Hot Pursuit - Denise A. Agnew [6]
She almost told him she had a proposal for him. Almost broke right down and said what she’d planned to say to a perfect stranger tonight.
Sleep with me tonight. Or in a rougher way, Have wild monkey hanging-from-the-rafters blow-the-lights-out sex.
She’d found the perfect man for it.
His eyes were bright with the fever, the same fever she felt. She couldn’t deny that he wanted her.
“Sorry,” he said. “I got carried away. A bar isn’t the place to do this.”
She shrugged, self-consciousness finding her. “You’re right. Not the place.”
Silence hung there. Balanced. Almost tipped over. The strain of keeping quiet made her want to scream.
“Hope that made up for all the crap in high school,” she said.
A smile cracked that hard, I-want-sex expression. “No. I don’t think it does.”
Her mouth flopped open. “What?”
Kenny had stopped singing in the background, and some sweet-sounding young thing trilled about hard times in the old town tonight. Lucy’s brain snagged on the tune at the same time she tried to wrap her thoughts around what Vic had said.
Once more a sparkle entered his dark eyes. “I’m teasing you.”
She released a short, hard breath, followed by a half laugh. “Brat.”
He clapped his hand over his heart. “Ow. That hurt. But I’ve been hurt worse.”
Insight jumped her. She sipped her wine and chose her words wisely. “By your ex-girlfriend?”
His gaze flew up to hers. Regret and maybe the tiniest bit of fear resided there. “Yeah.”
“Tonight?”
“No. A while before that.”
“Ouch. I’m sorry.” Something inside her softened and reached out. “That sucks.”
“Is that why you walked in here alone? Don’t you have any friends in town? A party to go to?”
Damn, he’d turned it back to her, and her throat felt tight. Her thoughts scrambled. “My friends are having a big party. They invited me. I’m not there because my rat-bastard boyfriend decided to be a rat bastard.”
He frowned, and this time, he looked like he could eat lead. “What did he do?”
The fierce roughness in his voice made her feel shielded, a sensation she’d never experienced with any man before. Did she want to become this personal? Did she want him to hear this?
She found herself talking. “Danny Mendoza. He used to work in the stationery store next to my studio. He’s in the Army Reserves and he was called up.” She shrugged. “He was…is a nice enough guy.”
“And?” he asked when she paused.
Her breath caught with emotion, anger superseding sadness. “I’ve been corresponding with him for a year by email. We had some pretty intense discussions and have a lot in common. A lot of…attraction. He came back from Iraq and asked me to meet him for a date Christmas Eve. He said that he has some really strong feelings for me. We had dinner, had a great time. He told me I was special and that he wanted to get to know me better. He had a lot of things to do this week and said he couldn’t see me again until tonight. I decided to surprise him with a late Christmas gift. A book he’d wanted. I went over to his apartment early to surprise him. Instead, I’m the one who got the surprise.”
She paused, half-expecting him to say he knew where this one would head. Vic’s chagrin showed in his expression—he understood, but he wouldn’t interrupt her story.
Her tight throat returned, but another slow sip of wine smoothed the words. “Timing couldn’t have been better. I parked in front of the apartment building and saw him coming out of his place with another woman I know in town. Felicia. They went straight into a lip lock. I watched in shock. I guess I shouldn’t have been shocked. He didn’t promise me a damn thing in his emails. We just…I thought we connected. He insinuated…” She shrugged again. “Anyway, it’s pathetic. I called him on my cell phone and told him I’d seen him kissing the woman. He told me that he didn’t know what I was upset about. That I’d blown it all out of proportion, that one little kiss didn’t mean anything. He told me to come over tonight anyway. Some people would say I overreacted. I don’t think I did. I told him I wouldn’t be seeing him