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He smiled back, looking awed by me, which awed me.
“God, you look perfect, waking up naked in bed with me,” he whispered, tracing the backs of his fingers over my cheek.
I sighed sleepily. “You look pretty good yourself, Mr. Hilliard. Feel free to wake up in bed with me any...” When I glanced around, realizing it had turned dark out and wasn’t a new day yet, I finished with, “time,” instead of morning.
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“Deal.” The affection in his gaze lasted another second before he scowled. “Now, would you like to tell me what the fuck’s been going on in Granton?”
I blinked, not expecting that question. “Wha—what?”
He folded his arms over his chest. “Tess just called my phone.”
“Oh.” Dread pooled in my stomach. Not able to face this conversation lying down and naked, I sat upright and pulled the sheets to my chin.
“Oh?” He repeated, starting to lose his cool. “I just found out from someone else—because you sure as hell didn’t seem like you were going to tell me—that you quit school and maybe even your job, and all you have to say is oh?”
“I didn’t quit my job,” I mumbled to my knees. “I was fired.”
“Fired?” he cried. “Why in the hell would your boss fire you? I thought she loved you and always praised you for doing a good job.”
“She did.” I sighed and turned away, not wanting to talk about this and break the perfect time we’d been having. But Beck caught my arm and urged me back to him, his electric blue eyes piercing as he watched me and waited for an answer.
I closed my eyes, knowing he wasn’t going to like this. “Melody came in and told Vivian I refused her service. And Vivian believed her, not me.”
“Melody,” he said slowly. “Melody Fairfield?”
“Well, it certainly wasn’t the Melody dating my brother,” I answered bitterly, only to wince and shake my head. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you, I just—”
“That bitch!” he exploded, springing off the bed to pace the room and spike his hands through his hair. “I can’t believe she…I’m going to kill her. She went after you because of me. She can’t go after you because of me. I won’t…I’m just not going to allow this.”
Okay, yikes. I knew he wouldn’t be pleased, but I hadn’t expected quite this level of rage. Crawling off the mattress after him, I grabbed his arm, forcing him to look into my face. I kind of thought being naked would help distract him, but he was too busy fuming to even notice my lack of clothes.
“No one’s going to hurt you because of me.”
Though I loved his passion and the fervor and feeling behind his words, I needed to calm him down. “It’s not because of you,” I insisted. “She’s just mad at me for outing her. And attacking me every chance she can get.”
But that only set him off again. “What do you mean every chance she can get? What else has she done to you?”
I cringed. Dammit, why couldn’t I watch my mouth sometimes? “I just,well, you know how some of the rumors have been going around that I lied to get you free?”
His eyes grew wide. “They’re still saying that?”
“I’m pretty sure Melody’s been fanning the flames. The gossips gotten worse instead of better.”
He blew. “Motherfucker!” Spiking his hands through his hair, he spun away as if to go do something about the injustice of it that very second, but then realized he couldn’t do anything.
He whirled back to me. “I can’t believe she’s still after you. We need to stop her and get this straightened out so you can—”
I shook my head and grasped his wrists to gain his attention. “No. Don’t worry about it. It doesn’t even bother me.”
With a snort, he muttered, “Yeah, that’s why you dropped out of school days before semester finals, because it doesn’t bother you.”
There was no way to argue that. I stared at him mutinously before mumbling, “You dropped out of school too.”
“No,” he growled. “I was kicked out. Big difference.”
“Well, you left Granton,” I argued. “And look at you now. Everything is better for you away from there.” My eyes pleaded as I dropped my hands limply to my sides. “Maybe everything will be better for me too if I leave.”
