This can’t be happening. “I was on my way home and I…stopped. You?”
“There wasn’t anywhere else to stay. Couldn’t get in here since you had the keys and everything in Rocktown was booked up. I took the closest motel.”
“And we ah…” I chewed my lip. “What are the chances, huh?”
His eyes did not waver. They were locked on my face, his supple, muscled body shifting in a tantalizing way as he crossed his arms. “You left before I woke.”
Oh boy. “I didn’t think…I mean, the night was over. I never thought I’d ever see you again, so I—”
“Snuck off without saying anything,” he said.
His voice was so low and gritty, I shivered. Jimmy tugged against my grip on his collar, struggling to get to Mase. “I didn’t want to ruin it with…reality.” The truth slipped out under that penetrating stare as if he’d pried it out of me.
“No? Well, it’s feeling pretty fucking real right now.” His biceps bulged, abs tightening.
I glanced back at the door, wanting to escape through it so damn badly.
“The note you left—”
“I don’t think we need to talk about what happened that night…or the next morning, any of it, really. This whole thing is…it’s…” I had no idea what it was. I was still in shock. “Okay, yes, we had sex. So what, right? People do it all the time. I say we just put it all behind us, forget it happened.” I was babbling, panicking.
“We had sex five times,” he said in a flat voice.
I nodded, trying not to freak out or hyperventilate or just pass right out on the floor at his feet. “Yup. Uh-huh. We did do that. But we didn’t know who we were having sex with. So yeah, we had lots of sex, but—”
“Really fucking good sex, and then you left, but not before you left me that note.” His biceps flexed again. “That note has fucked with me ever since I first read it.”
I wasn’t going to address the “really fucking good sex” part of what he’d just said. He wasn’t wrong, not at all, but we didn’t need to go down that particular rabbit hole. “I’m not sure why my note would fuck with you? It was a perfectly acceptable goodbye—”
“‘Thanks for getting me through one of the shittiest days of my life’?” he said, quoting me. “How did you think I was going to feel reading that after you left? Not being able to ask what happened or if you were okay? No way to contact you. It made me think that what we’d spent all night doing wasn’t something you really wanted. That whatever sent you into that bar and into my bed, the thing that hurt you, had messed you up to the point you might not have been thinking straight. That maybe you’d woken up beside me in that motel room and freaked because you’d fucked away your feelings with some creep who’d taken advantage of you at your lowest.”
I stared at him dumfounded.
“Is that what happened?” he asked roughly.
I swallowed, my mouth bone dry all of a sudden, and forced myself to answer. “No.” I may not want to talk about this, but I also didn’t want him thinking he took advantage of me.
A muscle in his jaw jumped. “Why was it one of the shittiest days in your life, Trixie?”
I crossed my arms, something I did when I felt vulnerable, and right then, I felt so utterly exposed, in so many ways, I didn’t know what to do with myself. “My gran…it was her funeral.” I drew in a steadying breath. “Though she was more than that.”
He bit out a curse. “Christ, kitten—”
Our gazes collided when he said that, when he used that name, and the muscle in his jaw jumped again.
I took another step back. “I promise, you didn’t take advantage. I wasn’t confused. You helped me that night more than you know. So don’t worry about it, or think about it. It’s done. Over.”
“Don’t think about it?” he said softly. “That’s all I’ve done.”
Oh hell.
“It was one night of…madness. You’re Quinn’s brother.” I threw up my hands. “We don’t even like each other, for Christ’s sake. I came here to put all the animosity behind us and move on. I sure as hell didn’t expect any of…this.” I waved my hands between us. “Let’s just agree to move on. This doesn’t need to be a thing.” I dragged in a breath to steady my racing heart and forced a smile, holding out my pinkie. My lame way of attempting to lighten the heavy atmosphere, to pretend I was cool and unaffected. “Swear on it?”
His gaze dropped to my hand. “On what?”
“On pretending that night never happened.”
He closed the space between us, ignored my pinkie, and curled his fingers around mine. “Not sure I can do that, kitten.”
“Don’t…do not call me that,” I whispered.
“And for the record, I do like you, Trixie.” He searched my gaze. “I’ve been an asshole to you, and I regret that more than you know. I should never have treated you the way I did. I haven’t got a good excuse for it. I know I’m a surly son-of-a-bitch. I actually…I enjoyed sparring with you. Liked the way you’d growl under your breath and give me shit back. I was too fucking dense to realize I was the only one having a good time. I’m sorry I was a dick.”
I had no idea what to say to any of that. None. “I’m…I’m sorry too. I was a bit of a dick as well.”
He didn’t answer, just watched me.
“So, you ah…won’t tell anyone what happened between us? I don’t want Quinn to find out.”
A grunt.
“Please.”
“It’s no one else’s business. And Quinn wouldn’t be pissed with you, if that’s
