He was going back to D.C.
Addison told herself it didn't hurt. She'd known from the beginning what kind of man Randall Talbot was. Rough around the edges. Burned out. Cynical. Always looking out for number one. His actions on the day she'd met him should have told her all she needed to know to realize he was the kind of man to stay away from.
Of course, her heart hadn't been listening.
The storm had left a foot of pristine snow on the ground. At first light the snowplows were out in full force. By nine o'clock, she and Randall had climbed into the Jeep and were heading east toward Denver.
Addison called Gretchen from a service station in Evergreen, only to discover her daughter had gone into labor the night before. In light of such a wondrous event, she didn't have the heart to mention the terrible news about her parents. But she'd longed to talk to Gretchen. About everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. But mostly about what had happened between her and Randall last night.
She sent him a sidelong glance, taking in the brooding profile and strong cut of jaw. There was no trace of the tenderness he'd shown her the night before. No trace of the man who'd bared his soul, then apologized for it. This morning, he was all hard edges and hair-trigger temper. Conversation between them had been stilted at best. At the moment, she was feeling downright hostile.
Damn him.
What in God's name had she been thinking sleeping with him? How could she be stupid enough to lose her heart to a man who would do nothing but break it into little pieces? It frightened her to think she'd tumbled into this abyss of emotion with a man who was so wrong for her.
"After we stop by the office, I'm going to take you back to your apartment and you're going to pack a bag and stay with me for a few days." Randall's voice cut through her tumultuous thoughts with all the finesse of a chain saw.
The words set Addison's teeth on edge. She'd expected him to fall into the overprotective-male category. She could deal with that. What she hadn't expected was to feel so damn betrayed by his announcement that he would be returning to his job in D.C. How could she have been so naive? Just because she'd slept with him didn't mean he was going to change his mind and stay. He hadn't made her any promises. Dammit, she didn't want promises.
"You can drop me at my apartment," she said levelly. "I'll meet you at your office later."
His jaw tightened. but he didn't look at her. "Don't even think about arguing with me about this."
"Don't you have some sleazy divorce case to work on or something? I have some things to take care of," she said, pleased with the dark look her words elicited.
"Don't let what happened last night cloud your judgment," he said.
The logical side of her brain knew he was right. It would be dangerous for her to be alone, silly of her to think she could protect herself after everything that had happened.
Damn, she hated it that he was the one making sense. She hated the situation almost as much as the fact that she seemed to be so damn fallible as of late.
"I thought we had an understanding," he said reasonably.
"What we had was sex."
He glanced at her with narrowed, black eyes.
As much as she didn't want to admit it, she was angry. She told herself it wasn't because she wanted him to stay; she wasn't looking for a long-term relationship any more than he was. So why had she felt his words like a knife slipping between her ribs?
Raising her chin, she forced her gaze to his. "Just because we slept together last night doesn't mean you can step in and take control of my life."
"Is that what you think I'm trying to do? Take control of your life?"
She was really screwing this up. He was right, but she wasn't feeling particularly logical at the moment. He'd hurt her. Of course she couldn't tell him that. She didn't want to lay that much of herself on the line. She didn't want him to know he had that kind of power. "I don't need a fly-by-night protector."
The look he shot her had her questioning the wisdom of provoking him. "If you want to be stupid and' get yourself killed you're going to do it on your time, not mine."
"Don't worry, I didn't expect you to stick around—”
Without warning, he mashed his foot down on the brake. The truck screeched to a halt, jerking her against her shoulder harness hard enough to jar her teeth.
Fury simmered behind his eyes when he turned to her. "You either do what the fuck I say or you fire me right now!"
Addison stared at him wide-eyed, her heart pulsing against her ribs as she took in the display of anger. His jaw was clamped tight, his eyes flashing like heat lightning. "I'm not going to fire you," she said.
"That's not good enough."
"What do you want from me?"