A Sweet Mess - Jayci Lee Page 0,66

pretend you don’t feel this. We can’t fight it. I’m sick of fighting it.”

“Nothing has changed. If anyone finds out we’ve slept together, all the time and money I invested to expand Comfort Zone could be lost. Even my appearance on Aria’s show could backfire on us.” Her voice was thin and hesitant. “I won’t be that person who’d do anything to get ahead, and you can’t be the man who could be bought.”

But she was wrong. Everything had changed.

Aubrey hurried inside the house, buried under the white towel, and he watched her disappear up the stairs. Landon didn’t know how long he stood at the foot of the staircase. He forced his steps to lead him to his room, and then he changed into his running clothes.

Landon sprinted on the dirt trails circling the property until he tasted blood in his throat. Then he ran some more. His lungs burned, and his muscles screamed, but he couldn’t erase the memory of Aubrey in the pool, wet and naked. She took his breath away. He ached for her. But the fear and vulnerability in her eyes haunted his mind even after his body cooled.

When she’d sneaked away from his hotel without a word it had stung his pride. He’d laughed at himself for feeling used and discarded. It had hardly been his first one-night stand. Still, he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her. Wanting her.

He had to face the fact that making love to Aubrey had marked his soul. Burying himself deep inside her had satisfied a hunger he hadn’t known was there, but it made him starved for more. He’d been a coward to leave Weldon without finding her. He’d denied the unsettling emotions she’d awakened in him because it was easier that way.

Well, easier could go to hell. He no longer cared that a relationship with Aubrey would complicate his life. The wild need inside him demanded to be fulfilled. If he didn’t heed the deafening call to make love to her, he would burn to cinders.

Landon had to discover the source of her fear and assuage it with everything in him. Aubrey was a warm, sensual woman, so full of life. A woman like her shouldn’t be locked behind a defensive wall.

But until she was ready, he had to respect her wishes and give her the space she asked for.

15

The next morning, Aubrey couldn’t bear being alone with her thoughts, so she decided to take a stroll. Downtown Bosque Verde was charming and small enough to navigate on foot. The locals busily traversed the tidy streets, greeting one another as they passed, and the cluster of tiny shops beckoned with their warmth and charm.

But she didn’t see any of it. Not really.

Why? Landon had asked.

She might be a coward, but she was an honest one, and it was time to start facing some facts. Yeah. Why, Aubrey?

When her cell phone rang, relief flooded her at the reprieve, but then she saw who it was and her gut twisted with familiar anxiety. Her father rarely called, but when he did, he expected her to answer on the first ring. She let it ring five more times. If she sent him straight to voice mail, he’d probably have his secretary call her every five minutes until she picked up. Aubrey stared at her cell and considered smashing it against the sidewalk, but she couldn’t afford a new phone.

Grrr. Let’s get this over with.

“Yes.”

“Too busy to talk to your old man?” His voice was smooth and silky as a snake, and an involuntary shiver shook her.

“Say what you have to say. I’m not in the mood for chitchatting.”

“I see your manners haven’t improved. I can’t say I’m surprised.” He sighed impatiently like he’d grown tired of the niceties. “You’re coming home.”

“Oh, I’m going home—to Weldon—but not for another week.”

“Stop being a child. I’ve been more than patient in allowing you to play Little Miss Baker for the last few years. It’s time you grew up and accepted your responsibilities.”

“My responsibilities?” Aubrey’s fingers tightened around her phone, and she forced herself to breathe through her nose. “You want to marry me off to clinch a business deal? You always said that was a daughter’s duty to her family.”

“You flatter yourself. You think all it takes is a pretty face and a high school diploma to marry well?” he said. She’d applied for every college he’d chosen for her and had been accepted into all of them. Then she’d refused