a finger. She finished chewing and set her sandwich down. After she took a drink of water, she began. “That’s an interesting story. Kinda long and winding.”
“Start wherever you want.” I took a bite of my own sandwich. Not too bad.
“Well, Talia and I were in a girl’s school upstate. She was a couple years ahead of me, but we became best friends when some of the other girls were bullying her.” A smile curled her lips. “I was so pissed at those girls. High society princesses who thought they were special because their parents had too much money and not enough boundaries.”
I took another bite of my sandwich. “What happened? Did you kick their asses?”
She chuckled. “No. That would have gotten me in huge trouble. Not only with the headmistress but with my parents as well. No. Tali and I…we got even.” Her sage green eyes lit from within as an evil grin pulled at her mouth.
My dick twitched. Damn, she was sexy in her vengeance.
“How?”
She cocked one brow high. “Ever heard of gaslighting?”
I almost choked. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, before it was actually called gaslighting. I got a group of girls together, other victims of this particular girl and her friends. We made their lives hell and they couldn’t figure out how or why.” She took another bite of her sandwich.
“What happened to them?”
“All but two of them transferred overseas to a school in Switzerland.” She toasted me with her water glass. “Tali and I have been together ever since.”
I raised my glass to her. “Sneaky, manipulative, and sexy with it. And yet you bake for a living because people need extra joy in their lives. Where’s the disconnect in your path?”
Her smile faded. “Growth, life experience, and the knowledge that I’m not nearly as important as I thought I was.” She took another bite of her sandwich, looked away as she chewed in silence.
Well, shit. That turned dark fast. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply anything or take you down a dark path.”
She shook her head, didn’t look at me. “Everyone’s got baggage.” With what had to be a herculean effort, she pulled herself back to the present. “What about you? Any soul-crushing memories you’d like to share?” She sent me a teasing smile.
I chuckled. “Fresh out of those today.”
The twitch of her shoulders told me I’d said the wrong thing. She pulled back even though she didn’t leave the couch. Shut down any kind of rapport we’d been building.
Fuck. Something about this woman threw me off my game. I could read a room of business executives blindfolded, but this woman spun me around so much I couldn’t see with the lights on and my eyes open. I needed her to open up to me. I needed to know how to infiltrate her defenses in the fastest way possible.
We finished eating in silence. And it wasn’t comfortable at all. Not this time.
She wiped her mouth when she was done, set her paper napkin on her plate. Finished her glass of water before turning to look at me. “You made dinner, so I guess I’ll tell you what I said I would. You don’t have to worry about helping my legs. I think I’ll just go back to bed anyway. Get more sleep.”
I opened my mouth. She was throwing me out? Seriously?
Her eyes closed, she took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes again, her eyes were hard. Her walls insurmountable. “My ex-husband used to drug me. A lot. That’s how he took away my ability to speak whatever I was thinking.” She stretched her mouth into some kind of smile, but it wasn’t happy. Nor was it sad. But it demanded I not pity her.
She grabbed her plate, leaned over to put it on the coffee table. She let the ice packs fall to the floor. “You know where the door is.” She pulled the blanket off the back of the couch and settled it over her, closed her eyes as she turned into the back of the sofa.
I reached out a hand.
“Don’t. Don’t touch me. Just leave.” She hadn’t even opened her eyes.
I pulled my hand back before I set my plate on the coffee table next to hers. What the fuck was I doing? Trying to comfort her? I didn’t care about this woman other than getting her under me. That obviously wasn’t happening tonight, so I might as well leave.
I rose to my feet as a dark churning ball of…something…filled my belly. I grabbed my