In Rides Trouble (Black Knights Inc. #2)(67)
Of course, it took two to tango, as they say, so she wasn’t the only guilty party, but what red-blooded male could resist the woman he’d freely admitted to fantasizing about for over three years when she shucked her drawers and spread her legs in invitation?
None that she could name.
So, yep, he’d surrendered, but with the light of day and the reality of what’d they’d done sinking in, it was obvious one night of passion with her didn’t change the fact that he had no plans to make her a regular in his heart, mind, or bed. She was the one who’d asked for just sex, and that’s precisely what he’d given her. The best sex of her life.
But that was it. End of story.
The two of them weren’t going to ride off into the sunset together. She was obviously not going to replace the original Chesty, and the fact that she’d even considered that a possibility was so absurd it was almost laughable.
She would’ve laughed too, had herself a real knee-slapper, had her heart not been breaking into a thousand little pieces.
“Hey.” His voice was as gentle and warm as the hand he laid on her shoulder after she shimmied into a pair of jeans. “Are you okay?”
No, I’m not okay. I talked big about sex just for the sake of sex, but that’s all it was. Talk.
“Yeah.” She grabbed an AC/DC T-shirt out of her top drawer and pulled it over her head because firstly, she no longer felt comfortable being naked around him—and, okay, after what they’d done to each other it was a classic case of closing-the-barn-door-after-the-cows-escaped, but she couldn’t help it—and secondly, because pulling the shirt over her head allowed her to avoid his gaze. “I’m great. How are you?”
“Becky…honey…” He softly forced her around by the shoulder, grabbing her chin between his thumb and forefinger, making her look at him.
Don’t cry, you stupid, stupid woman. If you cry, he’ll know all that talk about sex for the sake of sex was nothing but a boatload of bullshit.
“I wish things were different.” He shook his head, the look on his face enough to pulverize her already wounded heart into a fine powder. “I wish…”
He didn’t finish, just sighed regretfully.
“It’s all right, Frank,” she told him, using the excuse of locating her boots to slip away from him.
Of course, it was anything but all right.
“But I want you to know that I—”
“It was sex for the sake of sex, Frank. Isn’t that what we agreed on? And it was great, way better than anything I ever imagined, but you don’t need to explain anything.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. I want you to know how—”
“Hey, if you don’t mind,” she quickly interrupted him, because she sure as hell didn’t want to hear the words about to come out of his mouth. Her pride could only take so much, “I’d like to leave for the hospital a little early to stop by Starbucks. That waiting room coffee is worse than the sludge we brew around here and—”
“I don’t want you to go to the hospital. You can come, uh, after…” Some strange emotion flashed across his face, and his deep voice broke before he continued, “but not before.”
Her stomach tied itself in knots, and she wondered just how stupid a woman could be.
She briefly closed her eyes as she pushed her feet into her boots, swallowing the hot ball of misery clogging her throat before gathering all her strength to glance up at him and smile. “Okay, then. I guess I’ll just wish you good luck.”
“Becky, I—” His voice sounded miserable.
“You better get back to your room if you want to catch a shower and change before you have to leave,” she interjected before she stood and marched to her bedroom door, ignoring the sight of her rumpled bed and the memories that came with it.
She unlocked the door and held it wide.
He wasn’t a dummy. He knew a get-the-hell-out when he saw one. Still, before he stepped into the hall, he stopped beside her. Scanning her face, his lopsided smile was a parody of its usual self. When he brushed one finger down her cheek, to her horror, hot tears climbed up the back of her throat, and these weren’t the kind she was going to be able to stop.
He needed to leave. Now.
“I’ll see you in recovery,” she told him, closing her eyes when he bent to place a soft kiss on the corner of her mouth.
“You’re one of the most wonderful women I’ve ever met, Rebecca Reichert,” he grumbled hoarsely. “No matter what happens, I want you to remember that.”
She threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tight, allowing herself one last moment of holding him and pretending he was hers to keep forever.
***
“Hi, I’m Michelle or Shell if you prefer. Frank’s sister. He’s told me so much about you all,” the tall, chestnut-haired woman said as she shook hands with Dan Man.
Bill choked on the swig of Pepto he’d just taken.
Boss has a sister? He couldn’t believe it. He’d known the guy for over three years and never had he heard anything about a sister…
“Well now, he hasn’t told us a thing about you, sweetheart,” Ozzie drawled, wiggling his eyebrows and resembling—with his all-American good looks, mad scientist hair, and Star Trek T-shirt—some strange combination of Casanova and your typical audio/visual class president. Standing and vigorously pumping Michelle’s extended hand, Ozzie leaned in to whisper in mock conspiracy, “And now I know why. He knows us well enough not to dangle a treat such as yourself under our noses.”