My smile is almost as incandescent as my humiliation. “Ah. In that case, you’ll have to excuse me. I’m leaving now.”
“Your ten minutes aren’t up.”
“I know, but I have to go to the ladies room so I can drown myself in the toilet.”
When I make a move to rise, he grasps my wrist and pulls me closer. His tone low and urgent, he says, “Don’t mistake that for a rejection.”
“Funny, but I always thought the word ‘no’ is a pretty good indicator of rejection.”
“It doesn’t mean I don’t want you.”
My cheeks burn with embarrassment. My ears are scalding. It feels as if someone turned the temperature up by thirty degrees. I have no idea what possessed me to say that, but the cat’s out of the bag now. I can’t take it back.
I also can’t meet his eyes when I say, “Okay. I understand.”
“Shay. Look at me.”
It takes a while for me to gather the courage. When I do, his intensity is so intimidating, I forget to keep breathing.
He says, “You don’t understand. Not only is your ex an idiotic clown, he’s a fucking child. He needs to have his face rearranged. I want to beat the living shit out of him.”
While I process that, I hear Chelsea cackling in the background. Painfully aware that we’re being observed, and that I’ll have to recount this story later, my face grows even hotter.
“There’s a lot to unpack in that statement. However, embarrassment has clogged my normal brain functions, so you’re going to have to explain it to me like I’m a toddler.”
Nostrils flaring, he inhales. He hasn’t blinked in thirty seconds. He’s trying hard to stop himself from doing something, but I’m not sure what it is.
By the looks of it, throwing his whiskey glass against the wall.
“First explain to me why you’d ask a total stranger to have sex with you.”
Pride rears its head. Snooty as a schoolmarm, I sniff and lift my chin. “I didn’t ask. I said I was thinking about asking. And I didn’t say anything about sex either. Maybe I just wanted to cuddle.”
“Give me a break. You don’t want to cuddle.”
God, this guy is impossible. “I know. You could’ve been a gentleman and let that one slide.”
“I’m not a gentleman. Finish the explanation.”
Exasperated, I sigh. “You’re not going to let me leave until I do, are you?”
“Correct. Stop stalling.”
My tone is irritated, but I can’t help it. He’s pushing all my buttons, and not the right ones. “You’ll have to sit there while I think about it, because I honestly don’t know.”
His frustration is palpable. Not only is he unused to being challenged, he’s not used to being made to wait, either.
What kind of work does he do? Probably something involving barking orders at terrified underlings.
“All right. Here it is. You’re the first man I’ve been attracted to since Chet and I broke up, and the first person who seems to understand the hell I’ve been through. Chelsea might have had a good point when she said that the only way to get over a man is to get under a new one, and I’m tired of being the only person in the room when I have sex. I know it’s not that simple, but I’ve tried everything else. Nothing’s worked. So I suppose I was thinking that maybe we could make each other forget our pain for a while.”
I clear my throat. The schoolmarm is back. “Also…I have condoms in my handbag.”
Cole stares at me with fury blazing in his blue eyes. But then his gaze drops to my mouth, and I realize I’m mistaken. That’s not anger.
It’s passion.
Suddenly, I’m dizzy.
I think he’s about to say yes.
