and furious.

“Let go of my wrist,” I said as I tried to hold back tears. “I promise I won’t run.”

“Your promises aren’t really worth much, Essie,” he said finally, raising his eyes to mine. “If we weren’t in a public place I’d handcuff you to me.”

Even though I knew he wanted to lay into me, the thought of being handcuffed to him sent excited chills through me. I had clearly lost it.I deserved anything he had to say. It couldn’t be any worse than all the things I was saying to myself.

“I have spent a year wondering what I had done to you that was so bad you would leave and I had to hear it like this? You distrusted me so much that you would think I had covered several women’s bodies in hickeys?” He was flabbergasted. When I heard him say it out loud, I had to admit I was too. How could I have been so reckless and dumb?

“I…”

“You made us miss out on a year of our lives together because you believed a lie.”

“I’m sorry,” I said so quietly I almost couldn’t hear it.

“Sorry is not cutting it right now. Come with me,” he said gruffly.

“Where are we going?” I gasped as he dragged me out of the diner.

He stopped and ran his hands through his hair and exhaled an angry frustrated sigh. “To my house. You’ve denied both of us for a year and it’s time to do something about that.”

“You can’t possibly want to have sex after what I did,” I stammered and backed away.

“Who said anything about sex?” He grinned and my tummy flipped.

“I just thought…”

“You need to stop thinking, Essie. It just gets you into trouble. Get on the bike.”

His huge Harley was in the parking lot and I stumbled toward it. He lifted me like I weighed nothing and plopped me down on the seat. He straddled the bike and started it up. It purred and rumbled between my shaking legs.

“Hold on, little girl. It’s going to be a bumpy ride—a very bumpy ride.”

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