Page 88 of High Seduction
“But we couldn’t deal with the fact that in spite of what I’d planned going in, when the moment came for me to call it off, I gave up all my power. It wasn’t about you, Tim. The incident itself didn’t matter, and itwasn’tyour fault. It was mine because I made a wrong choice, and that scared the hell out of me.” Her volume increased, and she rocked in frustration.
“You left because you were scared?” This wasn’t making any sense.
“Yes.”
God.“Scared of me?”
“Of course not of you.” She shook her head. “Scared that I was so ready to give up my will. Scared that the intensity of what we felt for each other wasn’t going to just mean that I did everything you asked in the bedroom, but outside as well. And there were no reassurances you could give, nothing that you could do differently to make sure that I didn’t do it again.”
Tim pushed himself off the bed, needing to pace. Needing to move to escape his rapidly rising frustration. “Why would you think I’d want you to give up everything you are in the outside world? I fell in love with the woman who kicked ass and took names, and the bonus that in bed you could turn all that power over for me to control only made the situation that much hotter.”
Her expression tightened. “And if I’d offered to obey you outside the bedroom?”
“I would have asked if you’d gone out of your goddamn mind.” Tim shook his head, his anger growing. He paced to the bathroom, then back to the edge of the bed. Opened his mouth, then slammed it shut.
He wasn’t sure what he’d say would be a good addition to the conversation. This wasn’t at all what he’d expected this morning. Wasn’t what he’d ever dreamed had pushed them apart.
“Timothy?”
“Don’t,” he snapped. “I’m...”
She shifted uncomfortably. “Say something.”
“I’m going for a walk.” He jerked on clothing, then took himself and his anger out of range before he said something he’d regret.
CHAPTER24
Erin stared out the living room window at the fresh-fallen snow. A single line of footprints headed out into the maze that was laid out below them.
Well, that had gone even worse than she’d expected.
She rested her forehead on the window and sighed, her breath steaming up the glass.
“That’s a sad sound for this early in the day.”
Matt must have entered sometime after Erin had made her way down to the living room in the hopes of intercepting Tim. She debated for all of two seconds before letting her hopelessness spill out. “I just fucked things up royally.”
“With Tim?” Matt hummed. “He’s gone outside, has he?”
“Said he needed a walk.”
“Ahh. Cooling off. You got him pissed, did you? Announced you were leaving him for me?”
Erin turned, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning on the glass. The icy temperatures burned her through the thin material of her sleep shirt. “Probably not good to joke about me leaving Tim at the moment.”
Matt lost his grin, his boyish charm switching to dead serious. “Oh damn. This isn’t because of what we did last night, is it? I swear, I never would have touched you if—”
“No,” she interrupted. “It wasn’t you. It was me, thoughtlessly throwing us back in time.”
Her host nodded slowly before tilting his head to one side and motioning her toward the door. “Come on. Let’s find some coffee and a place to talk. If you’d like an ear.”
She glanced down at her pajama pants and decided what the hell. “Coffee would be great.”
The kitchen was quiet. A coffeemaker waited on the sideboard, and Matt moved smoothly to deal with loading it. Erin sat silently, aching inside for what she’d done. The noise of the machine filled the air, twisting together with her mixed-up thoughts.
Her world had been thrust into chaos, but unlike solving a problem in flying, she couldn’t see a safe passage through this one.
Matt poured her a cup and headed to the high counter, settling on a stool and waiting for her to start.
