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“I’ve been gone a lot lately. I don’t want to worry Dru and Thomas.” I fiddled with the hem of the T-shirt and wondered if he knew I was lying.
“Let me guess. You overheard my conversation with Ava.”
“Maybe.” I looked up at him. “Yes.”
“That’s too bad.” He rubbed his hands over his face, as if he was wiping away the memory of the argument.
“Is it true? Do you have a hero complex?” I stepped toward him involuntarily.
“How’s that edit button of yours?” I had the good sense to blush while Michael picked up the remote from a side table and cut off the television in the middle of a double play. The room went dim, the only other light coming from two small lamps on a buffet table. “Ava has a tendency to trust the wrong people. Landers had her snowed.”
“Kind of like you had me snowed?” I tried to be angry, but I didn’t sound convincing. I was too preoccupied by the way his face looked in the half-light, thrown into shadows. Mysterious. Dangerous. Tempting.
“What are you talking about?”
I imitated him. “‘No, Emerson, kissing you would be a big mistake.’ Why, Michael? Because you didn’t want me to be confused about my reasons for helping you save Liam, or because you didn’t want to have to make a choice between me and Ava?”
He moved swiftly. Cupping my face in his hands, he bent forward until he was a second away from touching his lips to mine. My blood rushed through my veins, every inch of my skin shivering and boiling at the same time. I half expected fire to shoot out of the electrical sockets. The lightbulb blew in one of the lamps on the buffet table, sounding a quiet ping into the dark.
I closed my eyes, ready to surrender to the kiss.
Just as quickly as he’d grabbed me, he let me go.
“That … wasn’t … fair.” I opened my eyes, swaying where I stood.
“No,” he answered. “It wasn’t. But now you know. If I wanted to play games with your emotions to get you to side with me, it wouldn’t be a hard sell. What I want doesn’t have a place in this. Emotions don’t have a place in this. They can’t.”
All the heat I’d felt disappeared, and my mouth dropped open. “I can’t believe you did that. You’re such a jerk.”
“Maybe so. But I don’t want you to do anything to please me or because of any feelings you think you have. I don’t want you to do it for the wrong reasons.”
ion of me with my hands around her neck flashed through my mind, taking the green-eyed monster theory to a new level. It hit me suddenly that I had some serious aggression issues.
“Okay, well.” I forced a smile. “Good luck with that.”
I slammed the door before I did something stupid, leaning against it and attempting to calm my breathing.
I needed to look into anger-management classes.
I needed to get out of this house.
And I really needed to find my pants.
Chapter 39
I kept my fingertips on the hem of Michael’s T-shirt, pulling it down as far as I could. Glad I was familiar with the house, I tiptoed down the stairs, stopping short just outside the common area.
Ava and Michael were talking, her voice loud, his soft. I moved back to press myself against the wall beside the wide doorway, swallowing a scream when I felt a solid barrier of flesh behind me instead of the plaster I was expecting.
Kaleb. In the dim light I watched as his gaze traveled up my body, taking in my bare feet, the too-big T-shirt, finally returning to my legs. He let out a low, appreciative whistle.
“Two things. One, you have some fine legs. Two, if you were upstairs in my room, looking like that? I sure as hell wouldn’t be downstairs with her.”
Motioning for him to be quiet, I put my shoulder against the wall and leaned my head toward the conversation. Kaleb tucked himself in behind me, so close I could feel his breath on my hair.
“She was in your room.” Ava’s innate poise saturated her voice. I bet she’d never end up on the receiving end of a bucket of fish heads. “And she didn’t have on pants.”
I could feel Kaleb’s gaze move back to my legs. I elbowed him.
