AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He must not have believed her because he rose and set his hands on her shoulders. “You’ve put up with Arlis Hoover, and you’ve put up with me. You can handle this.”
“It’s just so . . . nasty.”
He brushed her hair with his lips. “It only says something about the kid who did it.”
“Maybe it wasn’t a kid. There are so many people here who don’t like me.”
“Fewer all the time,” he said quietly. “You’ve stood up to everybody, and that’s earned you some respect.”
“I don’t know why I even care.”
His expression grew so tender she wanted to weep. “Because you’re trying to build something for yourself,” he said. “With no help from anybody.”
“You help me.”
“How?” He dropped his hand, once again frustrated with her. “You won’t let me do anything. You won’t even let me take you out to dinner.”
“Setting aside the issue of Sunny Skipjack lusting after you, I don’t need everybody in this town knowing a sinner like me is getting it on with their sainted mayor.”
“You’re being paranoid. The only reason I’ve put up with it is because I’ve been out of town the past couple of weeks.”
“Nothing’s going to change now that you’re back. Our secret fling is staying that way.”
He temporarily dropped the subject and invited her to a private dinner that night at his place. She accepted his offer, but as soon as she reached his house, he dragged her upstairs and began playing his precise, calculated sexual games. By the end, he’d satisfied every cell in her body without touching any part of her soul. Exactly as it should be, she told herself.
“You’re a magician,” she said. “You’ve spoiled me forever for other men.”
He threw back the covers, dropped his legs hard over the side of the bed, and disappeared.
She found him in the kitchen a short while later. She’d pulled his abandoned black T-shirt over her panties, but left the rest of her clothes tangled in the duvet on his bedroom floor. His dark brown hair was rumpled from her fingers, he was still bare-chested and barefoot, wearing only a pair of shorts. His boxers, she happened to know, were tangled in the sheets.
He had a beer in his hand and a second waiting for her on the counter. “I’m not good in the kitchen,” he said, looking gorgeous and sulky.
She tore her eyes away from his chest. “I don’t believe you. You’re good at everything.” She blatantly stared at his crotch in a sad attempt to make up for her disappointment. “And I do mean everything.”
He could read her mind, and he practically sneered. “If I’m not living up to your standards, I apologize.”
“You’re delusional, and I’m hungry.”
He rested his hips against the sink, not done with being surly. “Choose what you want from the freezer, and maybe I’ll defrost it.”
He would never have talked to another woman so rudely, and her spirits rose. As she moved behind the center island, she thought about bringing up the contest, but since the national publicity had just boosted the bidding past nine thousand dollars, she couldn’t be so mean.
A man’s refrigerator told a lot about him. She opened the door and took in sparkling glass shelves holding organic milk, beer, cheese, sandwich meat, and some neatly labeled food storage containers. A peek in the freezer revealed more containers, pricey frozen organic dinners, and chocolate ice cream. She looked over at him. “This is a total chick refrigerator.”
“Your refrigerator looks like this?”
“Well, no. But if I were a better woman it would.”
The corner of his mouth kicked up. “You do understand, don’t you, that I’m not actually the person who cleans and stocks it?”
“I know that Haley buys your groceries, and I want a personal assistant, too.”
“She’s not my personal assistant.”
“Don’t tell her that.” She pulled out two labeled and dated containers, ham and sweet potatoes. Although she wasn’t a great cook, she was a lot better than either of her parents, thanks to the housekeepers who’d put up with the Koranda kids raiding their kitchen.
She leaned over the bottom hydrator looking for salad greens. The front door opened, and she heard the click of heels across the bamboo floors. A prickle of uneasiness scuttled through her. She quickly straightened.
