“True. I hadn’t planned that.” His sultry voice, paired with those blazing eyes, told me I needed to get away from him. I hurried to the end of the bed, where I jumped off and began to pace back and forth, yanking out my loose hairband and pulling my hair back into a tight ponytail. I tried hard not to think about the taste of his lips. I’d had my first kiss, and I’d never be the same.
“Why did you stop?” he asked.
“Because you were moving on to other things.”
He scratched his chin and cheek. “Hmm, moved too quickly. Rookie mistake.”
I crossed my arms again, watching him speculate internally like a coach outlining a play that had gone wrong. Incredible. Then he sized me up in his sights again.
“But I can see you still want me.”
I gave him my meanest stare, but it was hard to look at him. Gosh, he was hot! And a total player. The kiss meant nothing to him.
“Oh,” he said with mock sadness, “there it goes. Mad instead? Well, sort of. You can’t seem to muster a really good anger—”
“Stop it!”
“Sorry, was I saying that out loud?”
“I can read people, too, you know. Well, not you, but at least I have the decency to try not to notice, to give them some sort of emotional privacy!”
“Yes, how very decent of you.” He hadn’t moved from his languid position on my bed.
I leaned forward, grabbing a pillow and throwing it at him.
“Pillow fight?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Get off my bed. Please. I’m ready to go to sleep.”
He stood up and made a grand arm gesture toward the bed. I crawled onto it, climbing under the scratchy covers and turning my back to him. I realized then that I was still wearing my clothes, but I was not about to get up. I could feel his eyes on my back.
“But I thought we might get naked, just like Adam and Eve, so natural....”
I gasped. I’d forgotten all about that part of my conversation with Scott! Utter humiliation. I curled into a tighter ball.
“Oh, come on. You haven’t even thanked me yet.”
“For what?” I asked, still not looking.
“For saving you from snogging that plonker. You didn’t really fancy him, did you?”
My cheeks burned, and I was glad to be turned away from him. I kept my mouth shut.
“So that’s it, then?” he asked. I ignored him. “I always wondered what it would feel like.”
That made me curious enough to turn to him.
“What what would feel like?” I asked.
“Rejection.” He seemed in the midst of a revelation.
“What are you saying? That no girl has ever told you no?”
“Not one.”
Well, that explained a lot.
“And what about you?” I asked. “Haven’t you ever stopped or said no to a girl?”
He laughed as if I’d said something ridiculous. “Why would I do that?”
“Lots of reasons,” I said. “Never mind, just go to sleep. We have a long day tomorrow.” I turned away from him again, punching the thick pillow and laying my head down.
“I suppose I did refuse one, but she doesn’t count,” he said.
“Why not?”
“Because she was Neph.”
Discomfort gnawed at me.
“This must be the part where I take a cold shower?” he asked.
“Good idea.”
When he was in the bathroom with the water running, I jumped down and changed into my pajamas. Then I leaped back into bed and chanted to myself, Don’t think about the kiss. Don’t think about the kiss. Impossible.
I lay very still with my eyes closed when he came back in the room. A clean-scented steam passed over me. I listened as he rummaged around the room for a few minutes, then I heard the door to our room open. I sat up in bed and saw Kaidan in the doorway.
“Where are you going?” I asked, just as he was shutting the door.
He looked up. “I have to work.”
Why did I feel so stunned, and a little offended, too?
“Have to? Or want to?” I challenged.
“Why should that matter, Anna?” he asked dryly. “I’m going now.” He made a move to shut the door.
“Where will you go?” I called out.
“I’ll go visit the girl at the front desk, just as she suggested. So unless you’ve changed your mind... ?” His eyes held a promise of seduction, and I shook my head.
I had not changed my mind. There would be nothing more going on in this room. But I wanted him to stay. I looked down at the itchy comforter.
“Didn’t think so,” I heard him mutter. Then he switched off the light and closed the door hard.
I lay there trying not to imagine what the girl at the front desk looked like, and how his lips would soon be on hers. I growled in frustration at my own stupidity, and flipped to my other side.
I wished I could fall asleep and put this episode behind me, but no matter what I tried I couldn’t get comfortable. I considered turning on the television, but I didn’t want Kaidan to know my traitorous heart was waiting up for him.
An agonizing two hours later, he came back and I lay very still, pretending to sleep. He went straight into the restroom to wash up. A few minutes later he climbed into his bed and got quiet.
“Anna?” His voice was low. Of course he knew I was awake. I didn’t answer, but he was undeterred. “Did you at least enjoy your first kiss?”
I wanted to tell him to shut up, but the burst of anger tapered away.