walk out the door. Leave her alone to patch up the new wounds he’d caused. She deserved so much better than anything he could offer. So why the hell was he walking toward her, instead of away?
“Savannah,” he whispered as he reached out for her. “I don’t want to leave you. You know that. Right?”
“Just go, Zach. This was a mistake. If that phone call hadn’t come, I would have eventually realized it. We can’t go back to the way it was. There are too many problems. Too much has happened.”
His reputation of being slow to anger vanished in an instant. “Like hell it was a mistake.” He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her around to face him. “Yes, we need to talk, but listen and listen good.” Ignoring the fact that her arms were still crossed, he plastered his body against hers, their foreheads touching, and said harshly, “We will finish this. We both want it. Before you leave town, we’re going to have each other. Make no mistake about it.” To emphasize the point, he ground his mouth against her hot, supple lips, taking comfort in the fact that not only did she not bite him, she opened her mouth and kissed him back.
Knowing if he didn’t leave now, he wouldn’t leave for hours, Zach dropped his arms and backed away. “Get some sleep. I’ll stop by tomorrow.”
Before she could tell him no or to go to hell, he turned and strode out of the room.
“What do you mean you kissed him?”
Savannah winced at the censure in her sister’s voice. She had spent a sleepless night aching for something she knew she shouldn’t want. At first light, she’d given up on sleeping. Every time she closed her eyes, she thought about him. Even alone in bed, Zach was there with her.
Knowing if she didn’t talk to someone soon, she would explode, she’d grabbed her cellphone and called Sammie.
“Well, it was more he kissed me but I let him.”
“Where?”
“In my car … and then in the kitchen.”
“I mean on your person. Did he kiss you on the mouth?”
“Of course on the mouth, Sammie. He’s not my uncle.”
“No, he’s the man who fucked you and left.”
Savannah winced. This was more of a Bri reaction than a Sammie one. Sammie was the romantic of the family. That’s why she had called her instead of Bri. If anyone would understand her feelings, it should be her. But she should have remembered that when it came to defending her sisters, Sammie could be as ferocious and protective as a mother bear.
Unable to argue with the truth, Savannah sighed and said, “I know that’s how I should see him, but I don’t.”
“Did he at least explain why he did what he did?”
“He tried.”
“And?”
“I stopped him.”
“Holy hell, Savvy. Have you taken leave of your senses? If I’d known you’d react to him that way, I would have taken time off and handled the house myself.”
Pride stiffened her spine. Okay, so she’d acted rashly, which was an unusual occurrence for her. That didn’t mean she couldn’t handle the situation. And despite the unpleasant lecture, talking to Sammie had helped. “I just needed to regain my perspective.”
“Don’t let him use you again, Savvy. Men will do that in a heartbeat, without blinking an eye.”
Savannah sat up in bed. She’d been so focused on her own problems, she had paid little attention to the undercurrents of Sammie’s comments. She swiftly reviewed her sister’s remarks. The bitter words had sounded more like Bri’s, with maybe a side order of some ultra-feminist man-hater’s. They’d definitely not been characteristic of her usually sunny-side-up sister Samantha.
“What’s wrong, Sammie?”
There was only the slightest hesitation before Sammie answered, “Nothing. I just don’t want to see you get hurt again.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. Now, other than the inappropriate kissing, tell me what else is happening in Midnight. You’ve been there almost a week, so I’m sure you’ve been apprised of all the goings-on.”
Savannah allowed the change in subject, more than aware that her sister wanted to avoid her questions. As much as she wanted to pull the truth out of her and find out what or who had hurt Sammie, she trusted her sister. She would tell her when she was ready. That had been their pact since they were little girls. When one of them was hurting, the other two would be there for her no matter what.
Wanting to hear her sister laugh and get her mind off her worries for a while, Savannah weaved