Her chest grew tight, and useless, pathetic tears she had no right to shed clawed up her throat until simply breathing was a major feat. She wasn’t going to cry, dammit. The thought of melting into a puddle only ticked her off more. She didn’t want anything to get in the way of the truckload of pissed-off that had dumped itself smack on top of her.
She grabbed her jacket, cursed the man who’d left her in this spot as she grabbed her backpack from the floor and yanked the bedroom door open. Then pulled up short when Pete’s broad shoulders and handsome face filled her only means of escape.
Shock came first—that he was here instead of with that witch. Then anger that he would check up on her to make sure she sat tight while he had his fun.
“Get out of my way,” she snapped.
He didn’t move, just stood there with those insanely sexy, completely emotionless, smoky gray eyes as he stared at her. He kept one hand braced on each side of the doorjamb, preventing her exit.
“I’m leaving,” she said sharply in case he’d missed the hint. “I’d appreciate it if you’d step aside.”
“You’re not going anywhere.”
“The hell I’m not.”
In response he dropped his hands and moved forward, his body filling the space until all she saw was him. No more hall, no more door, nothing beyond the fresh, white dress shirt stretched across his strong chest.
With nowhere to go and her emotions almost at a breaking point, Kat stepped back. Then clenched her jaw to keep from lashing out at him. He closed the door at his back with one hand, never looking away from her face, and clicked the lock.
“You can’t keep me here,” she blurted. “I’m not your prisoner.”
“You’re not leaving, Kat.” He took the backpack and jacket from her and tossed them onto a chair.
Who the hell did he think he was? She glared at him with all she had, and still his expression didn’t change from calm and totally collected. She was quickly going from pissed off to irate, and he didn’t even seem to care.
Those stupid-ass tears bubbled up again. Her nose tingled. She whipped away from him so she wouldn’t embarrass herself more and blinked several time to keep from bawling like a baby. There were some things a woman shouldn’t ever have to endure. Staying in this house, tonight, topped that list.
“Just go,” she said in a voice that came out weak and stilted and not nearly as firm as she’d hoped. “I get it, okay? Just go back to your girlfriend and leave me alone.”
“She’s not my girlfriend.” She didn’t hear him move, but she felt him suddenly at her back, just a whisper of a touch as the air stirred near her. “If I wanted to be with her, I would be.”
“So why aren’t you?” she snapped.
“Because she’s not you.”
Those four little words were like a noose around Kat’s heart.
“Something about your story’s been bothering me,” he said. “There’s one part I can’t wrap my mind around.”
Her back went up. She pushed thoughts of their past out of her mind and focused on the present. And why the hell he was bringing this up at two a.m. “I didn’t lie about anything.”
“No, but I think you purposely omitted something important.”
She wanted to step away, but there was no place to go. In front of her was the bed, to her left the window. If she moved right, it would look like he was making her uncomfortable, and she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. She crossed her arms over her chest again instead. “I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, I think you do. In fact, I think it’s the whole reason you’re here right now.”
“You must be jet-lagged, Kauffman, or your brain’s turned to mush from too much sex because you’re not making a lick of sense.”
“The only sex I’ve had was last night, and it wasn’t nearly enough. Why were you at my auction, Kat?”
His revelation that he hadn’t been screwing Maria downstairs was quickly overshadowed by a question that seemed to come out of left field. Puzzled, she turned her head slightly to the side and realized he was even closer than she’d originally thought. Mere millimeters from touching her. The warmth of his breath fanned across her cheek and sent electricity zinging along her nerve endings. Had he really not slept with that woman? “Wh—what do you mean?”