to hear this,” she cut in, shaking her head.
“It’s not a conversation I’m enjoying either,” he said tightly, “but you deserve the truth, so that’s what I’m giving you. I did not fuck Lacey. Not on that night, or any other one. In fact, I haven’t actually been with anyone since the beginning of the year.”
She snorted softly under her breath as she finally looked back over at him. “I’m not buying that for a second.”
“Whether you buy it or not, it’s still the truth,” he told her, slowing down so that he could take the next right. “I’ve been too hung up on you to be interested in anyone else.”
He knew she didn’t believe that either, but it was a fact. One he’d tried to ignore after he’d accepted that she wasn’t the type for something casual, and had forced himself to hook-up with a woman from his gym, and then a reporter he met while doing an interview for one of the local stations just before Christmas. But the sex both times had left him cold and unsatisfied, his dick pissed that he was trying to make it settle for anyone other than the woman he really wanted. After the reporter, he’d taken a step back from the hook-up scene, knowing damn well that his feelings for Karin were only growing stronger.
Not to mention the attraction. He’d always enjoyed a healthy sex drive, but the lust that poured through him every time he set eyes on Karin Riley was unlike anything he’d ever experienced. The woman fucking did it for him, and there was no way to soften the need roughening his voice as he said, “I want another chance. But if you’re not ready for that yet, then I at least want the chance for us to keep getting to know each other better.”
She gave a soft, surprised laugh, and even though Paul hadn’t been trying to be funny, he was just thankful that she was finally responding to him again. “You seriously want to divulge your secrets? Because that’s part of getting to know people, Paul. Opening up and talking about the things that matter—not just the bits and pieces you feel comfortable sharing.”
“I’m an open book,” he told her, determined to ignore the panic that slid through him at her words. If talking was what it took to get her to forgive him, then he’d talk her beautiful ears off. “Ask me anything you want.”
“All right,” she murmured, turning toward him in her seat. He was expecting her to go right for the jugular, but she surprised him by saying, “Tell me about your tattoo.”
“This one?” he asked, touching the left side of his throat.
He turned his head just in time to catch the glimmer of curiosity that swept through her gaze. “You have others?”
He slid her a cocky smirk. “You’ll have to find out the answer to that for yourself, babe.”
“Hah,” she muttered. “Dream on, babe.”
“Oh, I do.” His voice was a deep, husky rumble. “Every single fucking night.”
The soft snort she gave in response made him smile, and after telling her the story about how he got the tattoo when he was eighteen, in honor of his Irish grandmother, who he’d been close to, after she died unexpectedly from a heart attack, he realized he had his own mountain of questions that he wanted to ask her. “Okay, now it’s my turn,” he murmured.
“I didn’t agree to that, but fine. Ask away.”
He’d planned to go with something light, like why she didn’t surf like her cousin, but then something that had been bothering him back at the hospital shot into his brain, and he heard himself saying, “Jase’s dad. Does he know that his son was at the hospital tonight?”
“Yeah,” she replied with a sigh. “I sent him a text to let him know when I was down in X-ray with Jase and my dad. He wrote back to say he hoped Jase was okay.”
“And…?”
She shrugged. “And what?”
“Are you fucking kidding me? That’s all he said? His little boy was in the hospital with a possible broken bone, and the idiot sent one text?”
“Yes. But if you knew Ben”—her tone was more wry than bitter—“then you wouldn’t be so surprised.”
This time Paul was the one who snorted. “He sounds like an asshole.”
“Oh, he is. And a textbook narcissist. He truly does believe that the world revolves around him, and can’t understand why everyone else doesn’t feel the same way.”
“Make that an asshole and