She was right…wasn’t she? Hadn’t he come to the same conclusion? That it was time to end things? Not that it mattered. He hadn’t ended the relationship. She had.
Wasn’t that the reason he was here? Except, she was doing it again. Taking the upper hand, and he didn’t like it.
“I never gave you the right to speak for me,” he said sharply.
“No. You didn’t. So I’ll speak for myself.” She took a deep breath and turned away. ?
?I wanted a change.”
Dante’s mouth thinned. “You mean, you became involved with another man.”
“That’s ridiculous! I didn’t—”
She cried out as he caught her and swung her toward him. “More lies,” he growled.
“For the last time, there is no other man!”
“There is. I know his name.” His hands dug into her flesh. “Now I want to know if you respond to him as you did to me a little while ago.”
“Respond?” She gave a harsh laugh. “Is that what you call it? You—you forced yourself on me!”
It was a foolish thing to say. His nostrils flared like a stallion’s at the scent of a mare in heat.
“You don’t learn, do you?” he said softly. “You keep making statements and I end up having to prove that they’re lies.”
Tally looked up into the face of the man who had once been the center of her universe. How could she have forgotten how beautiful he was? And how cruel?
“We’re both adults, cara. Why not admit we want each other?”
“Didn’t you just say you knew I was eager to see you gone? That you’d be happy to go?” Damn it, why did she sound breathless? “Didn’t you say that?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he cupped her face and lifted it to his. “Kiss me once,” he whispered. “Just once. Then, if you don’t want to make love, I promise, I won’t touch you again.”
“I don’t have to kiss you to know the—”
His mouth took hers captive. Tally made a little sound of protest. Then his arms went around her and she let him gather her into his embrace, let his lips part hers and she knew nothing had changed, not when it came to this. To wanting his touch. His mouth. His body, hardening against hers…
The door flew open; the gust of wind that followed slammed it, hard, against the wall as a small woman cradling a grocery bag in one arm all but sailed into the kitchen.
“Sorry not to knock,” Sheryl Miller said breathlessly, “but I don’t have a free hand. I brought you leftovers from dinner and a loaf of oatmeal bread I baked this morning. Dan’s going to get his mom and I said I’d go with—” Her mouth formed a perfect circle as she peered around the bag. “Oh! Oh, I’m sorry, Tally. I didn’t know you had company.”
Neither Tally or Dante answered. Both of them were staring at the toddler, round as a snowman in a raspberry-pink snowsuit, who clung to Sheryl’s free hand.
“Hi, Mama,” Samantha Gardner Sommers said happily, and flew to her mother’s arms.
CHAPTER FOUR
FOR A MOMENT, no one moved but the child.
Then, as if someone had pushed a button, the room came to life again. The woman in the doorway, her face a polite mask, put the bag she’d been holding on the counter. Taylor scooped the toddler into her arms, and Dante…
Dante forced himself to breathe.
Mama? Was that really what the child had said? Taylor was staring at him over the little girl’s head. Her face had gone white. So, he suspected, had his.
“Who is this?” he said hoarsely.
The woman glanced at Taylor. Then she took a step forward. “I’m Sheryl Miller. Tally’s neighbor.”