Page 27 of Undoing His Innocent Enemy (Hot Winter Escapes)

She shut her mouth, aware she was starting to babble again. Time to make a hasty retreat. And regroup. Her body was still flushed, and that semi-erection he was sporting was making her want to do foolish things again... With him.

But he no longer wanted to do them with her.

So what if he’d rocked her world—twice—and made her feel special? It was all simply an illusion. Because he’d made it perfectly clear he wanted her gone now.

She tried to stifle the foolish feeling of rejection. What had she expected? She’d made it clear this wasn’t a big deal—her virginity and his an inconvenience brought about by circumstance. That it had taken her this long to get over the stigma of her father’s abuse, and the likes of Barry O’Connell’s cruel taunts and teenage ineptitude, wasn’t anything to do with him.

Plus, shedidneed to return to Saariselkä as soon as possible. She had her career to think about. Her new-found endorphins would just have to get over themselves.

She shifted off the bed, dragging the sheet with her, attempting to keep all the essential bits covered so she could make a swift and dignified exit. But as she stood, he leaned across the bed and grasped her wrist. The sheet slipped.

‘You are upset,’ he said as she grappled to cover herself and her dignity. ‘Why?’

She stiffened, hating herself for the surge of emotion that felt stupidly like gratitude. Because he had noticed. And asked.

She tugged her arm free of his grasp, feeling exposed now and ashamed of how needy she was for any sign of affection from him. The afterglow had faded—and what had made her feel powerful, even cherished, during their epic sex session, now made her feel pathetic.

Cara, you eejit. Why did you throw yourself at him?

She swallowed past the shame threatening to close her throat, and reminding her far too forcefully of her teenage years, growing up with a man who had called her a slut more than once when she was still no more than a girl.

‘I’m fine,’ she lied.

But as she galvanised herself to walk away, he leapt off the bed and grasped her arm again.

‘This is not the truth,’ he said, although he dropped her arm as soon as she struggled.

‘I’mnotupset,’ she said, as she rubbed her wrist where his touch still burned.

If her thigh muscles were still trembling, and her nipples as hard as torpedoes ready to launch, that was neither here nor there. Her body had a mind of its own where he was concerned, that much was obvious, but why was she letting her emotions become involved? He had offered her nothing. But nor did she want anything more from him.

He frowned. ‘You cannot stay...’ he said.

‘And I didn’t ask to, fella,’ she huffed, furious now that he could see through her show of bravado so easily. Enough to know that she yearned for something more, some sign of intimacy, that went way beyond the physical.

What was that even about?

She bit into her lip and stared down at her hands, which had white-knuckled on the sheet, as she tried to control the brutal blush.

He raked his fingers through his hair, looking frustrated, then strode across the room to his dresser. Tugging out a fresh pair of boxer shorts, he put them on, but they didn’t do much to hide the effect she still had on him.

She should walk out. Why was she still standing here like an eejit, waiting for something she shouldn’t even need? Or want.

But she couldn’t seem to detach her gaze from his.

He was watching her with that intense concentration that turned her thigh muscles to mush and made the lump swell in her throat.

What was he thinking? And why did he have to look so gorgeous when he had treated her as if she were a...? She pushed the ugly word back down her throat.

That was her da talking.

Perhaps she was oversensitive about other people’s opinions of her virtue, because of all the names that man had called her, when she’d barely understood what they meant. And why should she care anyway what Logan Colton thought of her? His opinion didn’t matter—any more than her da’s had.

But still, she couldn’t seem to get her feet to move.

At last, his gaze detached from her face and glanced out of the huge windows.

Night had already fallen, and she could see snow swirling again in the frozen air outside the glass, depressing her even more. What if the storm kicked off again, and she had to stay another night?

---