Hot Pursuit - Denise A. Agnew [22]
He shrugged. “I have a room over at the Beckworth Inn. Since my plans were changed last night, I’m kind of unsure what to do next. I planned on being here at least a week more, then back to Colorado Springs.”
“Oh.” Oh? Is that all I can say? “You hadn’t planned on seeing Marisa and Jake?”
“I planned to call them sometime this weekend. They knew I was coming in to town.”
When silence stretched, she slipped from the bed and rummaged in the closet for her robe. In the meantime, he pulled his sweater over that amazing chest. He returned to the utility room for his leather jacket and boots. She followed him to the door.
“Well, then,” she said when they stood at the door.
He smiled. “Yeah. Look, I’ll be at the inn, so you know where to find me.” Vic cupped her face. He kissed her softly, without any of the passion. “Wait. Got pen and paper? I’ll give you my cell number.”
She grabbed a notepad from a kitchen drawer and jotted down his cell number.
“Call me if you decide what you want,” he said.
He drew back and started to open the door. She clasped his forearm. “What do you want, Vic?”
His gaze searched her face. “To give you time. You’re confused, and hell, maybe I’m confused too. I thought Shelly cared about me and then she hosed up my life with lies, and you thought that jerk cared about you. One thing I do know. Last thing I want is to make you uncomfortable. Even if I’m in the military, I’m not like the ass wipe who didn’t have the brains to realize he was damned lucky you wrote him while he was at war. I know if you wrote me, I’d sure as hell fight tooth and nail to make sure I came back to you.” He shrugged. “But I’m through with women who aren’t sincere. Who don’t know what they want.” His eyes darkened. “I think I learned something about myself tonight. Maybe I don’t want one-night stands anymore.”
After he closed the door and left, she locked it and then slumped on the couch, her mind a bundle of contradictions. It had been a few hours of hot, incredible sex. Why did it have to become clouded with feelings? She felt connected to him at a level she wouldn’t have expected from such a short acquaintance, as if by letting him leave she’d lost a genuine chance for happiness. She wanted to be with a man who mattered. Who cared about people’s feelings, who had honor and integrity.
She headed back to bed a short time later and burrowed under the covers. Vic’s scent was on the sheets, and she loved it. She buried her face in the pillows, rolled from one side to the other as she experienced vivid recall of his body deep in hers, pounding out a bone-melting orgasm. She sighed. Confusion was a bitch. She hated confusion, and damned if she wasn’t baffled. Damn the man. He’d given her no ultimatums. He’d only asked for clarification and she couldn’t give him an answer. Perhaps he was right. Maybe the one-night stand needed to stay that way, a pleasant—hell, freaking fantastic memory to hold on to if her nights ever turned colder.
As she drifted into a restless sleep, a nightmare arose. Vic walked off into a sunset, never to be seen again, her opportunity to know something special blown to high hell.
Chapter Six
“Sounds like you had an interesting New Year’s Eve,” Neena said as she stood across from Lucy at Neena’s Breakfast Bar Sunday morning.
Lucy sighed as she slumped down on a barstool. She’d told Neena the whole story about Vic, including the part where his ex-girlfriend had dragged his name through the dirt. “I can’t believe that woman did that to him.”
Neena shook her head and took a sip of tomato juice, then rubbed her four-months-pregnant stomach. Her russet hair fell in a long, semi-wavy stream over her breasts. Her green eyes sparkled with genuine warmth and subtle amusement. Her oval face was never too made up. “Well, well. I never thought…” She shrugged. “Here I thought you and Danny would be all snuggled up somewhere for the weekend. Now you’re telling me that you did the two-backed beast with another military