“Take your hands off me, Prentice Cameron!”
Damn, but she looked f**king gorgeous when she was angry.
He didn’t do as she asked.
He shuffled her back toward the open doors. Sliding an arm tight around her waist, he held her front against his side as he reached out, grabbed one door then the other and pulled them to.
Then he pinned her in front of him against the doors.
She was breathing heavily, her br**sts pressing against his chest with each breath.
Through gritted teeth, he said, “Now, if you’ll give me a f**king second before you run away, again, I’ll apologize for being a thoughtless bastard.”
“Fine. Apology accepted. Now step away,” she snapped, giving him a push with her hands at his waist.
He resisted the push by leaning further into her which pressed them together from h*ps to chests.
Her hands stilled and she tilted her head back further to look at him. He could see from the healthy pink in her cheeks that he had her attention.
“No,” he belatedly replied to her demand. “Now, you’ll explain how I deal with seeing my children and myself in those magazines when we’re with you.”
“You won’t,” she returned, her voice still hostile but now also breathy.
“You can promise that?”
“Yes, I can since you won’t be with me.”
Her words felt like a knife twisting in his gut.
She continued before he could react to that as well. “They’ll probably bother you for awhile after I’m gone. Then they’ll lose interest. You just have to learn to ignore it. It gets worse if you react. Trust me.”
He wasn’t listening. His mind was stuck on her telling him he wouldn’t be with her.
And stuck on her telling him she’d be gone.
“You’re leaving?” he asked.
“Of course,” she said shortly, her tone still that mixture of antagonistic and out of breath.
“When?”
“In a few days.”
“Why?”
Her lips parted and Prentice’s gaze riveted on them.
Therefore he watched them form the words, “Prentice step back.”
His eyes went back to hers. “Elle, answer me.”
She seemed puzzled for a moment then shook her head as if to clear it.
“Because…” She stopped and her gaze slid to the side.
He pushed closer. Her gaze snapped back.
“Sally’s fine,” she answered. “She’s going to be okay. And this isn’t my home, this isn’t my life. I have a home and a life in Chicago. I need to get back.”