“Sorry?” he bellowed. “You’d better damn well be apologizing for acting like a jackass and not for sleeping with me!”
Fire shot from her eyes now. “I’m a jackass? Ha, that’s a good one. I’m seriously expecting you to start braying any second now.”
They stared at each other for a full minute, neither of them speaking. Neither moving.
Exasperated, he ran fingers through his unruly hair. “So what’s wrong, Luce? What happened?”
“Nothing’s wrong.”
“Bullshit!” The word exploded from him before he could stop it.
She linked her hands together. “I know I made the first move—”
“First move?” He stared at her, incredulous. “Honey, that was no first move. That was a full-scale onslaught.”
Her color heightened again, and she toyed with a strand of hair, coiling and uncoiling it from around her finger.
“Okay, okay.” He held out his hands; a muscle tic tightening his jaw. “Let’s take a step back. Calm down.”
She raised both brows, the message clear. He was being the hothead, not she.
He ignored it, let out a huge breath. “So if nothing’s wrong and you’re not afraid of anything, then I really don’t understand why, all of a sudden, you can’t stay here with me.” Feeling ill-at-ease, he stuffed his hands in his jean pockets.
“Because…because last night makes an already complicated situation ten times more so. Because we’re not married. Because—”
“Because you want me as badly as I want you?”
She stared at him, openmouthed.
Well, shoot. Where had that come from? A mental wastebasket. The thought crumpled in his fist. Toss. Pitch! Two points and the idea was trashed. Gone. Deleted. He wiped his brow.
“Forget I said anything.” He leaned against the railing, picked up his cup and held it in front of him. “Should I feel used?”
“Used?” She frowned.
He watched as realization dawned.
“No! Oh, no! Do you?”
“No.” He shook his head. “Strangely enough, I feel privileged.”
“Don’t say that,” she whispered.
“It’s true.” He swore her eyes glistened with unshed tears.
“Is there a motel in town?”
His shoulders drooped. The lady recovered quickly. Resigned, he said, “Yeah. Down at the end of Main Street.” He shuffled his foot over the worn planks on the porch floor. They needed sanding and painting. He’d have to get that done before summer’s end.
When he looked back up, Lucy was leaning against the door, wound as tight as a twist tie on a loaf of bread. This wasn’t the way things were supposed to go. This morning should have been a lazy breakfast, easy talk, a shared shower. And sex, as hot and steamy as the water flowing around them.
Truth was, he wanted her to stay here. With him. In his house. In his bed. Instead, she was leaving him. He’d never been so miserable in his life. Helluva morning after.
“You don’t have to do this, you know. I’m not a depraved monster. I can keep my hands off you.”
“I know that.”
“You afraid people are gonna talk?”
“They’re already doing that, Jake.”
“Then I don’t see why—”
“For me.” Her voice was flat. “I need to do this for me. My entire life went spinning out of control at the church last weekend, and I can’t seem to reel it back in. Nothing has been normal. Nothing’s what I’d planned.”
“Oh, yeah.” Temper, barely restrained, simmered. He fought it. Fought and lost. “Lucinda Darling, the planner. I almost forgot. Silly me. Of course, you have to call the shots. You’re used to that. Used to having people jump when you tell them to. And it’s imperative that you have things all lined up, nice and neat.”
The tic was back in his jaw. “Heaven forbid anything spontaneous might happen.”
Anger flared in her eyes. Her redhead’s complexion deepened. “Spontaneous? What would you call turning your back on nearly a thousand wedding guests, hopping in your car and speeding away from the church? If that isn’t spontaneous, I don’t know what is!”
He rubbed at his chin. Felt the beginning of a five o’clock shadow—at eight in the morning. “Yeah, guess you’re right. That qualifies.”
He could have sworn she growled, actually growled. Time to back down. He wasn’t going to win this battle. But by damned, he was determined to win the war.
“Let me call Dora, see if they have a room. Then I’ll drive you down.”
“I can drive myself, thank you very much.” She paused, some of the wind going out of her sails. “If I had something to drive. Is there a car rental in town?”