There was no reply, and she turned at the door to the bathroom. He sat on the edge of the bed, watching her. His expression was unreadable.
“Yeah. I got it.”
Then he slid out of bed and reached to grab the clothes on the ground. Her gaze unwittingly slid over the green Celtic knot tattoo that covered half his back and shoulder blades. She watched the muscles of his body ripple as he tugged on the clothes.
He truly had an extraordinary body. Was good in bed. And she was a sucker for it. That was the only way she could possibly rationalize what’d happened in the last twenty-four hours. Her complete lapse of sanity.
Whatever helps you sleep at night, her mind whispered, not buying the excuses.
“Well thanks for the fun, doll.” His tone was flat. “Be sure to let me know if I knocked you up.”
A hysterical laugh bubbled in her throat, but she swallowed it back down. Just like eleven years ago, her words had hit their mark and Ian was pissed.
Without a backward glance, Ian left the bedroom and a few minutes later she heard the front door click shut.
Tears blurred her eyes as she moved back into the bedroom to find her cell phone. It might be barely six here, but her mom was three hours ahead. Unfortunately it went straight to voicemail.
She left a message anyway. “I need to borrow some money, Mom. Maybe five hundred until I get paid again. I’m having Gran’s car repaired. Call me back and let me know if you can afford.”
Once she disconnected the call, she curled up into a ball and let the tears fall. She must’ve fallen back asleep at some point, because her phone ringing woke her up. A quick glance at the caller ID showed it was her mom.
Sarah picked up with a groggy hello.
“Sorry I missed your call, Sarah. We’re out and about. Sure I can lend you money.” Her mom sounded distracted. “Are you all right? You sound…a little awful, actually.”
“I’m just stressed.” And heartbroken. “I really miss Em.” That much wasn’t a lie.
“I know. She misses you too. Hang on a second.” There was a pause as her mother seemed to be speaking to someone else. “Okay, I’m back.”
Tears fell silently down her cheek. She tried to keep it together. “So you can send the money online?”
“I can mail you a check or something, I don’t do that online thing. One second—” There was another muffled silence. “Look, I must run...I’ll talk to you later, okay? I just didn’t want you to think I was ignoring your call.”
A little disappointed her mom was brushing her off. “Sure. No problem.”
“And pull yourself together, Sarah.” Her mother’s voice dropped an octave. “Whatever it is, it’ll get better.”
“I know.” But what if it didn’t? What if it got worse?
“Boss, you got a—”
“I said no phone calls,” Ian snarled when someone popped their head into his office.
“Ugh, yeah. Sorry about that. I forgot.” Looking chagrined, and a little stunned, Carl backed out of the office at the garage and shut the door.
Fuck.
Ian thrust a hand through his hair and closed his eyes. He was in a shitty mood, no doubt about it. Anyone who came too close this morning was likely to get his head bitten off. It’d already happened a handful of times. Which made him wonder why people kept approaching him.
After leaving Sarah’s this morning, he’d gone home to shower and change, and then showed up late to work.
Maybe he should’ve just called in sick. Because he sure as hell felt pretty crappy now.
Which was ironic, because he’d woken up happy as a clam.
Happy was pretty much an understatement. This morning he’d felt like the hero in some animated love story. It was all sunshine and roses. He could’ve been using the toilet and birds would’ve been singing a love song in the background.
Life was amazing. He’d woken up next to Sarah, and he’d been content. Almost relieved to have her back in his arms again. It had felt so right. As if Sarah were his destiny and always had been. They’d just taken a wrong turn down the road of their relationship.
When he’d woken and found himself touching her, he’d almost said I want to make love to you again. The words had been on the tip of his tongue. And then his mind had overridden all the nonsense his heart was trying to convince him of.
Their relationship never was and never would be a fairy tale. Sarah being back on the island was temporary. Maybe the sex between them was awesome, and he could make her orgasm with barely any effort, but the bottom line was she still didn’t like him much. Maybe once they’d had that emotional connection, but now it was nothing more than a physical thing for them both.