Page 26 of Temptress
He put even more distance between us, raking a hand through his short hair. “Look, if I gave you the wrong impression—”
“Wait.” I squeezed my eyes closed, holding up my hands as I gave my head a vicious shake before I could manage to look at him again. “Are you kidding me right now? If you gave methe wrong impression? Silas, you were already leaning in to kiss me before I said a word. I was just following your lead.”
With his hands braced on his hips, he leveled me with a look and said, “And that was a mistake. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”
My chin jerked back. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been this embarrassed. This was even worse than when I’d gotten my first period in middle school and bled through my pants in the middle of the cafeteria at lunch time. “Wow. Okay.” I set myself in motion, gathering up all my stuff so I could get the hell out of there. “Sorry for reading the situation wrong,” I mumbled, keeping my eyes downcast and on the task at hand. I couldn’t bring myself to look at him because I didn’t want him to see how badly he’d managed to hurt me. He didn’t have the right to see that.
“I won’t make that mistake a second time, trust me.” I started for the door, coming to a stop when he said my name, but refusing to look backward.
“Look, it’s not you, all right? It’s just... I’m not in a place in my life right now where I’m looking for any type of relationship, okay?”
I knew he was meaning that to soften the blow of him shooting me down, but it only made things worse. “Do me a favor and tell Darcy I had a lot of fun, would you? And enjoy the cookies.”
And with that, I made my escape.
* * *
I’d never really considered myself a prideful person, but that last scene between Silas and me had been so humiliating, I hadn’t breathed a word about it to anyone, not even Asher.
I wasn’t so egotistical that I thought I was every man on the planet’s type, but I at least thought I was good enough at reading when a man was into me. Knowing I’d been so off the mark was a kill shot to my confidence.
Hard as I tried, I hadn’t been able to shake the self-consciousness caused by that last encounter. It hadn’t helped that the very next day was when I had to deliver my mom’s weekly groceries and clean the mess she’d managed to make in the week since my last visit. It never failed to amaze me how much damage she could do in such a short amount of time. It was like she was a teenage boy with no clue instead of a middle-aged woman with a disability.
After being rejected by Silas, her cruel words and reminders that no man would ever want me for more than the few hours it took to woo me into bed sneaked their way deeper beneath my skin and really grew roots this time. She couldn’t have possibly known what had happened between Silas and me, yet she still managed to land a direct hit. That visit had put me into a funk I hadn’t been able to pull myself out of in two days, and it was really starting to piss me off. I was a positive person, damn it! I was nice. Moping around was so out of character.
Fortunately, this evening was my weekly Martini Night with Lucille, and if anyone could pull me out of the dumps, it was her.
In an effort to brighten my mood, I’d spent more time dolling myself up than I usually would for a visit to Lucille’s, but doing my hair and makeup always managed to lift my spirits, and I needed all the help I could get.
I gave my hair one last fluff and rubbed my glossy lips together before grabbing my purse and keys and heading out the front door. And because I’d apparently done something to piss karma off lately, I happened to exit my housejustas Silas was pulling into his driveway.
As much as I would have loved to avoid the man all together, he lived in the house beside mineandworked at the same club, so it was damn near impossible. However, that didn’t mean I had to initiate conversation. We weren’t friends. We weren’tanything. He’d made that abundantly clear, so the few times I’d seen him in passing after leaving the rehearsal studio, I’d offered a wan smile and kept right on going.
I would have done the same thing, but as I got my car door opened and was preparing to climb in, the passenger side of Silas’s SUV flung open and Darcy darted out, calling my name.
I managed to muster up a smile that wasn’t stiff and waved. “Hey sweetheart,” I greeted as she came running in my direction, dressed in a pair of short athletic shorts and a white tank-top.
“Guess what, guess what, guess what!” she enthused, coming to a stop and dancing in place right in front of me.
I let out a laugh at her exuberance, her cheerful mood infectious. It was a pleasant change from the past couple days, that was for sure. “I don’t know. What?”
She let out a high-pitched squeal that had to have hurt her throat before blurting, “I made the cheerleading squad!”
My mouth dropped open and my eyes went wide. My mood had been so sour the past two days that I’d managed to forget all about Darcy’s cheer tryouts.
“Shut up!” I exclaimed, clasping my hands together beneath my chin. “Are you serious? Darce, honey, that’s amazing!”
We clung to each other and jumped in circles at the wonderful news. “I’m so proud of you sweetheart! I knew you could do this, even though you were so nervous to do it by yourself.”
She pulled back, her cheeks-stained pink, her smile bright enough to light up the whole street if there happened to be a power outage. “I still can’t believe it. I wouldn’t have had the guts to do it if you hadn’t talked me into it. So this is kind of all because of you.”
Man, but I adored this girl. It was impossible not to. “No, don’t give me the credit for something you earned. This was you and your hard work, and I couldn’t be happier.”
“Dad said we could order takeout from wherever I wanted to celebrate. Will you come have dinner with us? Please?”
My smile fell just a bit as my eyes trailed over her shoulder to the man still standing at the SUV. He wore those same sunglasses I’d seen on him that very first day. I couldn’t see his eyes, but I didn’t need to to know he was watching me. I could feel his gaze on my skin.
It was hard to tell Darcy no, especially when it was a request as simple as sharing a meal with her, something I would have loved to do under any other circumstance, but there was no way I could handle being in the same room with Silas after what happened the last time we spoke.