with him. She hated him. She had never been with a man before, and he was hardly going to be the first one. That would be... It didn’t make any sense. Still, she didn’t want him to turn her down. But it was another blow to her already fragile self-esteem.
“I guess your sense of justice really only extends so far.”
“You don’t even want to take a building for me. I’m not going to pay you in sex. Mostly because that isn’t really what you want.”
“Oh, so now you’re an expert on what I want?” She moved past him, dodging him neatly when he attempted to reach out and grab her. “Don’t.”
“Is this the part where you tell me you’re not going to speak to me anymore? And you’re going to refuse to have anything to do with me?”
“No,” she said, the word vibrating inside of her, the denial filled with rage and conviction. “I care about Main Street, and from where I’m sitting you have way too much power. I want to make sure that whatever happens is something that helps shape the town that I love. So, I’m going to take this opportunity. But it doesn’t mean I don’t hate you.” That last part was a little bit childish, and she wished that she had been able to play it a little bit cooler. Wished that she weren’t quite so transparent.
Wished that she weren’t made entirely of wounded female ego, busted up pride and frustrated lust.
Because no matter that it was a terrible idea, no matter that she was infuriated at him, she was still trembling with desire for him. She had never felt like this before. She had never felt so desperate, so needy, after a kiss. Or, ever, really.
She was so angry at him. Angry, because he was the one to bring all of these feelings up, and it really did only seem fair that he be the one to satisfy them. Angry because she should never have been attracted to him in the first place. Angry more at herself than at him, which made her even angrier.
She continued on out of his house, stopping as soon as she got outside the front door, leaning up against it, trying to stop her hands from shaking. She should go home. She should go home with her tail between her legs and hide. Forget this ever happened. Forget that she had ever wanted any of these things, most especially with him.
But that’s what you always do. You hide when it gets hard.
He was right. That was the part that was so damned irritating. He was right about her. About the way she pushed people away, about the tools she used to do it.
But she didn’t have to. She was going to go home, but only for a few minutes. Then she was going to get dressed in something other than this. And she was going to finish what they had started upstairs. Not with him. Never with him. But she was going to stop allowing Gage West to have so much control of her life.
CHAPTER NINE
IT HAD ONLY taken a moment’s hesitation for Rebecca to leave the house wearing a short dress and a pair of knee-high leather boots. Her hair was loose and more than a little bit disheveled from spending the day partly caught up in a twist.
She didn’t often bother with makeup, but she had done her best to enhance her eyes and her lips, not bothering with the rest since, unless she was really going to use foundation like spackle, she always felt like it tended to exacerbate the appearance of her scars rather than obscure them.
It had taken another moment’s hesitation once she had gotten to Ace’s for her to get out of the car. And then, another moment’s hesitation still to go from the parking lot to inside.
Finally, she pulled the door open and walked inside, immediately enveloped by the warmth and the noise of the atmosphere. She glanced behind the counter, relieved to see that Ace wasn’t in residence. This would all be much easier without him being misguidedly paternal, or whatever his deal was.
She was also thankful to see that her friends weren’t here. Because they would likely stage an intervention, which, she maybe needed. But, she had managed to cling to her arousal and her rage the entire time she had gotten ready to go out. She’d had a whole hour to simmer down, and she hadn’t done it yet,