Every Little Thing (Hart's Boardwalk 2)

“So now you’re saying you were never attracted to me?”

“No. I am attracted to you. And now I’ve had you.”

She sucked in a breath at what he didn’t say. “So now you’ve had me, you don’t want me again.”

That ache, that horrible ache that had disappeared during their time together, returned with a vengeance. He stopped what he was doing and met her gaze. “I don’t do relationships, Bailey. And you and me . . .” He gave her a sardonic grin, one he had to force out. “You know we wouldn’t work. We don’t even like each other.”

“We liked each other for a while.”

Her sad tone was like a twist of a knife in his gut. He clenched his teeth against the feeling, and held his body back against the urge to haul her up against him, hold her, shake her, tell her she deserved better than a bastard like him.

“We’re just from different worlds. We don’t fit.”

She drew in a sharp breath. “I thought from everything you said about your mom and dad that you didn’t buy into that class bullshit.”

Realizing she’d taken his words the wrong way, Vaughn opened his mouth to explain and then stopped.

Maybe it was better to let her think he thought she wasn’t good enough.

“I’m not my parents,” he said. “I understand where my grandparents were coming from.”

Her reaction was unexpected.

Maybe he’d thought she’d fight a little harder considering this was Bailey and she tried to save fucking everyone from themselves.

Maybe he’d thought she’d decide he was right and just let him leave.

Maybe she’d yell at him.

What he hadn’t expected was the pain that flashed across her face like he’d physically punched her.

And then she just closed down.

He witnessed it.

Bailey Hartwell, the most passionate woman he’d ever met, just went blank.

Cold.

Her eyes turned flat.

And it scared him.

“You can see yourself out.” Her words were toneless, her face expressionless as she shimmied off the bed. “I’m going to shower you off of me.”

Vaughn stood frozen as she passed him, Bailey but not Bailey, and disappeared inside the bathroom with the soft click of the door.

As he reached for his sweater and jacket he noticed his hands were trembling. He curled them into fists to make it stop. But as he left the inn in the wee hours of the morning, he walked on legs that felt shaky, unsure.

Staring up at the inn, Vaughn knew with nauseating realization why he was so off balance:

He’d thought walking away from Bailey would mean they’d return to their usual antagonistic banter, and he could live with that. He’d look forward to it, because it meant, selfishly, he’d always have that from her. She’d always be a part of his life.

But apparently alluding to the idea she wasn’t good enough for him had possibly severed their tie for good.

And to his frustration, confusion, and horror, Vaughn realized that the thought of losing even that small piece of Bailey Hartwell scared the absolute shit out of him.

Bailey