Page 15 of Loving My Enemy

I gripped the handle tighter, ignoring my body’s response to him. “No. What do you need?” It didn’t matter that my nipples were hard around him, because my hand resting on the doorknob wouldn’t stop trembling. “Well?”

Deputy Vargas sighed and raked a hand through his thick, dark locks, those intense hazel eyes focused on me until I felt the urge to squirm. “I came to apologize.” His words were unsure and a little shaky, but I heard them loud and clear.

“Come again?” I needed to hear it again because … well because he pulled a gun on me.

“I’m sorry for the way I acted.”

“Which time?” I shot back because he hadn’t been exactly welcoming onanyof the times our paths had crossed.

His lips twitched but the smile never came. “You’re right. I’m sorry for being a jerk from the moment you arrived in Tulip. You didn’t deserve it.”

Damn right I didn’t. “No, I don’t deserve it. Care to tell me what I did?”

His expression tightened and he moved his head from side to side as if cracking his neck. “No.”

“Okay then. Thank you for stopping by, deputy.” The apology was nice to hear, but whatever problem he had with me was still there. His hand reached out and smacked the door, making me leap back with a gasp. “I think it’s time you leave.”

“No, dammit. I’m trying to apologize.”

Just like that, my anger had bubbled up to the surface. Just because I avoided getting overly emotional about things I couldn’t change, didn’t mean I didn’t have anger. I did. A lot of it. “Yeah, well, apology time is over. And your apology is definitelynotaccepted!”

He took advantage of the space between us, stepping inside my place and kicking the door shut behind him. “Are you always this difficult?”

“Are you always this much of an overbearing jerk?” My arms began to tingle and then my whole body. Fighting with him was exhilarating, probably because it was the first time in my life that I’d stood up for myself.

He blinked. “No. I’m never overbearing.” He seemed surprised by the realization.

“But you’re always a jerk? That’s not surprising, actually.”

“No one else thinks I’m a jerk.” His voice pitched lower, and that weird sexy tone hit me right in the gut, sending tingles shooting to all my extremities.

I ignored the super-obvious signs of attraction, because I knew a bad idea when I saw one, no matter how tempting it was. “They should consider themselves lucky, then. Me, not so much.”

“Which is why I’m trying to apologize, Elka.”

Damn him for saying my name. He made it sound sexy and exotic, not plain and boring. It shorted my brain and I hated it as much as I loved it. “But you’re not sorry, are you?” I shook my head as he tried to hide that flash of guilt. “Of course you’renot. I should have realized. Why are you even apologizing to me, Deputy Vargas?”

“Dammit, my name is Antonio. Antonio! Got it?”

“Whatever you say, Deputy Vargas.”

He let out a sound that was part roar and part growl. Whatever it was, it was sexy as hell. “Frustrating woman.” He was up close and personal— right in my space. I froze, unsure what to do next. Then it was taken out of my hands when his much bigger, stronger hands grabbed my face and smashed his mouth against mine.

I should have pushed him away, maybe bit his lip, but holy cow the man could kiss. No, notkissbecause that was too simple a word for the way his lips, full and soft, mated with mine. His mouth was capable and determined as his lips pressed against mine. His hands moved from my face to my hair and down my back before they settled, hot and searing, on my hips. A moan left my body and Antonio swallowed it and pulled me closer.

The kiss seemed to last forever before his tongue licked the seam of my mouth, silently asking it to open up to let him in. It did because Antonio was too much man for an inexperienced girl like me. My body felt like it had been touched by a live wire; my skin practically smoked from the heat produced from his hands moving up and down my body. It was a sensation unlike any I’d ever experienced and I was helpless to fight against it. Not that I wanted to fight against it, but I felt like I should. Felt like it shouldn’t be so easy for a guy like Antonio to get his way after how he’d treated me.

But my body wouldn’t listen. She was as excited as I was the very first, and only, time I rode a rollercoaster. With Austin. That name was, this time, like a bucket of ice-cold water over my head. I took a step back and looked up at Antonio. His black hair stood up in all directions and his eyes were so dark, they might as well have been black. The way his chest heaved, the force heused to push air out of his lungs, said he was just as affected as I was. And that left me feeling even more unsettled. “What in the hell was that?”

He looked as stunned as I did, eyes wide and blinking like he’d just awoken from a dream. “Hell if I know.” He stared at me for a long moment before taking a few steps back and stomping out just as abruptly as he’d entered.

“Well that was weird as hell.” It was more than weird. It gave me a rush like I’d felt on that rollercoaster—that same excited nervousness I felt when I crossed into Texas. I didn’t want Deputy Vargas to be the one giving me any kind of rush, not when he’d clearly hated that kiss.

A car door slamming in the distance sounded at the exact same time as the doorbell. The door opened before I could answer it and Nina smiled at me from the doorway. She held up a giant bottle of tequila and a bag of limes. “I just saw Antonio tear out of here like his ass was on fire. You have any idea why?”

I shrugged. “None.” It was the truth. “He showed up, apologized, and then yelled at me when I wouldn’t accept his apology. Then we argued and he kissed me.” I still couldn’t believe it happened either, but I wasn’t ready to talk about it yet.

Nina didn’t seem to mind though, because her gaze was already past me and her feet were headed to the kitchen. “How was the kiss?”

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