Troublemaker - Lisa B. Kamps Page 0,16

place just as much as it was mine. Hard to believe I'd only known her for a little more than twenty-four hours. It was even harder to believe how quickly I'd become accustomed to having her around—which was beyond foolish, especially considering we'd barely seen each other all day today.

I opened the refrigerator and pulled out a beer, uncapped it then turned back to her. "Did you want something to drink? I have soda or iced tea or—"

"No, thank you. I need to get to sleep. I have to get up early tomorrow."

"Yeah? Any particular reason?"

Her gaze darted to mine and I saw the shadows in her vivid green eyes before she looked away. "I need to get to the bus station early."

"The bus station?" I tightened the grip on the bottle and leaned against the edge of the counter. "You're leaving?"

"Yeah."

"Oh." I took a swig of beer and barely managed to choke it down. She was leaving. I shouldn't be surprised—she didn't live here, didn't have family here. There was, literally, no reason for her to stay. But hearing her say the words and knowing that I'd never see her again—

Yeah, it was a blow. I couldn't explain why, didn't even really understand why, it just was.

Apparently Morgan didn't feel the same way because she moved past me and headed toward the bathroom. The door closed with a soft click and I stood there, unable to do anything more than stare at it.

She was leaving.

I'd never see her again.

Why the hell did I care?

I shouldn't care. Hell, I didn't care. Not really. So she was leaving. So what? Big deal. I should be happy because that meant I'd get my bed back.

I drained the beer without really tasting it then stormed to the closet to grab the sheet and blanket and pillow I had used last night. By the time I'd made up the sofa for another night of torture, I'd pretty much convinced myself that Morgan leaving was a good thing. It had to be a good thing, if I was already overreacting to her news after twenty-four hours.

The sooner Morgan left, the quicker my sanity would return.

And then I made the mistake of turning around and practically ran right into her.

I grabbed her arms in an awkward attempt to steady her then just as quickly released her. "Sorry—"

"You take the bed, I'll sleep on the sofa."

"You can have the bed—"

"And I said I'll take the sofa." She brushed past me and reached for the pillow to fluff it. Her gaze slid to my face and I noticed the slight stiffening of her shoulders right before she looked away. "You're hurt. You should have the bed."

"I'm not hurt."

"Yes, you are. Take the bed."

"Morgan, I'm not hurt."

She slammed the pillow down then whirled on me. "Really? What do you call that? Or that?" She pointed to the butterfly bandage on my cheek first, then to the dark bruise just under my chin. "And God only knows what other cuts and scrapes and bruises you have that I can't see."

"Just a small one on my side. Did you want to see for yourself?"

"No!" She held her hands up like she was warding off some dark spirits then stepped back. "No, I don't want to see. I just—I just want to go to sleep. That's all."

"I'm not hurt, Morgan. Honest. It's just part of the game."

"It's barbaric. And brutal. And...and vicious. I never want to see another game again."

I started to tell her she was overreacting but stopped myself. This was more than just an overreaction. There was something more to it. Something personal.

Cold fury rushed through me and it took more control than I thought I had not to demand she tell me who hurt her. The thought of any man touching a woman was enough to set me off. But the thought of a man hurting Morgan? I suddenly understood what it meat to see red because if I found out who it was, I'd tear him apart myself.

And yeah, maybe my reaction was a bit overboard. In fact, I knew it was.

I stepped back and sucked in a deep breath then slowly released it. That did absolutely nothing so I went through the motions of removing my tie and jacket then carefully hung both up in the closet. I started unbuttoning my shirt, realized what I was doing and how Morgan might take it, then stopped.

Then I turned and pinned her in place with one single look. "Who