He wanted to roar with fury but pulled back. “We wouldn’t want to be unkind, would we?”
She looked up at him, realized that he was angry. “I’m sorry about this, Luke. I wish I could be more…”
“Open? Forgiving? Free with your emotions?”
She jerked with those words. “Forgiving? Who do I need to forgive?”
He moved closer, taking her hands that were now red from her fingers rubbing together in her nervousness. “I have no idea who you need to forgive,” he admitted, but he knew that he’d hit the nail on the head with that assumption. “You won’t talk to me. You won’t tell me what has happened in your past that you’re so angry with. But someone hurt you. Someone made you not trust relationships. So, only you can figure out who you need to forgive. But until that happens, you can’t move on. We’ll be stuck here in this limbo of sex four nights a week.”
Naya almost broke down with his gentle words. They weren’t true! She had no one to forgive! Her parents had had a horrible marriage and a devastating divorce, but she should thank them for showing her how marriage really was. So many people got divorced! More than half of the marriages ended in divorce and she was just protecting herself from the heartache that would inevitably happen.
She lifted her chin and glared up at him. “I don’t have anyone to forgive. If you think that, then go ahead. I can’t stop you.” She wiped her cheek. “We’re finished here.”
He sighed, wishing she would climb over that wall she’d built around herself. Or give him a door to walk through. “But it’s Monday night. So you’re coming back, right?”
She hesitated. When she’d stipulated the rules, she hadn’t realized that today was Monday. But he was right. “We’ll start next week,” she told him, pulling herself together. She was ashamed that she’d broken down and come to him. She should have been stronger.
But the deal was made. She could get through this, work him out of her system. And then she’d get her nice, orderly life back. She’d be in control. She’d reclaim her heart.
Start next week? Not a chance in hell of that happening, he thought. “The deal has been struck.” He wouldn’t release her hands. “I think we should kiss to seal the deal.”
“No kissing,” she ordered, pulling back.
Since she wasn’t tossing out additional rules, he could relax. No, he didn’t like all of her rules, but he knew that accepting them now and slowly getting her to trust him, to spend more time with him, was the only way he was going to get over that wall she’d built around herself. “Ah, but I didn’t agree with that rule. So yes, there’s definitely going to be kissing. And you’re coming back tonight…unless I can convince you to stay here with me now.”
She shook her head, horrified by the idea of spending the afternoon with him. In bed. Nope. Definitely not on her agenda today. “No. We’ll start this next week.”
“We’ll start tonight, Naya. Be back here tonight at six o’clock.” He glanced at his watch. “That’s in four hours. If you’re not here, I’ll come looking for you.”
She shivered, thinking about him in her tiny house. She didn’t want him in her house again. The last time, he’d looked too…wonderful. No, that couldn’t happen again. Her house was her sanctuary, the place she needed to protect so she would have a place to hide when all of this with Luke was over. “I’ll be here,” she promised. And hoped she could keep that promise.
She didn’t hesitate this time. She pulled her hands out of his and almost ran to his door, pulling it open and getting away from him.
Chapter 5
She didn’t want to think about tonight, but she couldn’t help it. Instead of heading back to the office and sifting through the latest listings, she drove over to the mall and meandered through the lingerie section, her fingers floating over the various pieces. She liked the see-through bra and panty set, but that seemed just a bit too adventurous. She wasn’t sure she wanted to be that obvious. There was a pretty pink set with lace bows along the sides of the underwear and between the cups, but…was that too romantic? This wasn’t a romantic night was it? Weren’t they just…having sex?