She grabbed her bra off the floor and put it on, then hauled her dress over her head, anger tainting the mellow afterglow she’d been enjoying. “You’re saying you didn’t enjoy yourself?”
He blew out a breath and leaned against the windowsill. “I hit you, Brynn. Used you. Talked to you like I owned you. You don’t deserve that.”
She zipped up the back of her dress and narrowed her eyes. “You loved it.”
His frown lines dipped deeper, and he turned his back to her, looking out the window toward the swimming pool outside. “I don’t want to be like this. I want a normal relationship with you.”
She crossed her arms over her chest as she toed on her shoes. “And I don’t want to be with someone who’s lying to me. If you want to date me, you either come into it as you are—quirks and all—or go find someone else to play pretend with.”
He raised his head, staring at her in the reflection in the window. “What are you saying?”
“If you want to explore this, I’m game. It’s not like we’re signing up to get married. We have a summer. I like you, you like me. And tonight was… pretty incredible. So, you decide.”
His jaw tightened. “And if I just want to go back to a normal relationship?”
She shrugged. “It won’t be with me. I don’t want to spend my time wondering if you’re satisfying this need with some other girl while playing Mr. Perfect around me.”
His shoulders slumped. “Be careful on your drive home, Brynn.”
Fury boiled low in her belly and her cheeks burned. “You’re not even going to walk me out?”
He didn’t turn to look at her. “It’s for the best.”
NINE
now
Soft classical music wrapped around Brynn as she inhaled deeply through her nose, counted to five, then blew the breath out through her mouth.
“Relax your hands, sweetie. You’ve got them clenched so hard, you’re going to make your palms bleed,” Melody said in a quiet voice.
Brynn sighed and sat up from her reclined position on the couch. “This isn’t working.”
Mel frowned and crossed her hands in her lap. “It’s relaxation therapy, not surgery. Maybe you should take a Valium.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, ’cause that’s what I want to do—be drugged up when I hand myself over to a stranger.”
Mel pressed her lips together. “Good point.”
Brynn gathered her hair in her hands and held it off her neck, trying to cool her sweating skin. “I’m going to frigging faint. Right there in the middle of a sex club. Like one of those goats.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Goats?”
“You know, the ones who freeze up and faint when they’re startled.”
“That sounds hilarious,” Mel said, then waved her hand. “I mean, the goats, not you, of course.”
Brynn sank back into the couch and let her hair fall around her shoulders. How could she treat countless clients for post-traumatic stress and not even be able to talk herself down from a panic attack? She ran her hands over her face. “I’m going to lose it.”
Mel stood and crossed the few steps to Brynn, then kneeled in front of her, taking her hands in hers. “Brynn, you are the most kick-ass chick I know and are stronger than this fear. You’re going to be able to do this. If not for yourself, then for your sister.”
Brynn gave her hands a squeeze. “Thanks, Mel.”
A light tap sounded on the door, and Mel rose to unlock it. Cooper poked his head in. “There’s a car here for you.”
Brynn nodded. “Thanks, tell them I’ll be right there.”
He looked from Mel, then back to Brynn. “You gonna be okay, darling?”