The Prince's Resistant Lover Page 0,10
of time to become angry and resentful at waking up to find Tamar gone. She hadn’t invited him into her apartment last night, nor had she asked him to stay! How dare he leave this morning without any word, without telling her when she would see him again! Well, that was probably a foregone conclusion, she thought, as she accidentally slammed a plate down in front of her customer, having to apologize. She’d never see the man again. She was a one night stand, nothing more. He probably saw her as one of those easy women that the rich guys thought they could exploit. And boy had he exploited her naiveté last night! She’d been so wowed by the newness of sex that she’d gone along with anything he’d told her to do. Granted, all of it had been incredible, but she didn’t need incredible! She had a perfectly satisfactory life without him. She had goals, dreams and a plan for her life and none of those included him barging into her apartment and treating her like an easy mark!
She hadn’t even remembered to give him back his ridiculous tip from yesterday!
By the time her shift ended, she was so tired and angry, she was barely able to say a polite goodbye to Billy, Jimmy and Linda. The three of them walked out the door, Linda and Jimmy heading down the street. Billy hopped onto his motorcycle and sped away while Wyndi trudged to the subway station another block down the street. The longer commute gave her time to fume as she sat on the hard, dirty bench of the subway, rumbling along to her lonely apartment.
By the time she was halfway home, she was determined to throw off her irritation over his callous treatment of her. She wasn’t going to let him ruin her plans. Nor was she going to spend one more moment thinking of the jerk!
So she’d been bowled over by an attractive, charismatic man. Lots of women had probably fallen prey to his easy charm. She’d get over him. She’d move on. And she definitely wouldn’t let him make her feel cheap, she told herself as she angrily wiped the tears from her face.
She stopped by the market on the way home, grabbing milk and several more items. She hated grocery shopping, but she’d put it off to the point where it was urgent now. She hadn’t even had milk last night for her cereal. In fact, she’d forgotten to eat! And since she hadn’t woken early enough this morning, she’d skipped breakfast too so she’d only had a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch and now she was starving. She wanted to whip up a big bowl of pasta with lots of cheese and some sautéed vegetables, maybe some crusty bread with loads of garlic butter. Her mouth was watering as she considered the possibilities. There was only one problem.
Well, actually several as she stared at the cheese section in her local market.
She didn’t like cooking, didn’t know how to make what she wanted, and couldn’t afford the ingredients anyway.
Sighing, she moved on down the aisle, sticking a bottle of milk, some bologna, bread, peanut butter and another box of cereal into her cart. She added a few apples and a couple cans of green beans, but that was about the extent of her shopping budget for the week.
Cereal it is, she thought as she lugged her groceries up the stairs. She was juggling her purse, her heavy grocery bags and her keys, trying to get the key into the lock when a dark hand reached around and plucked the keys out of her hands.
Fight mode kicked in immediately and she spun around. Wyndi dropped the bags, fully prepared to fight if someone was trying to rob her. But she didn’t get the chance to take a swing. “Settle down, tiger,” Tamar said smoothly with a chuckle as he put his hands on her waist. “It’s only me. I’m trying to help you.”
Wyndi was so furious that she ripped herself out of his arms, uncaring that her groceries were now spilled all over the hallway. “What the hell are you doing here?” she demanded.
Tamar smiled down at her, ignoring her hands pressing against his chest while his hands encircled her tiny waist once more. “I’m here to take you out to dinner,” he explained, kissing her neck. “We didn’t really get a chance last night.”
“And then you snuck out of here this morning!”
He was surprised at