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Daisy draped her purse over her shoulder and took a step back. Mark’s eyes narrowed at the slight retreat, as if he knew what was coming and wasn’t happy about it. Something had happened that night at the hotel—he’d wormed his way past her defenses, and now she couldn’t shake him. But she had to try anyway, and not sharing a meal with him was the first step in that direction. “I have a headache, so I’m going to go. Enjoy your dinner.”
“Don’t go. Please.” Mark caught her hand. “I’ll go instead—”
“Just let me go, Mark.”
He dropped his hold on her immediately.
She took off for her car, not looking back.
If she looked back…
She wouldn’t leave.
Chapter Ten
The moon shone down on the roofs of the cars that lined the street, and the tree in front of her building swayed gently in the northeasterly wind that swept through the green leaves with a grace he’d never shown in his whole life. He stared up at the brick exterior from the bottom of the stairs that led into the apartment complex where she lived. Like the last time he’d sought her out and stood outside her door, he knew it would be smarter to walk away. To listen to her when she said he should keep his distance before someone got hurt.
But he never did.
And tonight would be no different.
When he’d seen her again, it was like a piece of him that had been asleep since he walked away from her had come back to life. He hadn’t known it was asleep. Hadn’t even sensed the loss. But the second they locked eyes and he saw her red hair and those bright green eyes that had haunted him every damn night, he’d felt that part of him flutter.
That part of him died again when she ran away from a meal that she had every right to stay at. He should have been the one to leave, not her. Just like he shouldn’t be here now, about to knock on her door to tell her he missed her. He should take a page from her book and avoid her at all costs. Run in the opposite direction every time he saw her coming. But that part of him that had wok
en back up, the part that recognized her as a piece of himself…
It wouldn’t shut the hell up because she felt it, too.
She missed him. Had said so herself.
So here he was.
Again.
Gritting his teeth, he took the stairs two at a time, making a left inside the building, toward her apartment number. Maybe it was a mistake, and maybe she’d slam the door in his face, but he had to do it anyway. Had to find out. He wasn’t the type to live with regrets. And he knew if he didn’t go up those stairs to her door and knock, he’d regret it for the rest of his goddamn life.
He had to find out the end to their story.
No matter how ugly it was.
He knocked three times, pulse rushing, palms sweating. The door cracked open, and her face was there, staring at him through the gap. When she saw it was him, she pressed her mouth into a thin line. “How did you find out where I lived?”
“I work at a security agency.” He lifted a shoulder. “It’s not hard.”
“I told you I was sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I never should have attacked you like that—”
He rested a hand on the wall beside her door, shaking his head, tugging on his tie with his free hand. “That’s not why I’m here.”
Her eyes widened. “Then why—?”
“You know why I’m here, Daisy. I can’t stop thinking about you. When I fall asleep, you’re in my head. I dream about you. Your laugh. Your hair. Your eyes. Your smile. All of it. Everything. And when I jack off to try to ease the ache you left behind, I think of you, but it doesn’t make it better. Nothing does. Nothing will. And I think you feel the same emptiness inside that I do. I think you’re hurting, too.” He locked eyes with her. “The question is, are you going to let me in so I can fix it, or are you going to close the door in my face?”
She stared, and for the life of him, he had no fucking clue what she was going to do. Her grip on the knob shifted, and she opened the door. With a small sigh of relief, he closed the distance between them, his mouth seeking hers before he fully held her in his arms. She curled her unbroken hand in his shirt and held on tight as he ravished her, shutting the door behind him.
His mouth moved over hers as he bunched up her T-shirt in his fist, breaking off only to rip it over her head. She gasped, her eyes wide, as he backed her against a wall, fully intending to take her right there, right now, as soon as possible, because God damn it, he needed her. He went for her mouth again, but she jerked to the left, avoiding his kiss. “First door on the right.”
He skimmed his hand over her perfect ass. Taking the time to carry her to her bedroom was too much. He needed her now. “But—”
