Page 47 of Just One Night Together

Six

It felt wrong to leave.

It would be even more wrong to stay.

Damon left Haley’s bed and her apartment without waking her. He walked home, across the park, not caring if it was safe or not. All he could think of was Haley’s fierce conviction that she didn’t want love or commitment in her life.

What kind of an asshole had Garrett been?

Haley was the kind of woman who would give everything to a partner, the kind of woman who wouldn’t back down from a challenge, the kind of woman who would be devastated to lose the love of her life. Damon only had to look at how she defended her mom to see the truth of her nature.

And he didn’t believe that with so much passion inside her, Haley could be happy with half-measures. She might be trying to protect herself, but it was another way of cheating herself from everything she deserved to have.

Just sex was a compromise. It was less than it could be, because the emotional connection was lacking. It wasn’t making love. It was physically fulfilling but not emotionally so. People could trick themselves for a night or maybe two, but after three nights together, Damon knew it wasn’t just sex for him anymore.

He was falling hard.

But he knew that taking their relationship to the next step would make him worse than Garrett. He wasn’t capable of sustaining any kind of romantic relationship, and he wasn’t going to be the one to break her heart again.

Damon knew his limitations. As much as he regretted them, there was no doubting their reality.

He hadn’t left a note or kissed Haley goodbye. He had no plans to see her again because he knew that was the smart choice. That’s what he’d gone there to do and it said a lot about his own changing feelings that he hadn’t been able to decline her invitation to talk, much less her invitation to do it one more time. It had been slow and potent, both of them aware that it was the last time.

Funny how he felt so hollow when he’d expected to feel satisfied.

Like Haley, he would have his work.

It didn’t seem like nearly enough.

Damon let himself into the house and listened to its silence. Empty. It was empty and devoid of life and laughter.

It was safer that way, he reminded himself.

That was how it was going to stay. He couldn’t destroy anyone or break any hearts when he was alone.

Damon shut and locked the door, then went to bed.

* * *

Haley wasawake when Damon eased away from her and got out of the bed. She pretended to be asleep, knowing that he planned to leave silently.

He didn’t leave a note.

He didn’t kiss her goodbye.

He certainly didn’t wake her up.

This was it.

She listened to the door close behind him and heard his steps in the corridor. She heard the elevator but stayed in bed. She knew she wouldn’t fall asleep anytime soon, but she didn’t want him to see her watching him go from the window.

It was over.

Even though it hadn’t been a thing.

Haley was already regretting that she’d let him go so easily.

It was probably good that he had gone, because there was something dangerously tempting about Damon. She might have forgotten her own rule—again—and ended up broken-hearted—again.

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