“I’m sorry, I’m kind of tired. Would you mind if we went back to the club? I need to find my brother and get back to the hotel.”
“Are you kidding me?” she demanded, her stare losing her sparkle and turning hard. “I thought we were going to fuck?”
“Yeah, I had high hopes, too but it seems I’m not as horny as I thought.”
Her gaze dropped to his groin and her mouth tightened as she scrambled to her feet, pulling her skirt down and jerking the blanket out from beneath him. “Find your own way back to the club, asshole!” she hissed and stomped back to her car, leaving him standing on the beach.
Shouldn’t it count for something that he’d made her cum?
Hmm…guess not. This must be how women felt after they’d given a guy a blowjob and the guy still blew them off. Not a nice feeling, he noted.
But he knew there was no way he could’ve faked sex when his cock plainly didn’t want to play.
And now he was stranded on a beach with no clue as to where he was.
He texted Vince but after ten minutes and no response, he started walking. He was half tempted to call Shannon but the second the idea popped in his head he discarded it as dangerously ludicrous. Why would he call Shannon? Explaining why he was stranded on a beach in the first place wasn’t bound to make him look like the good guy that he’d ardently professed he was. And, the idea of admitting to Shannon he’d just had his tongue in someone else’s pussy made him squirm with something that felt a lot like guilt though why he didn’t know. They weren’t a couple; she had no claim on him.
Except…he wanted her.
There. He said it. He wanted her.
He wanted her so badly he could think of nothing else and he didn’t think it had anything to do with the fact that she was his baby mama.
Closure — that’s what he hadn’t gotten with her and that’s why he was obsessed.
That’s it, he realized. He just needed some kind of closure. But how was he going to manage that when there was no way he could see Shannon casually and then break it off when he bored of her company? He had his daughter to consider now. He couldn’t just use his daughter’s mama for his own pleasure and then discard her. He scrubbed his hands across his face and flagged a taxi once he hit the main highway.
So, he was right back where he started.
Fucked — and not in the feel-good way.
Fabulous.
-6-
For reasons she didn't really want to examine too closely, Shannon spent an inordinate amount of time picking the right outfit for both herself and Aubrey. What did it matter? It wasn’t as if they were interviewing for a job. But when she spent an extra moment fixing her hair and making sure her makeup was just right she resigned herself to the knowledge that she cared what Nolan thought.
Nolan arrived promptly and she was surprised to see a picnic basket in his hand. "What's that?" she asked, privately delighted that he'd been so considerate as to bring food. "You didn't have to bring a picnic."
"I know I didn't have to. I wanted to. Besides, what if we get hungry? I, for one, am a big fan of food."
"So is Aubrey. She gets very grouchy when she's hungry," Shannon admitted, flashing Nolan a small smile. "Okay, I guess we’re ready. Let's go." She leaned down to pick up Aubrey and she could tell by the look in his eye that he wanted to offer but didn't. In a way she was glad, she wasn't ready for him to hold her. Somehow, she knew if she saw Aubrey in Nolan's arms, the tears wouldn't be far behind.
When they got to her beat up sedan, Nolan did a double take and stared hard at the old car, plainly displeased with her ride. "This is what you drive?" he asked. "Is this even safe?"
"Of course it's safe it's just not pretty." She opened Aubrey's door and winced when a loud screech followed. "And it just needs a little WD-40 on the hinges." She made quick work of snapping Aubrey into her car seat and then they climbed in the car. "I had plans to buy a new car this year but something else came up," she said, thinking of the $5,000 she’d given the attorney. "But it's a good car. And besides, as long as it gets me from Point A to Point B that's all I need."
"All that's holding this car together is rust."
"Every car in the Bay Area has some kind of rust; it doesn't mean it's not a good car," Shannon insisted. "It gets good gas mileage and it's paid off, which makes it A-OK in my book."
Nolan didn't seem to appreciate her logic but remained silent. She wasn't sure if she trusted that silence. She could see the wheels turning in his mind and she didn't like the direction. "I like my car, okay? Leave it at that."