"So you won't be meeting him again?"
"I might. I might not." I hesitated, then added in a more biting tone, "Which right now is exactly what I'm thinking when it comes to seeing you again."
He chuckled softly. "As if you could give up what we share so easily. Do not fool yourself, Risa. Roughhouse or not, you enjoyed every inch of what we did here today."
"I did, but that isn't the point." I ran my fingers through my sweaty, matted hair, then added, "Just go. I don't want to see you, I don't want to smell you, and I certainly don't want to feel you. Not now, and not in the foreseeable future."
He raised an eyebrow. "And just how am I to get out, given the wards and the security system you have installed in this place?"
"Easy," I muttered. "I'll let you out."
I slipped past him and walked naked to the front door, waiting impatiently as he unhurriedly dressed and sauntered out.
He stopped in the doorway, his expression still amused. "I give this anger two nights, at the most."
"Yet another bet you'll lose," I snapped back, and slammed the door on his retreating butt.
But as I stalked back into my bathroom to see if the water had reheated enough to grab a quick shower, I had a sneaking suspicion that lasting even one day without feeling his touch was going to be a whole lot harder than I might wish.
Jak called as I was preparing my breakfast. I slid the huge pile of eggs and bacon onto the plate, then grabbed my coffee and walked over to the dining table. After pressing the vid-button, I propped the phone up against the vase of roses in the middle of the table, and sat down.
"You're just eating breakfast?" Jak said, by way of greeting as his dark features popped onto the phone's screen. "It's four in the afternoon—it's closer to dinner than breakfast."
"I worked late at the café last night." And I'd fallen back into bed after my second shower, catching another three hours of much-needed sleep.
"So why not prepare dinner?"
"Because I felt like bacon and eggs." I dove into my meal as I spoke. Jak had seen the best and worst of me during our time together, and I saw no reason for politeness now. "I gather you're not phoning to discuss my breakfast times."