Even if he did deny her accusation, it didn’t mean she’d believe him, though part of her wanted to so badly. Wanted to hear him tell her that he wanted her for another night not because he wanted to leave her first, but simply because he wanted her.
Which wasn’t something she should expect from a two-night stand.
He stayed silent, and she knew that whatever moment they might have had, it was gone. It had been sex. Nothing more. The way he’d touched her. The way he’d looked at her. The words he’d said. All of it had been nothing special. Just like her. He wanted one, two, three nights at a time? But he wouldn’t take a chance on her for more than sex.
And I know this!
So she was done heading down this path of self-torture. Because believing in someone wanting more from him wasn’t wise.
Fucking men and their pride.
She got up and laid money on the table. “I’ve got more important things to do today than play this game with you.” She waved to Penny and Sebastian before turning and walking out. She had to get out of there. Whatever had just happened made that stupid ache in her chest pulse harder.
…
“What is the matter with you?” Penny said, setting a cup of coffee down in front of Huck, then swatting the back of his head with her hand. “Why are you giving that poor woman a hard time?”
“Poor woman?” Huck laughed. “That woman is tougher than most men.”
Sebastian sat across from him in the booth. Penny cleared Autumn’s old plate and winked at her guy. “I’ll get you
some coffee, babe. In the meantime, you can talk some sense to that one.” She motioned to Huck, and he just sighed and took a long swallow of coffee.
“What is the matter with you?” Bass repeated Penny’s question.
“Nothing. The woman just gets to me.”
“She calls your bullshit and doesn’t buy into your charms.”
“Yeah, that too,” Huck admitted. Bass just shook his head and smiled. “What’s so funny?”
“You are. You like her and you’re fighting it. No clue why. She seems perfect for you.”
“I’m sorry, who was it that not so long ago was fighting tooth and nail to stay away from the woman he loved?” Bass glared at him. “Oh yeah, that was you!”
“And I realized I fucked up,” Bass said. “And who was the one who reminded me that there are good women out there worth perusing? Oh yeah, jackass, that was you.”
Great. So now their roles were reversed and Huck was having his ass handed to him. Again. If that wasn’t enough, he’d already had that happen at every encounter with Autumn.
“Seriously man, what the hell? You’ve never been this high strung about a female, and you’re chasing after this one to what? Prove a point?”
Huck ran a hand through his hair. That had been his goal. He needed to leave her. Just to feel a sense of closure. It was like some OCD nervous tick. When she’d asked him point blank, he should have said yes. Should have told her that he needed to leave her, and that was his goal. But those stormy eyes thundered with something like fear.
Fear of what she’d asked him? Fear for the answer he’d give? He didn’t know. But the tough mechanic had a soft side. And when he glimpsed it, he couldn’t utter the one word that wasn’t even 100 percent true.
“I want another night with her,” he said out loud. Because that was true. Did he want this shitty feeling to go away? This feeling of anxiety he got first thing in the morning when he reached out and found a cold sheet and panic set in? Fuck yeah. Of course he wanted that to go away. He didn’t want to feel that shit. In a lot of ways, all Autumn had done was remind him of how easily leaveable he was. How meaningless he was to her outside of sex.
Shit, even his conscience was sounding like a pussy. Time to man up.
“She’s not Sydney,” Bass said.
“I know.”
“Then talk to me, man. What’s going on with you?”
Huck shook his head. In the last forty-eight hours, he’d undergone emotions he never wanted to feel again. That familiar panic of what it was like to lose something he cared about. Sure, he’d just met Autumn, and yes, they had a connection, but the sick twist to this whole thing was he liked her as much as he disliked her.
She was amazing, but she reminded him of all the bad stuff from the past.