Stealing Home(53)

He’d waited six hours. I didn’t know why, but at the same time I felt myself harden with guilt, I softened with affection. Both were erased by the anger that surged to the surface when I realized I was letting emotions cloud my judgment where Luke Archer was concerned.

“Six hours isn’t all day. Try not to make a habit of lying—you might get caught in one someday.”

“You’re pissed at me. At least I know that now.” He motioned at me, his voice annoyingly calm. “What would be really helpful to know is why you’re pissed at me?”

My teeth sank into my tongue to keep from lashing out my answer. The honest one. “I’m not pissed at you, Luke. I’m just over you.”

He made a face. “What does that mean?”

“This. Us.” I waved my finger between him and me. “I’m done. I’m out. Over it.”

He was about to snap something back when he caught himself. Scrubbing his face, he took a few breaths before opening his mouth. “And you decided this when?”

My shoulder lifted. “A little while ago.”

“You said yes to wearing my letterman jacket three nights ago, Allie. What in the hell’s changed since then?”

Besides finding out why I’m really here? “Oh, please, Luke. You and I both knew this wouldn’t go anywhere. It was fun, but it’s time to move on.”

“‘It was fun’? Is that really all you saw us as? Is that really all you wanted?”

“What did you want? You were the one trying to get me into bed two sentences after introducing yourself to me. What did you really want if it wasn’t a lot of no-commitment-required f*cking?”

My words hit him like a shove. Backing into the door, his body hit it with a heavy thud. “Is that what you really think? That all I wanted was a few good f*cks out of you?” He waited for my answer but kept going when I didn’t give him one. I didn’t feel the need to provide a verbal confirmation. “Maybe I shouldn’t have come on so strong, maybe I shouldn’t have fallen into bed with you so quickly.” When I exhaled sharply, he kicked his heel against the door. “Okay, I know now I shouldn’t have, but I pursued you not because I wanted to get between your legs but because I was hoping to work my way, eventually, into your heart.”

I didn’t know I’d grabbed one of the folded towels on the counter beside me before it was flying at his face.

“What the hell, Allie?” Archer ducked the first one, but he didn’t move when I threw the next few. He let them hit him, one right after the next, until I’d gone through the whole pile.

I didn’t feel any better after. That he could stand there and say those things and seem so sincere and be so full of shit wasn’t fair.

“Just give it up, Archer. It’s fine. We’re both adults. Consenting ones.” I hoped the tremor in my voice was only noticeable to me. “But it’s run its course.”

“Why are you saying this?”

“Because it’s the truth. You can call it what you want, but our relationship was based on sex. You don’t need to apologize. It was great; I just need to move on now.”

His shoulders tensed. “It was not based on sex.”

“It was. It was about two reproductive organs that really liked each other. Don’t make it something it wasn’t.”

The emotion he’d managed to hold back was pouring out of him now, filling the room. “Isn’t,” he snarled. “Stop talking about us like we’re in the past.”

My throat burned, but I kept saying what I needed to. “That’s what history is, Luke. The past.”

His arms wound around the back of his head as he shoved off from the door. He looked lost, the way a person might when they woke up from a coma. “Please tell me what’s wrong.”

“Nothing’s wrong.” I chewed on my cheek. “There’s nothing to fix or explain or apologize for. I enjoyed my time with you, but it’s over.”

His eyes narrowed on me. “Oh, please. You are no more the person who looks for no-strings relationships than I am.”

I bit back the bullshit that found its way to my lips and reminded myself to stay cool. To play it off like emotions hadn’t been involved. “You barely know me. How can you say that?”

“I know plenty.”

Yeah, you knew all you needed to know to meet your needs. “Well, if you did, you’d know I was just like every other woman who couldn’t pass up the opportunity to be bedded by Luke Archer.” I smiled sweetly at him while bitterness churned in my stomach. “I mean, come on, who wouldn’t want to brag to their friends about scoring with the Homerun King?”

Hurt spread across his face, settling into his eyes. Just when I thought he was going to turn around and leave, he powered across the room toward me. He backed me into the wall, but not by touching me. The look on his face was enough to move me until I could go no farther. He lowered his head until he was at my eye level. Then he waited for my eyes to meet his.

“It’s going to take a hell of a lot more than that to push me away,” he said, leaning in so close I could feel the warmth of his breath. “A hell of a lot more.”

He gave that a moment to set in before he stormed for the door. With his hand on the handle, he paused. “Oh, and by the way, my leg’s doing great. You know, in case my athletic trainer was concerned.”