Page 51 of Roark
His hand moved back until it was running over her ass cheek, gripping it tightly. She pressed into him then, remembering how good he was with her ass as well.
“We can have it all again, Suri. Just say the word.” He looked up at her and waited until she opened her eyes to look at him. “Just say the damn word.”
She knew it was as simple as that; she’d known it even before Durant had called her last week and asked for this date. It’d been months since they’d seen each other, since he’d walked out after she’d confessed her attraction to men and women. “No,” she whispered and thought seriously about retracting that one simple word.
Durant was great in bed, there was absolutely no doubt about that. He was a computer geek who could—and most likely did—hack into any and every computer worldwide. Working as a private contractor and being in high demand meant he had his own money, so he wasn’t after the Donovan funds. One of the main things her brothers had warned her about was guys coming at her just for her money. As if she’d be naïve enough to fall for a scam like that. But that wasn’t the case with Durant. He owned a mansion and a luxury yacht where he preferred to sleep. And he’d offered to give her the world, his heart included.
She’d turned him down then, and she was turning him down now.
“Stop,” she said when he’d continued to kiss her breasts.
He did exactly as she said, pulling his mouth away from her and letting her leg down slowly before taking a step back. “What do you want from me?” he asked, his tone as tortured as the confused look on his face.
She cleared her throat. “Nothing. And everything.”
He dragged a hand over his bald head. “You can’t have it all, Suri. Me. Them.”
Suri knew the “them” he was referring to; she knew and she hated that he couldn’t even bring himself to say it. “Would you rather I lie to you and to myself?”
“I’d rather you not think you can be with me and have a woman on the side too.”
She frowned. “That’s not what I think.”
“It’s what you said,” he argued.
“No, Durant, that’s what you heard. And you heard that because your big ol’ ego was bruised. How dare I lay in your bed and let you do all those delicious things to me, come in your mouth, all over your dick, yell out your name, and then tell you I like girls too. How fuckin’ awful of me to be honest with you!”
“I don’t know how that works, Suri. I didn’t know what you wanted me to say then, and damn if I know how I’m supposed to offer myself to you now.” He was frustrated, and once upon a time so was she.
But Suri was over that now. She was secure in her wants, accepting the fact that some would think that made her different. What she hadn’t quite figured out yet was how her happy ever after would look as a result. “To be honest again, I don’t know, either.” She reached into her purse and pulled out her key. “And maybe it’s best if we just don’t see each other while I try to figure it out.”
He cursed. “You said that the last time, and I left you alone. If you still weren’t sure, why’d you agree to this date?”
“Because I wanted to see you again.” She’d wanted to see if she could hate him the way she’d tried to do in the months she hadn’t seen him. That answer was no. She didn’t hate Durant, and therein lay her biggest problem. “But I understand what you’re trying to say. I won’t agree to another date from you, Durant.”
“Suri—”
“No,” she said and held up a hand to keep him from stepping close to her when that was exactly what he’d tried to do. “It’s not fair. This is who I am, and I can’t ask you to accept that. I won’t ask you to accept me.”
He opened his mouth to say something and then clapped it shut before shaking his head.
“Goodbye, Durant.” She closed her fingers so tight around her keys, one pressed painfully into her skin.
“Bye, Suri.” He said those words and turned to walk down the steps. Suri watched him get into his car and drive off, all while telling herself she’d done the right thing. Again.
She couldn’t help who she was, not even to make the guy she thought she might be in love with happy.
With that thought in mind, she took a deep breath and was about to turn around and unlock the door when she saw him.
He was standing between two parked cars across the street. Had he been there the whole time? She didn’t know. Durant had come around from the driver’s side to get her out of the car as soon as he’d parked. And when she’d stepped out, they’d stood at the car with her back against the hood while he’d kissed her hungrily. She’d never looked around.
The guy was staring right at her now. She couldn’t see his face, because he wore a long black coat with a hood pulled down low. And he wasn’t moving.
She turned immediately and almost dropped her key as she fought to get it into the lock. Once it was in, she pushed the door, hurriedly stepping inside and then slamming it shut behind her. The front door to the building where she’d been temporarily staying was paned glass at the top, so she could look out again to see the guy hadn’t moved. Now fear eased its sharp claws over her skin, and Suri ran to the stairs, taking them two at a time until she was on the third floor, where her flat was located.
She fumbled with the keys again, cursing her shaking fingers until she got it to work. Rushing into the flat, she slammed the door behind her and ran through the living room. “Aunt Birdie! Aunt Birdie!”
Suri ran from the living room to the kitchen to the powder room, screaming for her aunt, because she had to be here, and she had to be alright. The woman drove her insane, but she couldn’t be hurt, she couldn’t be…
