Yeah, lots of anger.
“I know you hate me, and I just wanted to tell you that I’m going to do my best to stay away from you.” Even if all he wanted was to stick to her like honey on a bear.
Her brow arched. “So far you’re not doing a good job staying away.”
“I thought I should talk to you because I figure we’d bump into each other again at some point, and I didn’t want it to be awkward.”
“Oh, because this isn’t awkward at all.” Renny rolled her eyes. “You’ve said hello. I know you’re back. I also don’t care, so if you don’t mind, there’s the door. Use it.” She turned her back to him.
Oddly enough, though, he didn’t want to leave. As a matter of fact, all he really wanted to do was snare her in his arms and squeeze her tight. Tell her how much he’d missed her and wished things could have been different. He wanted to peel that tiny shirt from her and cover her body in his. Surround her in his scent. Claim her and make her off-limits to others.
The time apart hadn’t cooled the attraction on his part at all, but he wouldn’t act on it.
Mustn’t mark her and claim her and keep. She deserves better.
Thing was, he needed to make sure she hated him because, if she softened at all, like she did now with her body trembling slightly, he might not be able to resist. “So do you strip for money on top of waitressing? Or do you just strut your shit for every dick with a few dollars?”
She whirled on him. “Are you seriously insulting me here?”
“Just questioning your choice in careers.” Because he knew she was capable of being more than a waitress in a strip club. “Couldn’t you find something a little more—”
“More what? Morally sound? More clothed? Perhaps you’d like me to walk two feet behind men and curtsy when they speak to me?”
“Now you’re exaggerating. I’m just saying a nice girl like you should have higher aspirations than working in a titty bar.”
“There is nothing wrong with working here. And that’s a priceless thing to say, given you came here in the first place. If this place is so disgusting, then what are you doing here?”
Getting a beer? But he didn’t have time to voice his reason. Renny was still talking, her voice reaching an incredulous pitch.
“You’ve got a lot of nerve, Caleb Bourdeaux, coming back into town after everything that’s happened and acting as if I owe you anything or give a fiddle what you think.”
Once again, he just couldn’t seem to keep his mouth shut. “Maybe you should give a damn what I think since no one else seems to be. You deserve a job that doesn’t require you dressing like this. For fuck’s sake, Renny, your shirt is so tight I can see your damned bra.”
“Are my bralines bothering you? Let me fix that.”
He could only gape in shock as her hands slid under the fabric of her top, and in moments, she’d managed to unsnap her bra and slide her arms through the straps. She tossed the scrap of fabric at him.
It hit him in the chest, but he clasped it before it could fall. The cottony material still held the warmth of her body. Was it him or the beast that lifted it for a sniff?
Vanilla. Delicious. And tempting, just like the buds of her nipples clinging to the material of her shirt that drew his gaze.
I am in so much trouble.
A trouble he couldn’t seem to stop from snowballing.
“What are you doing with my bra?” she asked as he stuffed it in his pocket.
“Keeping it.”
“For what?”
Nothing could have stopped his slow, lazy smile. “Inspiration.”
It took her only a moment to grasp his meaning, and then she blushed. “Give it back right now. I will not have you—um. You know.” Renny stumbled instead of saying the words.
“You gave it to me. It’s rude to ask for a present back,” Caleb chided.
But Renny didn’t seem to care about bad manners. “I hate you.” She stomped past him, the skin of her arm lightly brushing him, enough for an electric sizzle. Perhaps she felt it, too, because she stopped and whirled. Her brown eyes sparked. Her lips parted. “Actually, you know what, I do owe you something.”
She leaned toward him, and he found himself angling toward her, too, already forgetting his promise to stay away. To—
“Ooomph!” Breath burst from him as she slugged him in the gut.
“That was for being an asshat and leaving.” She kicked him in the shin. “That’s for ignoring me after. And this is because I hate you!” She kneed him in the groin.
It did not feel good at all, but that wasn’t the reason he was breathless and in pain. His agony came not from her blows, but because she’d unleashed the full fury of her devastation.
A wave of emotions assailed him, crushing him with their rawness.
He dropped to his knees, burdened by the weight.
Is this how she truly feels?
So betrayed. Forgotten. Unloved. So lonely…