Page 30 of Reckless
“I’m prepared to give you one of those.”
My heart kicked once.Of course.
He took off the sunglasses and slid them into his shirt.His eyes found mine directly then, and I had to fight the reflex to look away first.
“I shouldn’t have put you in that position,” he said.
“Of course.”
His expression didn’t change much, but something in it sharpened.“But we have a practical problem.”
“Stop saying we.”I sipped the coffee.It was good with a hint of lavender like I ordered after I made a big sale.
“Great.Then solve it yourself.”
His jaw moved once.Tiny.Controlled.“There isn’t a version where I clarify this alone and you come out untouched.”
I blinked.
He set his coffee down on the hood of the car.“If I walk back into that house today and say I misspoke, my mother will not hear I lied.She’ll hear you rejected me.Charlie will make it worse.Hope will try to rescue you.My mother will overcompensate.Everyone will know exactly what happened.”
I stared at him.
He stared back.
And God, I hated how ruthlessly practical that sounded.Hated that every word of it clicked right into the center of the exact humiliation I’d been trying not to name.
“That is not my fault,” I said.
“No.”
“Then why does it sound like I’m the one who has to fix it?”
“You don’t.”
“I get clients from your mother so from where I’m standing, that’s exactly what this is.”
He was quiet for a beat.
Then he said, “I’m asking you not to make yourself collateral damage just to prove you don’t need me to solve the problem.”
My breath caught.I looked away first and realized, distantly, that my fingers were digging into my own arms.
“Britney was right about you,” I said.
That got his attention.
His eyes widened.I sipped the coffee and met his gaze.Time to talk.I held my head higher.
“That you prefer women who know the terms,” I said, voice flatter now.“Women who don’t ask for more.Women who fit neatly into whatever arrangement makes your life easier.”
He pressed his lips together.
The silence made me angrier than denial would have.
“Right,” I said.“Thought so.Because we both know I don’t take orders from anyone.”
I started to step back into my apartment.
