“B-BRAD?” Tara’s heart dropped to her knees. She had trouble drawing in a breath. “What are you doing here?”
He crossed his arms over his chest, anger radiating from his nearly black eyes, glittering with betrayal. “After the marks I saw on your body last night and our argument, I came to find out what’s going on.”
Tara swallowed. How much of this morning’s session with Logan had he seen? “You shouldn’t be here.”
“Neither should you.” Brad stepped into the room on heavy footsteps. “Why didn’t you tell me that your first lover was working you over—excuse me, working with you on this case? Did that fact slip your mind, dear?”
Crap. She’d stepped deep in it now, and had no one to blame but herself. “No. I was reassigned to Logan yesterday. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to overreact.”
“Or you didn’t want me wondering if you were having feelings for him again.”
Okay, that, too. Brad’s sarcasm made his fury painfully obvious. Maybe she should have handled things differently, but it was too late now. Clearly, Logan was always going to elicit some response in her. It was like her body was hardwired to his, and she’d been naïve to hope otherwise.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured.
“You’re damn right, you should be sorry! You took off every stitch of clothing and let him put his f**king tongue all over you. And you came for him like a bitch in heat. You begged for him. I have always treated you like a lady, been gentle and deferential. And this is how you screw me over?”
Tara felt two inches tall—and wished she could disappear altogether. “It—I didn’t arrange to have Logan as my trainer. That decision rests with my superior and the club owner. You know Darcy is in imminent danger. What kind of friend, what kind of FBI agent, would I be if I held up this case for my personal—”
“Our wedding is in eight weeks. Our invitations arrived yesterday afternoon. Now, I’m standing here wondering if I know you at all. I’ve always thought you were honest and forthright. That you’d never cheat because this bastard”—he pointed to Logan angrily—“taught you how much it hurts.”
Brad was right. The fact that he was a lawyer, capable of tossing together great arguments on the fly, didn’t help, either. Worse, she couldn’t say that she hadn’t cheated. She may not have had sex with Logan, but if he’d dropped his leather pants and crawled between her thighs ten minutes ago, would she have found the strength to stop him?
Tara feared she knew the answer.
“You’re right.” She shook her head, not knowing what else to say. “About everything.”
“Call Bocelli and tell him you need to be reassigned.”
“I did. Yesterday afternoon.”
“Damn it, Cherry,” Logan cursed softly.
Tara glanced his way. Hurt flashed across his face. And somehow, his pain hurt her.
Why? She didn’t owe him anything, except hard work on this case. But engaging in a bit of the power exchange today had reforged the connection she’d once felt with Logan. It was back—but stronger.
Damn. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt Brad. If she’d seen him having o**l s*x with another woman, even for the sake of his job, she’d feel betrayed, too.
Pressing her lips together, she turned back to her fiancé. “Bocelli refused me. The club’s owner insists that Logan will get the job done, and my boss is sticking by that. Logan has a lot of valuable experience in this environment. I know what you’re thinking, but this is my job. I have to see this through. And quite frankly, I understand where they’re coming from. Look, Brad, I know this seems weird to you, but I’m about to go into a different world. These people are criminals and don’t play by the rules. If I’m going to do this job right, I have to fit into their world and that includes accepting certain things I might not like.”
Brad paced. “So I’m supposed to watch you walk out the door every morning, knowing that you’re strutting around naked for him, letting him touch you so he can dig his way back into your heart? He’s been a ghost between us since day one, Tara.”
She wished she could refute Brad.
He lifted her chin and forced her stare to lock with his. “What else don’t I know? Have you f**ked him again?”
“No. Brad, don’t do this . . .”
“What, seek the truth? I shouldn’t point out that, in the three years we’ve been together, I’ve never heard you scream during sex. Hell, I’d wondered if you even liked it, but that was okay because I love you and wanted to be with you, regardless. I guess I should be wondering now about your feelings for me.”
Tara was questioning them herself. But aside from her stepfather, Adam, Brad had been the most stable force in her life. “I would never have agreed to marry you if I didn’t care.”
“Are you going to try to tell me that nothing has changed for you?” he challenged.
Tara hesitated. No. Everything had changed. She closed her eyes. How had that happened? When? Did she even want to know why?
It sucked caring about two men who were so damn different. They were like comparing a sunny morning to a midnight storm. Brad usually brought his kindness, his well-developed sense of justice to everything he did. Logan charged in with a bang—all testosterone and demand with a little mischief thrown in—then wrought difficulty and destruction before disappearing like a wraith.