Page 63 of Bad Boy Done Wrong
Chapter Fifteen
Carrie headed to her apartment the next night after work, depressed that she hadn’t heard from Zach. She understood him so much better now, where he came from, how hard he’d worked to achieve something admirable, the different sides of him. And they’d been good together. Good was an understatement. She climbed the steps to her second-floor apartment. She’d wanted to try to work something out. Obviously he didn’t want the same thing. Too many goodbyes in her life right now. Goodbye to Zach. Goodbye to her work family, whom she’d grown to love over the last four years. Tomorrow, Saturday, was her last shift at work. Grad school started on Monday.
She stopped short and sucked in a breath to find Zach standing on her doorstep. He studied her in his serious way like she was the most fascinating person he’d ever met. Her heart soared. In that moment she knew there was no getting around what she felt for him, no matter how scary it was to take that risk. No matter how difficult it would be to do the long-distance thing. They’d make it work. She hoped.
“Hi,” she said.
He gazed directly into her eyes. “I’m sober.”
“I know.”
He offered his hand, palm up. “I want to show you something at my place.”
She had a feeling she knew what that was and she’d really like to shower before they hit the sheets. She didn’t even try to fight her natural impulse to join with him again. “Give me twenty minutes to get ready.”
“No.”
“No?” she echoed.
“It’s important.”
She had a quick battle with herself. “I smell like the hospital.” At least she was out of her scrubs in a simple black tank top and matching shorts.
He waited, still offering his palm to her. An open gesture of invitation. Affection. Companionship. Even with everything they’d done together, they’d never held hands. It felt sweetly romantic, like the beginning of a relationship. It was that primal language they spoke that they both instinctively understood.
She placed her hand in his.
He closed his eyes for a moment. “Thank you.”
He entwined his fingers with hers and headed down the stairs. Zach was quiet on their walk, his hand warm and firm in hers.
“Are you going to give me a hint?” she asked.
“No.”
The silence stretched between them.
When they were nearly at his place, she blurted, “I think we need to have a serious talk.”
“We will. After I show you…something.”
Her mind raced. What could it be? She’d already seen hissomething. “Are you going to show me your professor clothes? Tweed blazer with elbow patches?”
He stopped and glowered down at her, looking all hot and alpha and ready to prove himself. “I’m not a nerdy academic. There are levels and I’m at the top of the cool badass ladder.”
She bit back a smile. “I know that very well.” She took a deep breath, serious now. “I can understand why you let me think you were just a bad-boy traveler kind of guy. I wanted you to be this fantasy and you made it good for me.”
He lifted their joined hands and kissed her fingers. “I was always me underneath that. Truth is, I was more me as a bad boy in the bedroom than I’ve ever been with anyone. I used to always hold back so I wouldn’t come off as too aggressive.”
She cocked her head. “So you’re saying if we hopped into bed right now, everything would be exactly like it was? You’re an alpha-bad-boy professor?” She stifled a laugh, still having trouble reconciling the two.
He narrowed his eyes. “This is serious.”
“I know.” She fought back a hysterical giggle, all the tension piling up in her from the ups and downs of the past week reaching a breaking point. But then she remembered his other lie, which had hurt a lot more. “What was the deal with no long-term? And there’s Muriel! Were you just trying to let me down easy? Were there other lies?”
He spoke in a deep even tone, meeting her gaze directly. “No, there are no more lies. I swear on my life. And you can ask me anything else you want to know about me and I promise to answer honestlyafterI show you something.”
She parked a hand on her hip. “What about the no long-term thing?”
