Being Me(Inside Out 02)(52)

“Oh, I love that tank!” Ava exclaims, hopping to her feet to inspect me, her expression animated, wiped of the admiration for Chris I suspect had been there moments before. “You have to get that one.”
Somehow, I manage a stiff nod. “Yes. I like it.” My gaze flicks to Chris. “I’ll just change so we can go.” I back into the dressing room and shut the door. Flattening myself against it, I squeeze my eyes shut and will my stomach to calm, forcing my mind away from weaving what-ifs into the worst possible conclusions.
I must walk out of here with my composure intact. I yelp as the door behind me jerks and pushes me forward.
“This room is taken!”
“Sure is.” Chris pushes into the room and shuts the door.
“By us.”
“Are you crazy? This is a women’s dressing room.”
“My woman’s dressing room.” He presses me against the wall and one of his hands rests by my head, the other at my waist.
Those too-perceptive eyes of his pin me in a stare, and I can’t help being affected by both him and his claim of me being his woman.
“Talk to me,” he orders, his expression implacable.
Plain and simple, I am cornered.
Chapter Sixteen

I shove at Chris’s chest but he is a solid wall of stubborn, sexy man. “Why do you do this?” I growl, exasperated.
“Do what?”
“Push me to talk when I don’t want to talk.”
“Because I care.”
“Do you?” I challenge before I can stop myself.
“I asked you to move in with me, Sara. That should answer that question.” He slides a lock of hair behind my ear, and I barely suppress a shiver. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve thought he had too much power over me. Times like now, when I feel insecure, and— “What’s wrong?” he prods firmly.
“I can’t talk about this here. Someone might hear.”
“I sent them all away.”
I gape. “Just like that? You sent them all away.”
“Yes,” he states flatly.
Trapped. I’m not getting out of here without having this conversation. I drop my gaze, curling my hands on his chest, and damn it, it’s a stellar chest, and he smells good. I wonder if Ava knows how good.
“Sara.”
I jerk my gaze back to his and blurt, “I wish you would’ve told me Ava was a member of Mark’s club. It was awkward hearing it from her.”
“I would have if I’d known.”
“You didn’t know?”
“I never say anything I don’t mean.”
He’s right; he doesn’t. I like that about him, and I especially like it when I want answers. “She knew that you’re a member.”
His brows dip. “What? That makes no sense. The membership is guarded and I stayed out of the public forums.”
I shake my head, confused and not at all comforted by his answer. “Then how would she know?”
“Good question, and one I want answered. Members who want privacy pay well to receive it.”
“She wasn’t one of the women you—”
“Absolutely not. I chose from the club files and with great caution.”
Is this what I’ve sensed in Ava? What is bothering me? “You wore masks, right? Couldn’t she—”
“Sara. I wasn’t with Ava.”
“So you knew the names of the women you chose?” His jaw flexes and I read my answer on his face. My stomach takes another roller-coaster ride all on its own. “You might have—”
“No.” The word is firm, absolute. “I told you. I wasn’t with Ava.”
I reach out and trace his brightly colored tats. “Your ink is hard to miss or forget.”
He wraps my hand in his and pins me in a look. “I’d know, Sara. I’d sense it when I’m around her.”
My chest tightens, another part of my conversation with Ava bothering me now. “When I said I wasn’t a member of the club and didn’t want to be, she implied you gave it up for me.”
“And you’re already worried I’m going to need that world again. I won’t, Sara. I don’t. And I’d like to know what her agenda was, to make you think that.”
“I don’t think it was an agenda. I think she thought it showed you care about me, that you would leave it for me. She had no idea that was a hot spot for me. I overreacted. I’m sorry.”
“I’d rather you overreact than not tell me, Sara.” Chris curves his hand over the swell of my backside and molds me close.
“You’re the hot spot for me.” Dipping low, he nuzzles my neck, his warm breath fanning my neck. “You know that, right?”