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He knew. “Strike first before you get knocked out. It’s a protective habit.” He had a few of those himself.
She looked at him as if the idea was new to her. “Yeah,” she said. “He’s been known to throw a few fast punches. He once accused me of treating boyfriends like shoes from the sale rack.” He lifted a brow in question, and she went on. “Tried on, adored for a few months, and then relegated to the back of the closet.”
He leaned his shoulder against the wood-paneled wall. “Have there been a lot of men?”
“More than a few. Less than too many.” She stared at him a moment before hiking her chin a touch. “Are you judging me?”
“No,” he said truthfully. “It’s not my place to judge. Why do these relationships end?”
“My fault, probably.” With a self-conscious shrug, she sent him a small smile of defeat. “I get bored, and I suspect the guys can sense it.”
Curious, he pushed off the wall and moved closer to Carly. “And what does the turnover rate provide you with?”
She let out a bark of laughter, as if the question was absurd. When he didn’t return the humor she seemed to give the question some thought. “Mostly just a lot of embarrassing break-ups.” She cocked her head. “Did you know there’s a singing telegram service in town that specializes in break-up messages? I’m probably the only recipient in Miami whose address they know by heart.” He bit back the smile as she went on dryly. “So the only thing the turnover rate provides me with is a lot of jokes in the office at my expense.”
“And maybe another method of making your father angry?”
Her scowl was instantaneous. “No,” she said, and then her expression softened to include a bit of uncertainty. “Maybe.” She bit her lower lip, and then doubt replaced the frown completely. “I don’t know,” she said slowly, as if contemplating the possibility.
He stepped closer, looking down at her face. “Or maybe you don’t want anyone around long enough to use you again. Like the senator did.”
Denial surged, and her tone was adamant. “Thomas did not use me.”
He studied her for a bit, wondering who she was trying to convince. Him...or herself.
“Are you sure?” He paused long enough to get her full attention. To hammer his point home. “That’s hard to believe, seeing how when you finally became a hindrance instead of an asset he cut you loose.”
“My story was already out. How was I an ass—?”
“With Wolfe Broadcasting in his pocket, winning elections would be a lot easier.”
Carly closed her eyes, looking as if she’d been struck, and Hunter wanted to kick himself for being so blunt.
“Jeez.” She paused, and then inhaled deeply as if to steady herself. “You’re hell on a girl’s ego, you know,” she said softly. “I don’t know what to believe anymore.” She lifted her lids, and her gaze held an aching vulnerability that killed him. “All I know is...”
It seemed there was plenty she didn’t want to know. “What?” he said quietly.
She scanned his gaze and her amber eyes lost a little of the gold as the brown intensified, growing darker. “All I know is that I want you again.”
Heat and need socked him in the gut, setting off a sensual storm that promised to sweep away his resolve. This wasn’t the reason he’d followed her here, but there was no flirtatious tone. No coy looks. No sassy challenge in her eyes. Just an open honesty that was clearly a cover for a painful defenselessness that made her scent, her soft skin and the desire in her eyes all the more difficult to resist.
His heart was pulling double duty, trying to keep the blood supporting his brain even as it drained to his groin. Outwardly he might appear calm, but Carly had to feel the earth quaking from the hammering in his chest. “Why?”
“Because you make me feel like nobody else ever has.”
As he scrutinized her face, looking for the truth, he realized that making love to him in her father’s house would be the perfect retribution for her.
Despite the need to pace, the restless urge to move, instead he said, “I should leave.”
“Please stay.”
His body now fully on board for anything she had planned, despite the fact his brain thought it a bad idea, he said, “It isn’t fair, asking me while you’re wearing that dress.” His words were throatier than he would have liked. “I don’t even think it’s legal.”
She tipped her head in that sexy way that slayed him. “Will you arrest me if it isn’t?”
