are you,” he fired back, taking a step closer to her. “There aren’t any dentists on the top floor. It’s devoted to gynecology and obstetrics.”
Seeming to deflate, she clamped her lower lip between her teeth and turned her head away. A tear escaped and rolled down her cheek all the way to her jawline, where she wiped it off.
Drex swallowed the knot in his throat. He didn’t want to know, but had to ask, “Are you pregnant?”
She shook her head, then said a husky no.
Relief made his knees go weak, although five minutes ago, he wouldn’t have credited that physical phenomenon. Then, a worse thought struck him. “Is something…” Awkwardly, he motioned toward her middle. “Wrong?”
“No.” When he looked at her doubtfully, she repeated no. “And even if there were, I certainly wouldn’t discuss it with you.” She rubbed her fists across her eyes, bolstered herself by standing up straighter, and looked directly into his face. “You followed me here. I know you did. Tell me why.”
“I was a butthole last night.”
He stopped there, and, when he didn’t continue, she said, “Are you waiting for an argument from me? If so, you’re waiting in vain.”
He gave her a wry half smile. “I saw you leave your house. I followed you in the hope of getting an opportunity to apologize.”
“For beguiling Elaine?”
“For all of it. The manuscript, the smirks, the innuendos, the setup. I staged a scene for you to walk into and draw a conclusion.”
“Well, I did.”
“I know.”
She gazed at him with bewilderment. “But why did you do it?”
“To see if you’d be jealous.”
She took swift breath, then, lowering her head, stared at the gritty, oil-stained concrete between their feet. “I can’t be jealous, Drex. I’m married.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s all I think about. You being married. You being married to him.”
She raised her head and looked into his eyes. “You don’t have cause, or the right, to think about it.”
“But I do.” He extended his arm and braced his hand against the roof of her car. He pressed his forehead against his biceps and expelled a long breath. “I think about it all the goddamn time, and it’s making me crazy.”
For the longest time neither of them moved. They scarcely breathed. Did she share his fear that something as negligible as a blink could cause a cataclysm from which they could never recover or escape? He couldn’t read her thoughts. All he had to go on was her stillness.
Until finally, he heard her hair brush against her shoulder as she turned her head toward him. “I’m sorry, Drex,” she murmured. “I don’t know what to say.”
He lifted his head from his arm and turned it toward her. Their faces inches apart, he focused on her mouth as she added, “I don’t know what you expect me to say.”
“Don’t say anything.” By the time the last whispered syllable had passed his lips, they were brushing hers.
She yanked her head back. He slid his hand off the roof of the car and raised both in surrender as he stepped away and continued to back up. “Out of line. Way out of line. I’m sorry.”
He turned and took several steps away before he stopped and came back around. He looked at her for a count of five. “Bloody hell,” he growled. “If I’m going to be sorry, I’m damn well going to make it count.”
He covered the same distance in half the number of strides. When he reached her, he took her face between his hands, tilted it, and kissed her. But good. Without sweetness or timidity. Deeply. Boldly. Sexily. Pouring into the kiss all the frustration, anger, and lust she had aroused in him.
Then he released her abruptly, turned, and walked away.
He made it into the elevator and rode it down to the next level of the garage where he’d parked. But as soon as he alighted, he placed his back to the concrete block wall and knocked his head against it hard enough to hurt.
What the hell was he doing?
When he’d seen Talia backing her car out of her driveway, he’d given no conscious thought to following her. He’d just reacted. Fortunately, he’d planned on going out later, so the items he had begun taking with him whenever he left were already zipped into the duffel bag. He’d had the presence of mind to grab it before he’d bolted from the apartment, nearly breaking his neck getting down that blasted staircase, certainly breaking speed limits to catch up to her