The Renegade (The Moorehouse Legacy #3)(37)

“So can making a good woman cry. Or do you get off on it? Did you feel good, making her hurt like that?”

“Just so we’re clear,” Moorehouse said evenly, “the next insult you throw’s coming back at your jaw.”

*

Cass gasped.

The sound she made brought the men’s heads around to the doorway. The effect was like a bell ringing in a boxing match. The two of them broke apart, Alex going over to the window, Sean dragging a hand through his hair and turning toward her.

“What is going on here?” she demanded.

“Just talking.” Sean smiled and sauntered over to her, not that she bought his easy stride or lazy expression for a nanosecond. “Let’s go watch the fireworks.”

She glanced across the room. Alex’s body was totally still as he stared out of the glass.

“Come on, Cass. The fireworks.”

Alex’s head dropped down.

“Leave us,” she said to Sean. When he hesitated, she looked him right in the eye. “Go. Now.”

When he’d left, she demanded, “You want to tell me what that was all about?”

“It was nothing.”

God, men. “I want you to leave Sean alone.”

Alex laughed tightly. “I think he can take care of himself. Now you better run along. He’s waiting for you.”

“What is your problem?”

There was a long silence and then he shrugged. “Do you think if I go and screw a bunch of women, I’ll feel better, too? I mean, is working out your grief through men helping you?”

Cass narrowed her eyes. That was one hell of a cheap shot, she thought. As well as dead wrong.

“This coming from you?” she bit out. When he frowned over his shoulder, she put her hands on her hips. “Does your woman know about what happened between you and me?”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Your Miracle. The woman you love.” As Alex paled, she shook her head. “What? You didn’t think I knew? I heard you talking about her. That night Gray and Joy were married when I…came back for the plate.”

Alex spun back to the window. And grabbed on to the sill as if steadying himself. “I thought that—I thought that was a dream.”

His voice cracked at the end and the achy pitch softened her temper just a little. Boy, this situation between them was just so screwed up. On both ends.

“Where is she, Alex? Why isn’t she here with you?”

He didn’t answer, just propped his head up with his hand.

“Alex, why were you with me? You love her, right?”

Silence stretched out and then in a deadened voice, he said, “I am obsessed. She is like no other woman.”

Cass’s chest went cold, but she pressed on. “So why aren’t you with your Miracle?”

“It can’t work between us.”

“She’s not in your life?”

“Not the way I wish she was. Not the way…I want her. It would be inappropriate.”

“How long have you—”

“Very long. I’ve loved her for years.”

Years? Did he say years?

“Who is she?” Cass breathed, not that she expected him to tell her. “And if you feel so strongly, why did you take me to bed that night?” She slashed a hand through the air. “Wait—actually, don’t answer that.”

She already knew the why of it. He was a healthy male. She had been naked in his bathroom and really unresisting. Do the math.

God, she had to get away from him.

“Good night, Alex.” She was almost out the door when pride made her say, “One last thing, though. I am not working out my grief through men. There is nothing going on between Sean and me.”

“Liar,” Alex said calmly.

Cass’s mouth fell open as she stared at his broad back. “How dare you.”

“I saw you in the car with him tonight. That was not friends. At least not in my book.”

If his condemnation were any louder or more clear, she thought, it would have fireworks of its own.

She threw up her hands. “Why do you care what I do? Or who I’m with? What’s it to you?”

“I want you.” The words were spoken softly. Into the window, not at her.

“I’m so sick of this—What did you say?”

He wheeled around and came at her faster than she expected, his big body moving with only a slight lurch as he used his cane. Up close, she saw that his eyes were almost all black, they had dilated so completely.

“I want you. Now.” He looked to the doorway. “I want to shut us in here and get you under my body and take you, with all the people just outside. I want to strip your clothes off and put you on that table. Or lay you out on the floor. Or push you up against this wall.”

He leaned to the side and splayed his hand out, as if testing the thing for strength.

She stared at him, stunned, until his eyes slid back to hers. Then she shook herself.

“Are you insane, Alex? As much as it kills me to point this out, you didn’t like it with me, remember? It was a disaster. You couldn’t even kiss me. You couldn’t…finish. I was so humiliated when I left. God, I felt awful.” Abruptly, a bone-deep weariness hit her, making her want to burst into tears. “Look, I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing, but I’m not up to it. Just leave me alone, okay?”