“I’m not asking.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why do you want me to go?”
“Because guys like me change girls like you.”
“Girls like me?”
“Innocent girls.”
“What if I’m not that innocent?”
His lips quirk in a wry grin. “Oh, you’re exactly that innocent. I can practically smell it on you. Sweet, pure, untouched. And, if I’m being honest, I’d like nothing better than to taste that on the tip of my tongue.”
“Then what’s stopping you?”
I watch him wrestle with…something. “I don’t have the time or the inclination to get involved in ruining someone else’s life.”
“What makes you think you’d ruin my life?”
“Oh, trust me. I would.”
“But—”
“But nothing. For tonight, I’ll be the good guy you need me to be. Whether you know you need it or not. I’m asking you to leave, Sloane. But I promise you—promise you—that if you so much as darken my doorway again, I won’t let you walk back out again.”
I’m torn between heady elation and harsh rejection. “Hemi—”
“Go, little girl,” he says softly. “Go before I change my mind.”
CHAPTER SIX - Hemi
A persistent buzzing wakes me. I swat toward the sound and hear my phone clatter as it hits the floor. With bleary eyes, I lean over the side of the bed to look down at it. I have to blink three times before I can focus on the lighted screen. I note two things. Number one, it’s only fifteen minutes until eleven. It’s too damn early for anyone to be calling me. Everyone that has my phone number knows I work at night and sleep late in the morning. Number two, it’s my older brother, Reese. Wanting an update, I’m sure.
I curse under my breath when my head pounds as I lean over the side of the bed to reach for the phone. I roll back up quickly, throwing an arm over my eyes as I slide my thumb across the screen to answer it.
“What?”
“You’re still in bed?”
“Hell yes, I’m still in bed. You know I don’t get in until after three most nights.”
“You’ve got more than seven hours already, you pu**y. You’ll be fine.”
“I didn’t go straight to sleep, ass**le.”
“Damn, you’re grouchy. You must’ve been drinking.”
Reese has always complained that drinking makes me pissy. I guess maybe he’s right. I feel like I could drive my fist through a solid steel wall.
“What do you want?” I ask, ignoring his observation. Lucky for him, he lets it go.
“Just checking on…things.”
“’Things’ are fine. No change.”
“Are you any closer?”
“You say that like it’s easy to get close to these people when it’s anything but easy. They’re naturally suspicious. It’s what they do, who they are.”
“And I’m sure you don’t inspire confidence as a trustworthy guy.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“You ink skin. You’re a step up from a criminal in some people’s eyes.”
“Oh, right,” I say drolly. “This sounds familiar.”
“I didn’t say I feel that way, just that some people do.”
“Well then ‘some people’ can kiss my puckered ass.”
“Look, I didn’t call to pick a fight. Just…just keep me posted.”
“I will,” I squeeze through my gritted teeth.
“And lay off the sauce.”
“Suck it, dickweed,” I murmur before I hang up.
I peek out from under my arm long enough to hit the disconnect button. I’m sure once I get sobered up, I’ll feel like shit about this conversation, but right now, I’m just ill.
Reese is a good guy and I love him. We actually get along pretty well. Normally. Our relationship has just been a little strained since I moved to the Atlanta area. We’ve all been under a lot of pressure and stress. Losing Ollie changed everything.
Already tired of my thoughts, I sit up quickly. Too quickly. My head spins and throbs. I press my palms to my temples and squeeze, wishing I could make it stop.
“Damn you, Sloane,” I mutter into the emptiness of my bedroom.
I blame her. One hundred percent. What the hell was she thinking, coming into the shop, looking all sweet and innocent?
But I know it’s not that. The sweet and innocent I can handle. That’s never appealed to me. It’s the sweet and innocent combined with this innate sexiness that she has that’s tempting me. Tempting me bad. There’s a little gleam in her eye that says she wants me to show her naughty rather than nice. And oh, how I could show her naughty. I could show her naughty like she’s never even dreamed before.
But a girl like her deserves nice, too. And naughty’s all I’ve got. It’s all I’m interested in. Especially now. Which means I need to stay away from her. I need to deny myself the pleasure of her. And I’m not used to denying myself anything that I want. Including women.
Sloane might have to be the first.
And I like it even less than I thought I would.
Ignoring the still-drunk swim behind my eyes, I get up and head for the shower. For the cold shower.
CHAPTER SEVEN - Sloane
The only good thing I can think of when I open my eyes is that it’s Thursday. Which means tomorrow is Friday. Which means no classes. Which means I can sleep in.
I roll over and look at the clock. Three minutes until my alarm goes off. This is the fourth morning I’ve awakened before it sounds its annoying buzz. And it’s the fourteenth morning I’ve awakened thinking of Hemi.
I haven’t seen him or talked to him since three Saturdays ago. When he told me to leave. I did. Even though I didn’t want to. I wanted to stay, to explore what I saw in his eyes, felt in his touch. Explore all the things he hinted at but didn’t say.
But I didn’t. I left. And now I get to wake up every morning with the regret of my decision.
Throwing back the covers, I head for the shower.
Less than an hour later, I’m climbing into the passenger side seat of Sarah’s truck.
“Good gawd, couldn’t you find anything with bigger tires?” I gripe as I struggle to pull myself through the door.
“I’m a country girl. It’s what we country girls do.”
“I’m a country girl, too, and I don’t have a big-ass truck.”