you to know why.
Hot tears stung her eyes. She knew how hard it was for him to open up to her about something so personal and so traumatic. Compassion for this proud man filled her. And guilt. She felt terrible pushing him like she had. Had she known how painful his truth was, she would have left him alone.
Kat?
Simon?
I miss you
I miss you too.
It was on the tip of her fingers to tell him to come up. To spend the next few days in the big bed with her. But she hesitated. She wasn’t ready for the tsunami that was Simon.
She needed time to process what he’d told her. To process how his admission changed things for her, or did it? Yes, he was coming clean about the ringtone, but was she ready to jump into a mad passionate affair with Simon? Knowing where it would ultimately end?
No longer could she use his reticence against him. Even before his text, she had begun to cave. When he said her safety was more important to him than the truth, she should have taken him at his word then. Because Simon was an honorable man. She knew it intuitively. He wasn’t a liar. He was, in fact, very black and white. He wasn’t the kind of man with gray areas. Right was right and wrong was wrong.
His confession stunned her. Had he meant he had literally killed his brother? Her heartbeat pounded high in her throat at the thought. If he had, his brother’s widow would not have been so snuggly with him in San Diego. So how
had
he killed his brother?
Katy gasped as she backtracked to conversations between her and Simon. He had admitted to having had sex with his sister-in-law, the blonde! Had he—had he had sex with her when she was married to his brother? Had that figuratively killed him? Was she blind to Simon after all?
Katy began to pace. Who was Simon?
What
was he? And what on earth did he want with a lab rat like her? Katy understood she was not unattractive. She was pretty, smart, and until a week ago, she had a great career. But she wasn’t all that to Simon’s sex on a stick.
Obviously his sister-in-law found him irresistible and the über gorgeous, incredibly sharp Veronica Fuentes, a woman any man would want for his own, had succumbed to Simon, and she would bet dollars to doughnuts it was Simon who broke it off. Lord only knew how many women clouded his past. How many still ached for him, their hearts broken?
Because once you had Simon, everything else paled. And when he moved on, the world lost its wonder. There should be a law against loving Simon. Because there was always a casualty. Even if he wasn’t married, how could she be his fuck buddy, knowing she was ultimately to join his list of exes?
No way, she told herself. Her heart ached every minute of every hour as it was; getting sucked in deeper would kill her. And lamenting over him, wishing for what could never be and what never was, only made her more depressed. So she did what she always did when she hit an emotional wall: She ran. Two hours later, hot, sticky, hungry, more confused than when she had left her room, Katy dragged her feet as she climbed the staircase to her attic room on the third floor. Several steps shy of the landing she stopped short, shaking out her weary legs.
As she looked up she caught her breath. Leaning against the door jamb with his legs crossed at the ankle, a hand in one pocket the other hanging at his side, was Mr. Sex on a Stick himself. He was dressed in cowboy boots, body-hugging jeans and a soft blue denim button down shirt that exposed the hollow at his neck. His powerful presence filled the entire third floor.
When their eyes met, he scowled. “I tell you I killed my brother and you go for a run?”
“I—” She didn’t know what to say now and she hadn’t known what to say when he’d told her. “I’m not good at comforting, Simon. I’m sorry.”
“I’m not looking for comfort,” he snapped. But she knew by his anger and his rigid body language that that was exactly what he wanted. Why else would he be
Hot tears stung her eyes. She knew how hard it was for him to open up to her about something so personal and so traumatic. Compassion for this proud man filled her. And guilt. She felt terrible pushing him like she had. Had she known how painful his truth was, she would have left him alone.
Kat?
Simon?
I miss you
I miss you too.
It was on the tip of her fingers to tell him to come up. To spend the next few days in the big bed with her. But she hesitated. She wasn’t ready for the tsunami that was Simon.
She needed time to process what he’d told her. To process how his admission changed things for her, or did it? Yes, he was coming clean about the ringtone, but was she ready to jump into a mad passionate affair with Simon? Knowing where it would ultimately end?
No longer could she use his reticence against him. Even before his text, she had begun to cave. When he said her safety was more important to him than the truth, she should have taken him at his word then. Because Simon was an honorable man. She knew it intuitively. He wasn’t a liar. He was, in fact, very black and white. He wasn’t the kind of man with gray areas. Right was right and wrong was wrong.
His confession stunned her. Had he meant he had literally killed his brother? Her heartbeat pounded high in her throat at the thought. If he had, his brother’s widow would not have been so snuggly with him in San Diego. So how
had
he killed his brother?
Katy gasped as she backtracked to conversations between her and Simon. He had admitted to having had sex with his sister-in-law, the blonde! Had he—had he had sex with her when she was married to his brother? Had that figuratively killed him? Was she blind to Simon after all?
Katy began to pace. Who was Simon?
What
was he? And what on earth did he want with a lab rat like her? Katy understood she was not unattractive. She was pretty, smart, and until a week ago, she had a great career. But she wasn’t all that to Simon’s sex on a stick.
Obviously his sister-in-law found him irresistible and the über gorgeous, incredibly sharp Veronica Fuentes, a woman any man would want for his own, had succumbed to Simon, and she would bet dollars to doughnuts it was Simon who broke it off. Lord only knew how many women clouded his past. How many still ached for him, their hearts broken?
Because once you had Simon, everything else paled. And when he moved on, the world lost its wonder. There should be a law against loving Simon. Because there was always a casualty. Even if he wasn’t married, how could she be his fuck buddy, knowing she was ultimately to join his list of exes?
No way, she told herself. Her heart ached every minute of every hour as it was; getting sucked in deeper would kill her. And lamenting over him, wishing for what could never be and what never was, only made her more depressed. So she did what she always did when she hit an emotional wall: She ran. Two hours later, hot, sticky, hungry, more confused than when she had left her room, Katy dragged her feet as she climbed the staircase to her attic room on the third floor. Several steps shy of the landing she stopped short, shaking out her weary legs.
As she looked up she caught her breath. Leaning against the door jamb with his legs crossed at the ankle, a hand in one pocket the other hanging at his side, was Mr. Sex on a Stick himself. He was dressed in cowboy boots, body-hugging jeans and a soft blue denim button down shirt that exposed the hollow at his neck. His powerful presence filled the entire third floor.
When their eyes met, he scowled. “I tell you I killed my brother and you go for a run?”
“I—” She didn’t know what to say now and she hadn’t known what to say when he’d told her. “I’m not good at comforting, Simon. I’m sorry.”
“I’m not looking for comfort,” he snapped. But she knew by his anger and his rigid body language that that was exactly what he wanted. Why else would he be
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