Read Online All or Nothing by Catherine Mann - Free Book Online Page B

the archway leading into the kitchen. He’d ditched his tuxedo jacket and tie, the top button of his shirt open. A light scratch marked his neck and she realized she must have put it there sometime during their grope fest in the elevator, along with spiking his hair in her desperate hunger to touch him again. Thank God she hadn’t followed through. How much worse this moment would have been had that elevator stayed shut down and she’d made love with him standing up in that cubicle of mirrors.
    She set her phone down. “Can I have my panties back?”
    He quirked an arrogant eyebrow before dipping into his pocket and passing over the torn scrap of satin. It was ridiculous really, asking for the useless piece of underwear back, but it felt like a statement of independence to her, reclaiming ground and putting space between them.
    She snatched the dangling white scrap from his hand. “Thank you.”
    She jammed the underwear into the trash, a minor victory, before turning back to confront him. “You work for Interpol.”
    Hands in his pockets, he lounged one shoulder against the door frame. “Apparently I do.”
    Apparently?
    His dodgy answer echoed too many in their past. The time he’d missed their first anniversary weekend retreat that they’d planned for weeks. Or when he’d bailed on going with her to her half brother’s incredibly awkward wedding. And no explanations. Ever.
    She couldn’t keep quiet. Not now with her emotions still so raw from their explosive discussion in the car and their passionate encounter in the elevator. Even now, a need throbbed between her legs to finish what they’d started, to take him deeply inside her.
    “You still won’t admit it? Even when your boss confirmed it to me? What kind of twisted bastard are you? Do you get some sick pleasure out of yanking me around this way?”
    His eyebrows shot up. “I kept you in the dark for your protection.”
    “I’m not buying it. I know you too well.” Anger, hurt—and yes, more than a little sexual frustration—seethed inside her. “You didn’t tell me because then you would have to commit, one hundred percent, to our marriage. You never wanted it to last, or you would have found a way to put my mind at ease all these years.”
    He could have told her something. Anything. But he hadn’t even tried to come up with a rationale for his disappearances. He’d just left .
    “I thought you would worry more,” he said simply.
    Although she wondered if there was a flash of guilt in his mocha-brown eyes. That would go a long way toward keeping her from pummeling him with fruit from the bowl on the counter.
    “And you think I didn’t worry when I had no clue where you were or what you were doing?” Those sleepless nights came back to haunt her. “In the beginning, I was scared to death something had happened to you those times I couldn’t locate you. It took me a long time to reach the conclusion you must be cheating on me, like my father fooled around on my mom.”
    He straightened, his eyes flinty hard. “I never slept with another woman.”
    “I get that.” She raised a hand. “Hell, I figured that out even then. But you still lied to me. You cheated on me with that damn job.”
    He scrubbed a hand over his scowl. “Do you think operatives have the luxury of printing out an itinerary for their spouses?”
    “Of course not. I’m not that naive.” More like she’d let herself stay oblivious, clinging to the hope she might be wrong about him hiding things from her. “But Colonel Salvatore made it clear tonight you could have told me something and you chose not to.”
    “I chose what I thought was best for you.” His mouth went tight.
    Well, too damn bad. She had every right to be upset.
    “You thought it was best to sacrifice our marriage? Because that’s the decision you made for both of us, without even giving me the option of deciding for myself.”
    “I won’t apologize for keeping you safe.”
    His intractable