First Rapture (The Rapture #1)(16)

She hunched a shoulder. “You ruined what should have been a special occasion.”

He had.

There was no denying he’d botched the entire night. Starting with showing up at the trailer in the first place. He’d known she was innocent, and that she would expect more than he could offer at that time.

Still it seemed extreme to devote eight years to payback.

In fact, it seemed preposterous.

He frowned, forcing aside the fury clouding his mind.

Madison wasn’t a bunny-burner. She was intelligent, driven, and successful on a level that only a small percentage of people ever achieved.

So why be obsessed with one lousy jackass from her past?

“No.” He gave a sharp shake of his head. His disreputable past as a womanizer meant he understood human nature. Especially when it came to the fairer sex. This wasn’t adding up. “There’s more to this.”

She turned her head to glare at the far wall, a brittle tension vibrating around her. “If you insist on this pointless conversation, would you put on some clothes?”

He snorted. “Why? Does my body bother you?”

“I’m tired of seeing you naked.”

“Odd,” he purred, his gaze sliding down her slender form. The sundress had twisted around her thighs, revealing the spectacular length of her legs. Legs that had recently wrapped around his waist as he’d pounded into her. “Just a half hour ago you couldn’t wait to see me naked,” he reminded her, taking pleasure as she flinched. “And you certainly weren’t complaining about my lack of clothes when I was buried deep inside your body and you were groaning in pleasure.”

She jerked her head back to meet his mocking gaze, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment.

“No one could ever claim you aren’t a stud who knows how to use his equipment. You’ve practiced enough, after all.”

His eyes narrowed at the hostility that edged her voice. “That’s it.”

She frowned. “What?”

“That bitterness,” he said. “It’s more than a woman disappointed at having her virginity taken by an immature son of a bitch.”

Her breath caught, her gaze becoming wary. “No. You just can’t accept that for once you are the one being used and dumped.”

“I’ve been used more times than I can count,” he dryly assured her. Women weren’t the only ones who were chosen just because of their looks. “Certainly enough times to know the difference between a woman who is just looking to scratch an itch and one who is so consumed with need for me she melts at my touch.”

“Arrogant bastard,” she muttered, scrambling off the far side of the bed and heading toward the door.

Once again he moved to block her path, lightly grasping her upper arms to halt her retreat.

“Why, Maddy?”

The hazel eyes flashed with an emotion impossible to decipher. “My name is Madison.”

“You’ll always be Maddy to me.” His voice lowered, his gaze stroking over the features that were astonishingly familiar despite their eight year separation. Almost as if they’d been held as a precious treasure in his mind. “The young beauty who wore her secondhand clothes with such pride and dignity you outshone every other girl in school. The girl who was too shy to say hello, but watched me with those big, innocent eyes. The girl who should have been crushed by the crappy hand she’d been dealt, but instead had the courage to leave behind her past and create a new life.” He gave a slow shake of his head. “Only you haven’t left the past behind. Have you?”

She tried to pull out of his grasp, her eyes clouding with something that might have been panic.

“I’m leaving.”

“Tell me what’s going on, Maddy,” he commanded, his voice harsh with frustration. “There has to be more than revenge that brought you to Vegas.”

CHAPTER FOUR

Madison whirled away from her tormentor and paced toward the center of the hotel room.

Dammit. Nothing was going right.

He was supposed to be lying in the bed, too stunned by her abrupt departure to do anything but watch her walk away in silence.

And then…

Well, her imagination hadn’t gone beyond that moment, but she’d assumed that she would return to New York; a woman at last at peace with her past.

Instead, Luc refused to let her leave the room, badgering her with questions that he had no right to ask.

Spinning back around, she sent Luc a glare, doing her best to ignore the bronzed, shockingly beautiful male body.

It would have been easier if she wasn’t abruptly fantasizing about running her lips over those washboard abs and allowing her tongue to tease his c**k back to full, erect glory.

A heat bloomed between her legs, making her hands clench in frustration.

No, no, no.

Tonight was about new beginnings…not indulging her senses with Luc Angeli.

Even if her entire body ached to feel his touch.

“Why do you have to ruin this?” she growled.

He scowled, as if he didn’t know exactly what he was doing. “Ruin what?”

She pointed toward the door. “My walk-away.”

His brows arched. “Your what?”

“My walk-away.”

“Christ, Maddy.” He shoved his fingers through tousled hair, managing to look completely baffled. “What are you talking about now?”