He didn’t say anything for a moment but she could tell her comment had hit a mark with him. “No, I wasn’t,” he admitted.
Although she had made the accusation she was stunned by the admission. It had caught her off guard. “Why?” She knew the reason for her distance but was curious to know the reason for his.
“Ladies first.”
“Fine,” she said, placing her purse on the table. “We might as well get this little talk over with. Would you like something to drink?”
“Yes,” he said, rubbing his hand down his face in frustration. “A cup of tea would be nice.”
She glanced up at him, surprised by his choice. There was no need to mention since that first day when he’d shown up she had picked up a couple bottles of beer and wine at the store to give him more of a choice. Since tea was also her choice she said, “All right, I’ll be back in a moment.” She then swept from the room.
JASON WATCHED HER LEAVE and felt more frustrated than ever. She was right, they needed to talk. He shook his head. When had things between them gotten so complicated? Had it all started with that kiss? A kiss that was destined to happen sooner or later given the intense attraction between them?
He sighed deeply, wondering how he would explain his coldness to her tonight. How could he tell her his behavior had been put in place as a safety mechanism stemming from the fact that he wanted her more than he’d ever wanted any other woman? And how could he explain that the thought of any woman getting under his skin to the extent she had scared the hell out of him?
Chances were if he hadn’t run into her at the appliance store he would have sought out her company anyway. More than likely he would have dropped by later for tea, although he had tried limiting his visits for fear of wearing out his welcome.
Her phone rang and he wondered who would be calling her at this late hour but knew it was none of his business when she picked it up on the second rang. He’d never gotten around to asking if she had a boyfriend or not and assumed she didn’t.
Moments later Jason glanced toward the kitchen door when he heard a loud noise, the sound of something crashing on her floor. He quickly moved toward the kitchen to see what had happened and to make sure she was all right.
He frowned when he entered the kitchen and saw Bella stooping to pick up the tray she’d dropped along with two broken cups.
He quickly moved forward. “Are you okay, Bella?” he asked.
She didn’t look at him as she continued to pick up broken pieces of the teacups. “I’m fine. I accidentally dropped it.”
He bent down toward her. “That’s fine. At least you didn’t have tea in the cups. You could have burned yourself. I can help you get that up.”
She turned to look up at him. “I can do this, Jason. I don’t need your help.”
He met her gaze and would have taken her stinging words to heart if he hadn’t seen the redness of her eyes. “What’s wrong?”
Instead of answering she shook her head and averted her gaze, refusing to look at him any longer. Quickly recovering his composure at seeing her so upset, he was pushed into action and wrapped his arms around her waist and assisted her up off the floor.
He stood facing her and drew in a deep, calming breath before saying, “I want to know what’s wrong, Bella.”
She drew in her own deep breath. “That was my father. He called to gloat.”
Jason frowned. “About what?”
He watched her when she swallowed deeply. “He and his attorney were able to get an injunction against my trust fund and wanted me to know my monthly funds are on hold.”
He heard the tremor in her voice. “But I thought you had three months before your twenty-sixth birthday.”