She watched her date, an engineer she’d met on a business trip before she’d moved to the area to be closer to her family. He was chatting with her brother, but his gaze kept drifting back to her and Loran. She’d never told him they’d had a thing, but she suspected it was obvious just watching them together. They had that inexplicable something. Chemistry. That sent the message to everyone in the room that they’d either slept together or were one drink away from sealing the deal.
“I’ve been watching you two together.” Loran stared at the man in question until he took the hint and turned his back on them. “He means nothing to you.”
“How do you know that?” Sadly he was right, but she was curious how he could be so sure.
“You don’t look at him the way you look at me.” He brushed her long hair over her shoulder. “You don’t tremble when he touches you.” He stared into her eyes. “You don’t look hypnotized when he looks at you.”
She wet her lips, drawing his attention. “You don’t lick your lips like you want him to kiss you.”
He had it all figured out and she hated him for being able to read her so easily.
“You think every woman wants you,” she said, trying to play it off.
“No.” His finger grazed her cheek as he watched her trying not to react. “But I know you do. What I can’t figure out is why you’re so determined to fight it. Why not just give in to it?”
Her best friend and sister-in-law, Grace, asked her the same question and she didn’t have a logical answer for her either. But deep down she knew. Loran was the kind of man a woman never got over and she didn’t want to be the one left behind. So she’d left him before he could leave her.
“I can’t believe you waste any time thinking about me.” She turned her phone over in her palm, checking the new text message from her assistant about an early morning meeting. “You must be too busy with all those other bed warmers.”
“That’s all they are you know.” His tone was low and intimate, as though they were all alone. “Just bed warmers. You were the real deal.”
His acknowledgement that he was sleeping around hurt a hell of a lot more than it should have. “One time,” she said, clearing her throat. “It happened one time. You need to get over it.” And she needed to take her own advice.
His fingertips skimmed her forearm and he watched with a smug smile as thrill bumps rose on her skin. “It was more than once, but I’m not talking about the sex. It was the weeks leading up to that. The way we talked and laughed. Secrets we shared. I’ve never had that with another woman.”
She’d never experienced that before either, which was the crux of her problem. She’d tried convincing herself Loran was just a player who got off on using women. But he wasn’t. With her he was someone else. And if her brother’s take was accurate, Loran hadn’t been the same since their time together.
“I don’t know what you want me to say,” she said, rubbing her forehead in frustration. “It was fun while it lasted. Now it’s over.”
“But it doesn’t have to be.” He sighed when she didn’t respond. “Why did you really move here? And don’t tell me it was because of your family because we both know that’s not the only reason.”
“Jeff’s transfer had a lot to do with it.” But that was a lie because her engineer had put in for the transfer from Chicago only after she told him she was moving to Kansas City.
“No, it didn’t. That guy means nothing to you. You sure as hell wouldn’t uproot your whole life to be with him.”
It irked her that he could uncover her lies so effortlessly. “You don’t know what I’d do. Maybe I’m finally willing to settle down and I think Jeff might be the guy for me.”Lies, all lies.
“He’s not.”
She finally met his gaze, hoping she wouldn’t see… exactly what she did. Loran wasn’t infatuated with her. It went way deeper than that. She could see it in his eyes, feel it in his touch, hear it in every deliberate pause.
“I had no business getting involved with you.” She knew she had to try and explain herself. An explanation was long overdue. “You’re not my type. You’re the complete opposite, in fact. You’re everything I despise in a man.”
Instead of appearing offended, he smiled. “You know my past choices don’t make me who I am.”
“You’re still sleeping around! You admitted it!” And the fact that she was getting so upset about it proved that she cared. Too much.
“And that bothers you.”
“No—”
“Yes, it does. Just like it bothers me that you’re sleeping with him.”
Her intimate relationship with Jeff was nothing to write home about. Another reason for her to end it. She needed a man who could rock her world… like Loran.
“Would you have me take a vow of celibacy?” she asked, rolling her eyes. “Would that make you happy?”
His eyes travelled over her body, dipping to the deep V-cut of her black dress. “I don’t want you to be celibate, Bella. I want you to be mine.” He leaned in closer, his warm breath ruffling her hair. “I want you to share my bed, no one else’s.”
