“I know exactly why. It’s classic Lenny. After we weren’t a couple anymore, I always suspected he had worried I’d walk away from him one day, but he’d looked at us like we were the modern day Bonnie and Clyde or something. We were a team that worked well together, and he knew he could trust me. So by forging my signature, if things ever went bad, I’d be just as invested in solving the problem as him. Otherwise, I could leave and he’d be left to deal with his consequences all on his own.”
Irish didn’t move, didn’t blink, didn’t react. Kat didn’t know what that meant, and frankly, she no longer cared. Sure you don’t. “Never mind,” she said. “It doesn’t matter.” She turned and grabbed her clothes off the couch before heading to the bathroom. While changing out of the borrowed clothes and into her work skirt and T-shirt that she’d thankfully washed while he’d been gone, she reprimanded herself for thinking he could actually be different than any other man. They never saw her for what she was. Only for what they wanted to see.
She yanked open the door and almost walked right into him. “What are you doing, Kat?”
“I’m going back to my apartment and tomorrow I’m leaving this Podunk town just like I planned. I appreciate what you did, but I’m not going to stand here while you look at me like I’m a piece of trash. I get enough of that from everyone else.”
She sidestepped him, gathered her purse and shoes by the couch, and set her course. She’d rather take her chances with a pissed off alligator than spend another minute in that cabin.
…
Aiden deserved a thorough beating.
Before she could leave, he rushed to meet her at the door. “Kat, wait.”
She’d opened the door only a couple of inches when he caged her from behind and pushed the door closed with the flats of his hands. “Don’t go.”
She stood ramrod straight, tension evident in every muscle. Chunks of red-gold hair skimmed the pale skin of her neck, tempting him to nudge it aside and replace it with his lips. The faint smell of lilacs curled through his body, fueling his desire from the inside out.
“Why shouldn’t I?”
Because I want you in my bed. Beneath me. Wrapped around me so tightly I forget why I can’t have you. He was so fucked. It was dangerous for her to be with him, but it was even more dangerous for her to try and skip town until he could pay off the Wonder Twins. He hadn’t considered she’d still want to leave.
“I don’t want you to, for one. And it’s late,” he tried. “Stay the night; give your head time to clear.”
Her voice held the telltale tightness of attempting to hold in emotions. “Call me crazy, but I’d rather not stay in the company of someone who thinks so little of me.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, kitten,” he said, turning her around to face him. Her normally rosy lips were now shades of rubies and swollen. Auburn lashes had gathered into wet spikes from the hurt she refused to let stream down her face. Even when flayed open with hurt, the beauty of her face was flawless. “Look, I’m no good with words, but I shouldn’t have said any of that stuff.”
She responded with only silence and stillness. Say something, asshole. Fix this.
“Kat, I think you’re a really good person who deserves a hell of a lot more than I think you’ve been given in life. And you’re strong. I think you’re pretty amazing, actually. I have from the first time I met you.”
“And I’m supposed to believe all that after you just got done calling me a drug dealer and a liar?”
He cursed under his breath. What the fuck was wrong with him? He let shit from his past block out all logic or even give her the chance to explain before condemning her. Framing her face with his hands, he gazed deep into her wounded eyes. “I’m sorry. I saw that contract and heard about the drugs and…” He released a heavy breath. “I wasn’t thinking clearly, and I flipped my shit. I should’ve asked instead of accusing you. I was an asshole.”
“Yes, you were.”
She locked her scrutiny on his chest as though she couldn’t bear to look him in the eye anymore. He ducked his head to put himself in her line of vision and whispered fiercely, “I won’t doubt you like that again, I swear. Forgive me?”
She chewed on her lower lip for the eternity of a few seconds, then nodded. Her pupils swallowed the light blue of her irises as she held onto his shoulders. She swallowed hard, drawing his eyes to the smooth expanse of her throat. Her pulse sped up as he traced a finger down her neck. She wasn’t as unaffected as he’d thought.
Relief flooded his system and bolstered his confidence. She didn’t hate him. Yet, anyway. All bets would be off if she ever found out who he really was and why he’d turned up in Alabaster. But he’d add that to his list of sins to worry about another time.
Aiden dropped his hands to her hips and stepped closer. “And will you stay tonight?” he asked softly.
“I’ll stay.”