down my cheek before I could stop it, and I hated myself for the weakness. Jamie’s eyes followed the tear as if he were entranced. “Why is the woman always the one who’s faithful with her body, but the guy never is?”
Anger flashed over his face. “We weren’t together. That was your doing. And I didn’t cheat.”
My doing?
Ugh, typical man, twisting history to suit himself and his agenda! I scoffed. “Yeah, right. But you moved on. And I couldn’t. So, I guess that means you win.”
He shook his head, taking another step toward me, and I held my hand up against him. He stopped, frustration mottling his cheeks. “I don’t get it. I don’t get this.” He gestured between us.
I didn’t get it either.
What I did know was that I was seconds from falling apart, and he was the last person I wanted to witness it.
“I asked you to leave. If you don’t, I’m going to start screaming bloody murder.”
Seeing the resolve on my face, Jamie cut me a dark look. “This discussion isn’t over.”
Fury still boiled inside me as he walked out of the bathroom, heading toward the front of the apartment. It’s what propelled me out into the hall to call after him just as he reached the door.
He glanced over his shoulder. “Yeah?”
“Was it good?”
Confusion, wariness, and desire mingled in his expression. Then longing and weariness and something I couldn’t quite decipher replaced it all. “It’s fucking paradise with you,” he said, his voice gruff. “Even though I wish it wasn’t. I wish it were that with anyone but you.”
My lips trembled as I tried to smile like I didn’t care. Like his words didn’t kill me. “Yeah, well, it’s never happening again so you needn’t flagellate yourself.”
Jamie gave a bark of dark laughter as he pulled open the apartment door. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
I flinched when the door slammed behind him.
As I returned to the bedroom, tears slipping down my cheeks, I knew I should jump in the shower and wash the smell of him off me.
Instead, I curled on the bed, on top of the duvet, and closed my eyes, remembering the overwhelming feel of him pushing inside me. The pleasure burn that soon turned to rapture. Jamie’s ocean eyes blazing with lust.
I grieved for the love in his eyes when he looked at me.
But it was with a dark smile of satisfaction that I finally drifted to sleep.
If tonight had proven anything, it was that I was still under his skin, just as much as he was under mine.
And I kind of liked being there.
Twisted little Jane Doe.
Guess Jamie’s heart wasn’t the only one all tangled up.
Filming was only halfway done with Patel Smith’s musical, and he’d decided to make a big change to one of the sets. Which meant I’d barely had an hour’s sleep after Jamie left when I got the call from Sandy that I was needed in the studio. By some miracle we’d managed to pull the changes together in time for filming later that day.
I was just breathing a sigh of relief as Patel gave the changes his approval when my phone vibrated in my back pocket. Since Patel was deep in conversation with Sandy, I stepped away from the set, thinking it was probably Asher texting me. He’d already called that morning to see how I was feeling.
The urge to tell him everything was growing stronger. I needed to be there for my friend, and I couldn’t because of the lies between us.
To protect Jamie, I’d kept my mouth shut and stewed in my crappy friend guilt.
The text wasn’t from Asher.
Jane, it’s Lincoln. I had a great time meeting you last night. Would you still like to go to dinner with me?
Work had done little to get my mind off the nightclub or the events with Jamie after it.
The events.
I laughed at myself.
The screwing.
The screwing with Jamie.
Skin flushing, I pushed away those unhelpful images and texted Lincoln back that I would love to. We arranged to meet for dinner at an Italian place I liked downtown the following Thursday, his one of two nights off. At this rate, it would take months to infiltrate his friendship with Ethan Wright and use it to get what we needed.
On that thought, I realized I hadn’t even asked Jamie what happened when he followed Wright after he’d left the club.
My hands shook as I shot Jamie a text to update him about Gaines.