Jace (Kings of Country 1)

If she was smart, she’d move before he saw her but she couldn’t move. She couldn’t. She couldn’t believe it. Didn’t want to.

Why was she surprised?

He was a guy. A single guy. One who didn’t matter. At all. This didn’t matter. It didn’t.

She was a terrible liar—even when she was lying to herself.

Jace pushed off the door and turned, his surprise at finding her there almost comical. If he hadn’t been leaving the hotel room of the woman he’d just slept with. But he had. He’d just left her—right there, across the hall.

“Hey, Krystal.” His smile was off-center and his eyelids drooped.

“Hey?” It erupted from her like a cannon shot, echoing down the hall and leaving a resounding ringing in the ear. What was wrong with her?

He winced and braced himself against the wall. “Isn’t it late?” he asked. “How’s your head?”

“Are you kidding me?” She was shaking. And yelling. At three forty-five in the morning. In the hallway of her hotel. Because he’d slept with someone. Jace. Jace… He’d gotten drunk and partied and… He’d walked his one-night stand back to her hotel room because he was a gentleman.

“Oh shit,” she hissed, pressing her hand to her head. This hurt. To breathe. To think. Why did it have to hurt? Nothing had happened between them. Nothing. She couldn’t care about him. She didn’t. Dammit. Her eyes were burning and her nose began to run.

“You okay?” The fact that he looked concerned for her made it ten times worse.

She pressed her lips together, but a high-pitched sound forced its way out, like a teapot screaming when the water was boiling. She was boiling, all right. It didn’t make sense and she had no right, but that didn’t seem to matter. I believed you. I did.

Her gaze fell to his shirt, wadded up in his hand. “You could have gotten dressed.” Images of Jace rolling around in bed with some faceless, nameless person sleeping right across the hall from her took over. Bile burned her throat.

He and his warm brown eyes and worried—gorgeous—expression managed to make it to her door. “Krystal. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” She sucked in a deep breath. “Why would anything be wrong?” She sniffed. I am not going to cry. She pointed at the room he’d just left. “I’m glad you enjoyed yourself tonight. Now go away—sleep it off. Take a shower.” At least she wasn’t yelling anymore.

He was close enough she could see the utter confusion on his face. “What?”

Her heart twisted. No, her heart wasn’t allowed to react to Jace Black. Her heart was off-limits to him—to any man.

“You lost me.” He pressed a hand to his head.

No, you lost me. Her voice broke. “For your sake—and her sake—I hope you wore a condom.” That last part definitely climbed back into the yelling category. She slammed the door, a solid thud echoed.

“Ow, shit,” he groaned.

He’d been standing so close, she’d probably hit him in the face. Instead of making her feel better, she was close to tears. If she cried—which she didn’t. Besides, she had no reason to cry. It was her head that hurt, not her heart.

“Krystal, let me in.” He knocked.

“Go away.” Her words were too garbled to understand.

“Let me in. You don’t understand—”

“I do, believe me, I do.” She couldn’t even be mad at him. This was what she wanted, wasn’t it? It wasn’t as if she’d given him any reason to wait for her. If anything, she’d gone out of her way to make sure he understood they would never ever happen.

He’d found someone to spend the night with. So what?

Her head was pounding again, nausea strong enough that she ran for a glass of water.

“Krystal.” He pounded on the door now. “Are you okay? Please let me in.”

She didn’t bother answering. There wasn’t anything to say at this point. Her head was hurting, and she needed quiet and the dark and a hot bath to calm her nerves.

A bath helped. She stayed mostly submerged in near-scalding water for an hour, refilling the tub to keep it hot. Not that lying in the dark, in hot water, could erase the mental image of Jace doing all the things she’d imagined him doing to her—to someone else. Every time she started crying, she’d submerge herself in water and come up coughing.