Page 60 of The Sinners Touch

“Don’t be a smart ass.” He gently kicked at her legs. “Did you have any serious relationships?”

She raised her head so her chin sat on her knees. “I’m a woman, Kade, a healthy woman who enjoys sex.”

“So, are we talking like one or two? Or are we talking more than ten?” He hoped she said more than ten simply because it would make him look less of the manwhore Lily accused Nik of being. In truth, Kade was far worse than Nikoli. His little brotherlet women talk, claim they’d bedded him, when in truth they hadn’t. Kade couldn’t say the same.

“Two serious relationships that didn’t work out.” Her eyes narrowed. “Why do you look so crestfallen? What did you do? Go out and sleep with anything that moves?”

“I wouldn’t say that, exactly,” he hedged. How was he going to say this without pissing her off more than she already was?

“Then what would you say, exactly?” Her eyes narrowed, the green in them almost glowing.

“I started to drink, a lot. It got so bad, my supervisor noticed it. He told me to get clean or get gone. I took some time off. I met a woman. She was everything you weren’t.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

He hurried to explain when Angel’s expression turned hostile. “You were a ray of sunshine, bright and bubbly, full of joy and love. She was cold, shallow, a showpiece. There was no real substance to her.”

“Oh.” Angel looked down at her hands, but Kade caught the small smile she tried to hide.

“Her name was Jessica Frasier. I told myself I loved her. Almost convinced myself of it too. Until my baby brother decided to hang out for the summer.”

“You’re talking about Nikoli?” Her voice was so soft he turned his head to look at her.

“Yeah, how’d you know that?”

“Lily said something the other day about something that almost tore the two of you apart, but Nik didn’t elaborate.”

“She found out he was loaded and seduced him. Left me for him. I was hurt, angry, but not at her. I could care less about her. That’s what shocked me, I guess. I convinced myself I loved Jessica, but when she set up house with my brother, I felt nothing but disgust.”

“You were upset with your brother.”

He nodded. “Yeah. She was a gold-digging bitch. She was with me for the prestige of being on the arm of an FBI agent, but when she found out my little brother owned his own gaming company and was worth millions, she turned her predatory sights on him. He was young, stupid, and horny.”

“But it still hurt that he’d do that to you.” Angel’s voice had gone soft, the compassion evident. After what he’d done to destroy her family, he always felt he deserved what happened to him. Fate’s way of slapping him upside of the head for being a jackass.

“We figured it out and got past it, but it taught him that most women only wanted his money. He never told anyone at school who he was. He refused to date a woman. He only fucked them once and moved on. Until Lily.”

Angel laughed, and he glanced at her. “What?”

“That boy ended up in my bar so many times during those first few months with her. Railing at the injustice of not being able to screw anyone else. It was one of her stipulations, and she had the gall to ask for his car in their bet.”

“Bet?”

“He didn’t tell you?” A grin spread across her face. “They had a bet going. If he got into her pants, he got Lily, if she stayed out of his bed, she got his car. He was so appalled.”

“The ’Cuda?” Nikoli loved that car. He wouldn’t even let Kade drive it.

“Yeah. Apparently, Lily knows cars. Her dad was some kind of famous NASCAR driver or something. He said she lusted after that car more than she did him. It drove him nuts that she could resist his charms.”

“I’ll bet.”

“We’re off topic, Kincaid. You still haven’t explained that look to me.”

Damn it. Here he thought he’d sufficiently distracted her. “You really want to know this?”

“I really want to know this. I have to know the whole truth. No more lies, Kade. Not if you want me to forgive you. I need to know it all.”

“So, you’re considering giving us another chance?” Hope bloomed to life, that tiny kernel that had refused to be doused all these years. The one he hid from even in his most drunken spells.

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