“Which she wouldn’t do if she wasn’t mad. And she wouldn’t be mad if she didn’t care.”
So he had hurt her. Which wasn’t good. “So now she’s made her point, she’ll be over it?” An eye for an eye.
Britt chuckled. “Oh, I doubt it. Vic can stay angry longer than any woman I’ve known. And you’ve been instructed to leave.”
He squeezed the extra water from the cloth and wiped his belly with it. “Does everybody follow her orders?”
“Mostly.”
He rested his hands on the counter and looked into the mirror at their reflection. Do you? He wanted to ask. Most of the time, Vic and Britt seemed to be in agreement. But he sensed Britt had it in him to take charge when something mattered enough.
This mattered enough to him. And in his gut he knew, if he left tonight, it’d be for the last time.
Vic’s shower had shut off.
He dried his hands, then turned to Britt. “Wish me luck. I’m goin’ in.”
Chapter 28
Victoria sniffled and hung her wet towel on the rack, then let her hair loose from its bun. Too bad she hadn’t brought that glass of wine in with her–she could definitely use some.
Well, that was over. She sniffled again. Maybe she’d see if Britt wanted to go downstairs and work out. A good session with weights would wear her down so she could sleep better tonight. She’d grab some workout clothes from the closet. “Hey, Britt!” She opened the bathroom door and stepped out into–
David.
David, still naked, and still gorgeous as ever. Damn.
“Please tell me you’re not crying, because Britt told me if I made you cry again, he’d–”
“I thought you were leaving.”
He lifted his chin and his nostrils flared. Cute. And he didn’t even take a step back. Props.
His blue eyes leveled on her. “I came here to talk to you, not to have fun.”
He wasn’t leaving. She needed clothes. But in order to get her robe, she’d have to retreat into the bathroom. Or get past him into the bedroom closet, and he blocked the doorway quite well with that big muscley body. She’d have to tough it out. Give him the ice treatment until that cocky attitude fizzled away, until that cock of his shrunk down from the chill. Until he left again.
She turned to her drawer and searched out her facial moisturizer.
How could he even still be here? She hadn’t let him in their bed, she’d refused to kiss him–well, mostly–she’d excluded him enough so he could get off, but understand he was on his own…and she’d made a point of telling Britt she loved him. But still he was here. Shaking him might be a little harder than she’d planned.
She’d start by moisturizing. Maybe the silent treatment would run him off.
Where the hell was Britt, anyway? Couldn’t he have sent David packing? She was obviously on her own.
David fidgeted, crossed his arms over his substantial chest. “Baby, I’m really sorry.”
Why did her heart clench like that when he called her baby?
“I wish I could go take back all the things I said yesterday.” The silent treatment wasn’t all that effective when the recipient made use of the airtime to campaign. “But I can’t. All I can do is apologize.”
“No, you were right.” She set down her bottle and faced him. “You named some really good reasons for calling it quits.”
He nodded, and stepped closer. “They are good reasons. They’re just not as important as I thought.”
God, if he got any closer, he’d be touching her. “So you changed your mind.” This wasn’t working. It was too hard to tune him out, all naked and close like that. She turned her back to him and dug through Britt’s drawer. For something, anything… “Who’s to say you won’t change it back again in a day or two?”
And then he was there against her back, warm and hard with his arms around her breasts, holding her tight. She told herself to pry his arms away, but her body melted against his. He shuddered against her. “I can’t promise forever.” His voice broke. “All I know is, this is what I want, to be with you, and Britt. Whatever that says about me, whatever it makes other people say about me, I’ll live with it.”
“And if it ends up public knowledge?”
“Nobody knows it for sure but us, right? Anything else is just rumors, people we don’t even know coming up with wild stories about us. And they’re gonna do that no matter what.” He twined a chunk of her hair around his fingers, tickling her breast.
Britt was standing right outside the bathroom door; she could hear him breathing there.