Halley was really pissed now. She understood that she'd made a mistake. Okay, a stupid, ridiculous mistake. But he didn't have to belabor the issue. Good grief!
She looked at him, still laughing, and decided that she wasn't going to stick around. Walking towards the exit, she was halted by his hand coming up to grab her upper arm. His laughter was slowing, but he still had a few chuckles left. "Sorry, honey. Just … " another laugh hit him and he shook his head. "Sorry. I think I'm done." Taking a seat in the reading chair she'd vacated minutes after he'd entered her bedroom, he pulled her down onto his lap, wrapping his arms around her waist so that she couldn't escape. "So, you thought I was married and hiding another family in a different town, then coming back to you at night for a little nookie on the side, eh?"
The way he said it made her assumptions sound stupid. "Hey, those girls look just like you!"
He nodded. "Yeah, and they look like my sister too. We have strong genes," he said with a smile. "I can't help it if my nieces take after me."
She rolled her eyes. "Fine, but can I please get up?"
Not a chance, he thought with another laugh. She felt too good right where she was. "No. Tell me you love me."
She pulled back, horrified that he would suggest such a thing. "I'm not in love with you."
He rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. "Halley, you wouldn't have been so upset about me betraying you if you didn't care for me. And you were furious. So admit it. You love me."
She shrugged her shoulder. "I don't trust you," she asserted with her chin going up a notch defiantly. "If I'd trusted you, I never would have thought that you were hiding another family in Billings and just using me as your Jefferson bed-fellow."
He chuckled softly at that but kissed her shoulder. "Okay, valid point. So how do you start to learn to trust me?"
She tried to get up off of his lap but his arms tightened around her. "I don't. We don't. We're not continuing with this relationship."
He smiled as he bent to kiss her neck. "At least you've admitted that we actually are in a relationship. That's a first," he told her. "I might actually be irritated with you, Halley, if you weren't melting in my arms."
Her eyes were closed as she tried very hard not to do exactly what she suspected she was doing. "I'm not melting," she said but her head tilted to the side and she leaned into him ever so slightly.
"You're melting. And you know what?"
She shook her head. She didn't know anything. She didn't want to know anything either. She just wanted him to keep doing whatever he was doing to her neck. It felt really good! After her hours of misery today, she wanted to just forget everything. Halley admitted that she was ashamed for believing something so horrible about Mike.
He shifted her legs around so that she was facing away from him. She was startled for a moment, about to turn around to look at him but at that same moment, she felt his hands on her shoulders and she gasped with how incredible his strong hands felt as he kneaded the tense muscles there.
"I'm going to tell you anyway," he said as he leaned forward to glance at her eyes. They were closed as she started to relax against him. Damn, but she was tense!
"Don't speak," she ordered, afraid of what he might say.
Mike laughed, ignoring her command. "You're in love with me, Halley," he told her. He felt her shoulders stiffen with those words, and knew he was scaring her even more. "I know that the idea terrifies you, and I don't understand why. But you do. You love me."
She shook her head and took a breath to retort, and his thumb flicked her earlobe. It didn't hurt in any way, tickled even, but it was so startling that it stopped her words. "What … ?"
"No talking. You're going to listen to me."
She opened her mouth to argue with him but he flicked her ear again. This time, she twisted around to glare at him, but he only started massaging her tense shoulders once more. And once more, she melted into his arms.
"Be quiet," he commanded. His fingers were releasing all of the tension that had been building up for hours and it felt too good, so she leaned to the side slightly, willing to be quiet as long as he kept doing that to her shoulders.
"You're in love with me, Halley. I know that scares you but I don't understand why. I will understand though. You've been hiding something from me for a long time but you know me well enough. I'm going to find out." She opened her mouth to argue with him again, but he squeezed his legs, silently commanding her to be quiet. "You know me. I love mysteries. I'm going to find out. You should just tell me, but you're not ready to reveal all of your secrets." She started to speak, but he interrupted her with one word, "Yet," he said softly. "When you are ready, then we're going to move forward with this relationship."