She wasn’t sleeping, she was eating ice cream every night as sexual frustration clawed at her insides. And every morning, she woke up determined to be strong.
Only to fail miserably.
Chapter 4
“Naya?”
Luke looked at the woman standing in his doorway and his gut twisted. “What’s wrong, honey?” he asked, taking her hands and pulling her into his condo. “Talk to me. Are you hurt?”
She’d been crying, that much was apparent. Her lashes were wet and she had mascara streaks running down her cheeks. “Did someone hurt you?” He had heard stories about women being raped or hurt while showing houses alone. Just one bad client could ruin a person’s life and career. Most real estate agents took precautions to ensure that nothing went wrong during showings, but things could still happen.
“No. I’m not physically hurt.”
He led her over to his sofa and pulled her down, sitting next to her. “Okay, so tell me what happened. What’s wrong?” His hands cupped her face while his thumbs dried her tears.
“You!” she gasped out, playing with the already damp and shredded tissue in her hands. “You happened!” she snapped and stood up. Pacing in front of the sofa, she was unaware of the stunned reaction on his handsome features. “You happened into my life and I can’t get you out!”
“And you want me out?’ he asked, pretty damn sure she was still hiding from this thing between them.
Naya was furious that she was so upset while he leaned back, his arms spread wide against the back of the cushions. He looked completely relaxed while she was in the process of having a nervous breakdown.
With increasing frustration, she threw her arms up in the air, exasperated with him. “Yes! I’ve begged you to leave me alone! You’re too much for me! I can’t take your kind of…” she swished her fingers in the air. “I can’t take you!”
His eyebrows went up with that declaration. He had been relieved a moment ago, but he was getting angry now. “What about me can’t you take?”
She sighed. “Everything,” she whispered. “I tried!” Naya shook her head. “I tried so hard to ignore you, to get you out of my life. And when I couldn’t, when you wouldn’t leave me alone, I tried to be professional! I tried to keep a distance from you! But would you let me?”
“Hell no!” he declared, standing up and putting his hands on his hips. “You’re not in this alone, you know.”
“Yes!” she looked right at him, pointing her finger at him as if he’d done something horrible instead of just kissing her at every opportunity. “Yes, I’m in this alone! You don’t understand me. You don’t understand why I don’t want this!”
Now he was pissed. They’d spent the last several days together, going through the land sites, talking about the pros and cons of each. They’d talked about different options for placing the rooms and he’d loved some of her ideas. But every time he’d kissed her, she’d been able to pull away. He was losing sleep, getting angry at work, and his body was aroused just about non-stop because he couldn’t get her out of his mind.
So yeah, he was furious. All of that pent up sexual frustration was rising up, almost choking him now. “You don’t want me to understand. You won’t allow yourself the freedom to let your fears go. And what’s worse, you won’t explain to me why you’re so afraid of the passion between us!” He was angry now, frustrated and fed up. He wanted to just pull her into his arms and make love to her, show her that there was nothing to fear from their attraction. But she was so skittish. And her tears really were killing him.
Naya had been prepared to rant and yell at him until he understood. But watching him, seeing him glare at her, she came to the only conclusion possible.
“I give up,” she told him, standing very still. “I give up. We can have an affair.” She held up her hand to stop him when he took a step towards her. “But we have to have rules.”
Rules? What the hell? “What kinds of rules?” he demanded. But then her words hit him and he felt as if a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. Damn, she was giving in? She was going to let them enjoy this attraction they were both feeling? Hell yes!