Page 65 of Forever Mine
Turning his head toward mine, I eased his lips open, kissing him deeply. We were breathing hard when we separated.
“You're playing with fire,” he whispered.
“And so are you,” I said, massaging his scalp.
He switched off the television and pressed a series of kisses to my mouth.
“There's some business I need to take care of back home, so I'll be gone for a little while.”
I pulled in my breath and drew back. “But today's Thursday and you're leaving ... ”
“Tomorrow.”
I sat away from him. “What length of time is a little while?”
“I'll be gone for a week.”
His words made my stomach queasy.
“Why?” I tried not to sound resentful, but failed.
“I have some things to sort out.” He reached for my hand, but I kept mine curled in a fist.
My focus went to the television, on which he’d lowered the sound. “Does this business have anything to do with Lucy?”
His 'yes' came out on a tide of air I took to be a sigh. “Among other things.”
My tone was far from civil when I spoke. “Can I ask what is so urgent?”
Squeezing my hand, he said, “You don't want to know.”
“Stop being an ass.” I poked his leg. “That’s exactly why I'm asking.”
“I prefer not to tell you.” He turned to face me. “When I come back—”
“That's not good enough.” I folded my arms, trying to work out what could be so critical that he had to leave. My stomach flip-flopped as I asked, “Are you going to do a paternity test?”
Gently, he rested his hand on top of mine. “No, I already did that.”
“Then what's so important?”
“I'm sorry if I'm frustrating you, but I prefer to deal with this on my own.”
“Go right ahead then.” I had the sensation of a knife stabbing me in the region of my heart. “I hope your business reaches a satisfactory conclusion.”
“No, you don't.” His gaze was steady and his words were soft, but they carried a sting. “You're being icy-polite and petulant, as if you have a right to act that way.”
I felt like he'd hit me, but I took a breath before asking, “What did you just say to me?”
“If I thought you were invested in us, then I'd feel the need to tell you what's going on, but as it is, I'm not comfortable sharing everything that's happening.”
Now, I wanted to blast him. “You can't be serious.”
He shrugged. “Why would I joke about something like this? I wanted a relationship. You wanted us to be sex buddies, and that's what we've been doing since you got into my bed. If something changed, you should have told me.”
I stared into his eyes, unwilling to believe the crap he was telling me. Why did he think I was playing around during the time we'd been together?
If that's what you want, it's fine with me. When I told him I wanted to keep things as they were weeks ago, that had been his response. Now he was acting as if I was the only one who'd been playing ‘let’s fall in love’ when all the while we'd both been on different pages in our story.