“Yes, youdid.”
Did she? Shecouldn’t remember. Her head pounded.
She swigged thewine from the bottle on purpose, then flashed a smug smile his way.“What’s wrong with you, Caleb?” Sarcasm reigned. “Do you get a kickout of being so holier than thou all the time?”
Caleb narrowedhis eyes. “There’s nothing wrong with me. You’re the one who seemsdetermined to cause an argument.” His jaw jutted forward. “Maybeyou’re too fussy with your choice of dates. You won’t ever findlove if you don’t open your heart to it.”
The nerve ofthe man. “So you’d rather I am the cause of a marriage break-up?”she shouted.
“That’s notwhat I meant, and you know it,” he yelled back.
She waved herarm in the air in a dismissive gesture and accidentally knockedover the table lamp beside the sofa. “I don’t care what you meantto say.”
Caleb reachedacross her to right the lamp, his weight pressing against her. Heatspread through her body. Despite still being infuriated with him,she liked it. A lot.
He met hergaze, his face inches from hers. His eyes blazed with anger, butsomething else smouldered behind their emerald depths too.Desire?
Evie licked herlips and swallowed. Words failed her. The image of the time she’dtried to kiss him flashed before her. But, drunk or not, she wouldnot make a fool of herself again, even if she did crave the touchof his lips on hers.
Why does hehave to be so damn sexy when he’s angry?
For a splitsecond, his gaze sought her mouth, and she thought he might want tokiss her too, but with a sharp intake of breath, he pushed himselfoff. He perched on the edge of the sofa, scrubbing his foreheadwith his palm as if he wanted to clear his head.
“What are youdoing, Evie?” His tone was still gruff but oddly emotional too.“Did you ever think you might have purposely picked the bad guys onthe dating website?”
Where had thatcome from? Wow, she’d read the signals wrong. If it wasn’t desireshe’d seen, what was it? “Why would I do that?”
“A Fae, a vampand a half-dragon? Hardly long-term relationship material. You’renot looking for love, Evie; you crave the excitement, the danger.You don’t want a good guy. You want someone who will treat you likeshit, like your old life.”
Evie couldn’tbelieve her ears. Caleb never spoke to her like that. Her stomachtwisted at his harsh words, perhaps a tad too close to the truth.“You think you’re such a goody two shoes,” she spat out.
His jawtightened. “I wasn’t always good.”
“What’s thatsupposed to mean?”
“What do youcare? You never asked.”
“You never toldme.”
Stalemate.
Caleb stood,marched across the room and switched off the music.
“Turn it backon. I like that song.” She went for the wine bottle.
He returned tothe sofa and swiped the bottle from her hand. “I think you’ve hadenough wine, don’t you?”
She leapt upand grabbed it again, her fingers brushing against his as theyplayed tug of war with the bottle. The touch of his skin sentdelicious tingles over her entire body. Her pulse rate quickened.“I’m nowhere near drunk enough yet. Where do you get off telling mewhat I should and shouldn’t do all the time?”
“I am stillyour teacher whether you like it or not,” he said through grittedteeth. He snatched the bottle from her with such force it tippedtowards him, splashing red wine over his shirt. He vented a growland plonked the bottle on the table. “Now look what you’ve made medo.”
His wine-soakedshirt clung to his skin. She couldn’t take her eyes off the hint ofimpressive pecs through the fabric. Her anger vanished in favour ofsomething akin to arousal. She swallowed. “Sorry about your shirt.”Her voice came out all squeaky.
He glanced up,frowning. “How much have you had to drink?”
She blew out aslow breath, trying to focus. “Take your shirt off. I’ll run itunder the tap before it stains.”
A ghost of asmile toyed with his mouth as he unbuttoned his shirt.
Maybe shewas drunk, maybe the signals he was giving off were all inher imagination, but what if they weren’t…?
He removed hisshirt, easily slipping his wings from the specially made concealedslits that he had in all his expensive clothes. His intense gazefixed on her.
Her breathhitched. Her belly fluttered.
Caleb was awell-built guy—she always assumed he worked out—but she’d neverseen him half-naked.
Well-tonedmuscles rippled on lightly-tanned skin, smooth and hair-free,defining his six-pack to perfection, but what intrigued her morewere the scars and tattoos; skulls with flaming hair, blood-redroses with daggers spearing through them, evil-looking creatureswith obsidian, soulless eyes. Kind of scary.
Kind of sexytoo.
“You… you nevermentioned you had tattoos,” she mumbled for want of something tosay.
To hersurprise, he picked up the bottle and glugged the wine, tilting hishead back until he’d drained it.
He wiped hislips with the back of his hand. The bottle slipped to the floor androlled under the coffee table. “You’re not the only one who had arough past.”
She tentativelyreached out to touch one scar, a good eight inches long, diagonallyacross his side. “What happened to you, Caleb?”
He flinched andstepped back. A tiny muscle flexed along his jaw. His broadshoulders dipped, along with his wings. “My dad used to beat my mumwhile I stood by and did nothing,” he confessed. “One day, Iflipped. I couldn’t bear to see her suffer anymore. I took thekitchen knife, and I stabbed my father in cold blood.”
Her mouthdropped open.
“My motherstill defended his actions, and instead of being done formanslaughter, I was convicted for murder.”
His mothersounded like a lovely person—not. “I’m so sorry.” Her words seemedso inadequate. His pain seared her soul as though it was herown.
“In prison, Igot myself mixed up with some gang rivalry while trying to defendanother inmate. You’d think I would have learned not to trustanyone after what my bitch of a mother did, but I didn’t.”
She edgedcloser and cupped his jaw.
His gaze sweptthe floor. “They beat me, Evie, but I still forgave them. Then onenight in the prison hospital, someone came in with a knife madefrom something they’d forged in a metalwork class…”
That explainedthe scars. Maybe she’d ask him about the tattoos another time.
She’d neverseen him look so vulnerable, yet in admitting an awful past and hisfailures, she saw in him
