Page 19 of Guarded Hearts
“She pays fine. You know that.” I should leave it at that. “I just have some debts I’m trying to pay down, so most of my money goes there.” My mouth would not stop talking. I needed to zip it closed or give it something else to do.
“House?” Pasha asked, his shoulders easing. We’d been spending quite a bit of time together, and his body language was easy to read, even if I had no idea of the specifics in his head.
I laughed and took an apple out of the bag at my feet. The hotel was ahead, but I thought the parking was around the back. I could delay and not answer. I bit into the apple and chewed.
“I have a house, but those aren’t the payments putting me down to the wire each month. Let’s just say my ex-boyfriend screwed me in more than one way.” The apple had not kept my mouth busy enough.
He winced, and his knuckles on the steering wheel whitened. “He stole from you?”
“Kind of. Well, yes. I guess he did.” My house hadn’t been empty when I went to my sister’s for a visit, but it had been gutted when I got back. “Mostly, he stole from the bank and left me to repay his debt.”
“Joint bank account?” He glanced at me just before he turned into an empty parking space.
Another furious blush was taking root in my cheeks. This was the part I didn’t like admitting to anyone. I hated my foolishness. “Not quite.”
I took another bite of my apple, juice running down to my chin. I scooped it up with my finger, and the way his gaze followed the trail made my stomach dip. The heat in his eyes licked at me, enticed me. Theattraction between us was there, muffled, as though we were both trying to smother it, but there nonetheless. “Joint credit card.”
His eyebrows rose almost comically high. “Oh.”
“Yeah, I know. Dumb. The dumbest. If there was an award for believing dumb shit guys tell you, I’d win it. But then I’d have to pawn it because I’m still paying down the debt of the last dumb shit I listened to.”
He chuckled, and he searched my face, the smile slipping. “Bad taste in men.”
I met his gaze and took another bite of the apple, letting the fire between us warm me for the first time in over a week.
“Most of the time,” I agreed. The color of his eyes fascinated me. A light blue, like the sky on a cloudless day. “Not always.” My skin tingled in anticipation. The tart taste of the apple was on my lips, ready to be shared with him. Even a slight lean from him in my direction would provoke me to close the distance.
He broke eye contact, opened his door, and exited the car. A bucket of cold water dumped on my desire.
As though coming out of a trance, I shook my head.Close the distance?No, no, I wouldn’t because I promised I wouldn’t jump him again. Why was I so bad at resisting him? It was like the opposite of every other relationship I’d ever had with a man.
I opened my door and gathered my things off the floor. He retrieved a bag from the backseat and, from inside, withdrew a second bag and passed it to me. For a moment, I stared at the bag, surprised at his thoughtfulness. Then I remembered I didn’t want to owe him more than I did already. “No, it’s okay.”
“Take it,” he said. “Your stuff is awkward. The bag will help.” He thrust it in my direction, and the wind caught it, a sharp snap sounding as the bag filled with air.
I dropped the box of tampons, the apples, and one chocolate bar inside. When I got to the second bar, I held it out. “As a thank-you. For the money. For the ride. For the bag.” With a smile, I raised my items in the air, cradled in the plastic.
“You teach me to dance in your free time. I can’t take anything from you. I think I should pay you. Will you let me pay you?”
My mind went to all kinds of ways he could pay, and most of them had nothing to do with money. God, my thoughts were absolutely out of control. It wasn’t like he was the most attractive man in the world, but some sort of pheromone cocktail was at work. Even now, as I stood a few feet away from him, the breeze caught his tangy cologne and propelled it toward my nose. Two steps and I’d be in his arms, our lips meeting, my body pressed to his. A sigh was perched at the back of my throat at the thought.
I shook my head and held out my hand with the chocolate bar. “No, I can’t take your money. If you dance well, it makes me look good to Mia and whoever else sees it. Win-win.”
He held my gaze for so long, I started to squirm. I was used to the sparks igniting between us, but he was going beyond that now, trying to read me, to know me. “I will find some way to pay you.”
I flushed at the options that had already run through my dirty mind before I could dismiss them. Tonight, after the concert, I was going to the hotel bar and sleeping with the bartender or a server or someone of the male persuasion. Satisfying myself wasn’t working. Someone else’shands might be a better bet. The realization I could find a man without a problem released some of my pent-up tension.
Relax.He’s not the only guy in town.
“Sure, you can find a way,” I agreed with a saucy grin. “You do that. Maybe you’ll find something I want more than accolades.” And money—I really did need money.
He returned my grin and led us toward the lobby. “Something you want more than accolades and money. I will have to put on my thinking cap.”
In my mind, I pictured him putting on a cap to gather his thoughts, and the idea widened my grin. “You need a cap to think?”
“All the best ideas come from the thinking cap.” He tapped the top of his head as he opened the hotel door and ushered me inside.
“Well,” I said, allowing myself to enjoy the conversation, the flirtation for a moment. “I look forward to seeing what you come up with.”
