He strongly suspected that something was that the space in front of the fire was reserved for the heater, not for mind-blowing sex.
She wore her hair down around her shoulders. Some of the tendrils in the back were still damp with moisture. She’d donned a pair of jeans and a red cotton sweater that clung enticingly to her generous breasts.
As if she sensed his gaze on the front of her sweater, she crossed her arms beneath her breasts in a guarded gesture and sat down stiffly on the opposite end of the couch from him.
“Do you have some kind of battery-operated radio? Something so we could hear the weather report on the highway conditions?”
“Don’t tell me you’re holding out for Mitchell to drive through a blizzard.”
She shot him a frosty look. “If you want to know the truth, I’m anxious to know when I can leave. Is it any wonder? There aren’t many people who would choose to put up with your rudeness for long.” She shook her head as she glared at him. “For the life of me, I can’t imagine…”
Fury flared in his brain when her voice faded. He set his book aside and placed his arm on the back of the couch, leaning toward her. “What can’t you imagine? How debonair Mr. Smooth Mitchell Carradine could have such an animal for a son?” His eyes narrowed when she started to say something, but then stopped herself. “That was what you were thinking, wasn’t it? You didn’t seem to mind it rough last night.”
“Stop it.”
His mouth twisted in frustration when he heard the tremor in her low voice. Jesus. This was going from bad to worse. It’d been so good holding her while she slept and the sex had been beyond great. How could she go and ruin it all by saying it was a mistake? By comparing him negatively to his father?
By saying that their lovemaking had been a crime?
He noticed the paleness of her cheeks and knew he needed to retreat, like it or not. He leaned away from her, granting her some distance.
“So. You regret it all, is that it? You want to just pretend like it didn’t happen?” he asked evenly.
“I told you I wanted to talk about it like adults. You’re the one who insists on being such a…a…bullying brute instead!”
“So for clarification sake—talking about us making love last night like adults involves you calling it a crime.”
Pink stained her cheeks. “I shouldn’t have said that. You misunderstood me.”
He raised his hand from the back of the couch and gave a permissive wave. “Go on, then, by all means.
Her usually velvet-like eyes didn’t look so soft at the moment. “It would help if you stopped being so sarcastic, Alex.”
That made his anger bubble up to the surface again. “Excuse me for the weak defense of a sharp tongue. See, the thing of it is, Angeline, I don’t regret it like you do. So it’s not really a picnic to sit here and listen to you tell me how it was all a mistake. If that,” he pointed significantly to the floor where they’d nearly scorched a burn mark in the carpe
t last night, “was a mistake, I’ll gladly forego being right for the rest of my life. So don’t sit there and tell me I have to take your rejection of me like a nice little boy.”
It took him a second to take in the shocked expression on her face. It took an additional second for him to realize he no longer sat back casually, but was leaning toward her aggressively.
Had he really just said that as loud as he thought he had?
He sighed in frustration and leaned back again. So much for giving her some distance.
“Alex…I’m not rejecting you.”
He peered at her warily, not sure what to make of her softened tone. “What are you trying to do then?”
She threw up her hands helplessly. “Are you going to try to tell me you’re not confused about all this? Unsettled? That what happened between us makes perfect sense to you?”
“I think I have been telling you that,” he muttered dryly. “It’s you who doesn’t want to hear it.”
She stared at him incredulously, her mouth hanging open.
“Alex, I was seeing your father. Have you forgotten that? It may not bother you that you’ve betrayed him, but it bothers me.”
“You two couldn’t have been that serious if you hadn’t even slept together yet.”
She made a disbelieving sound. “That’s what you think? That since your father and I hadn’t slept together yet, I was fair game?”