Page 119 of Skate the Line

“Simon.”He says the name with disgust.

“I’m acting this way because of you.”

Shit.Why did I admit that?

Each time my heart beats, it’s a punch to my chest.

His jaw flickers. He backs away immediately, and I hate the space I inevitably put there.

“Because of me?” He drops his arms in defeat and glances away. He’s probably too ashamed to look at me. “Fuck, I’m sorry, Sunny.”

“You’re sorry?”

Rhodes’s shoulders tense. He crosses his arms, and I can’t help but notice the veins appearing on his forearms. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I just…” He clears his throat. “I wanted to help. I shouldn’t have touched you?—”

An abrupt laugh escapes me. I slap my hand over my mouth.

Rhodes stops mid-sentence and gawks at me. “Are you laughing at me?”

“No!” I throw my hands up and then cover my eyes. “I’m laughing because you have it completely twisted.”

He’s over to me in a flash. My heart drops when his large hand grips my wrist firmly, but at the same time, there’s a gentleness there too. He pulls my hand away and stares at me intensely. “How so?”

“Because…”

Don’t. Don’t say it.

His earlier warnings are nowhere to be found, and my reservations aren’t either. I know he fires nannies for this very thing, and yet, here I am, with an ache so intense I can’tnotsay it.

“I liked it when you touched me, Rhodes!”

One second passes without so much as a blink.

Then another.

And another.

I’m out of here.

Thirty-Eight

RHODES

Why didshe have to go and say that?

I stand alone in the kitchen with my heart beating like a caveman’s.

There’s an animalistic touch to what’s going on inside my body.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

With agile legs, I turn and search for her.

Like a ghost, she rushes away on quiet feet and heads for the stairs.

I chuckle.

Does she really think I’m going to let her get away after she said something like that?

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