He snorted. “Are you calling me a slut?”
She waggled her rear against his crotch. “Nah, I was thinking more man whore.”
He pinched her butt. “Smartass.”
“Said the pot to the kettle.”
He kissed her shoulder. “How ’bout being my first love? Does that count for something? ’Cause you’ve been holding that title for a long time, Ev.”
She looked away. “I was just a dumb kid, Jace.”
“We both were, but that doesn’t mean my love for you was any less real.” His voice clogged with emotion. “I can’t even tell you what it was like when I woke up the next day and realized you were gone—that I might never see you again.”
Dread curled in her stomach. He rolled her over to face him, but she couldn’t look him in the eye.
He pushed the dampened hair off her forehead. “Ask me to stay, Evan. Ask me to stay, and we’ll face whatever tomorrow brings together. Don’t run away from me again.”
The soft plea in his voice wrecked her. Ripped out her heart and left it beating helplessly in his hands.
She couldn’t answer, so she kissed him long and deep, lacing her fingers in his hair, holding him against her, memorizing the feel of him, his scent. Imprinting every nuance on her brain.
Because of all the commands he’d given her, he’d finally given the one she couldn’t obey.
An hour later, he was asleep and she was dressed and packed. She took one last look at him sprawled over the bed, his chest rising with steady breaths, his face smoothed of worry. A picture she knew she’d never be able to erase from her memory.
Then she opened the door and walked away. Leaving her heart behind with him.
TWENTY-FIVE
Jace stretched an arm across the bed, reaching for warmth, for Evan, but his hand hit the nightstand before he found anything solid. And without even opening his eyes, he knew. Knew she wasn’t in the shower or downstairs getting a cup of bad hotel coffee.
She was gone.
He hadn’t been enough to keep her there.
He rolled onto his back, disappointment enveloping him like an oil slick, weighing down his limbs and coating his throat. He’d lost her again.
She’d told him she loved him back. He’d believed her. But she’d left anyway to go take the goddamned fall for a friend, sacrificing her own chance at something true. All to keep a promise? Or was that just an excuse to let Jace down easy? If Daniel wasn’t in the picture, would Evan have given something with him and Andre a real go?
He’d offered Evan everything he had—his heart on a silver platter complete with a little sprig of parsley and an I love you. And she’d turned tail anyway.
He stared at the ceiling, the hazy light of dawn shifting across and changing shades as the sun rose higher and peeked through the parted curtains. The jet-engine blast of the hotel’s air conditioner offered an ear-numbing soundtrack to his warring thoughts. What the fuck was he supposed to do now?
Every ounce of caveman in him demanded that he get his ass out of bed and go after her. Track her down and cuff her to him until she agreed to give him another chance. Show her he could make her happy. But he’d made the mistake of chasing a woman who didn’t really want him. Once.
He wasn’t going to have his nuts handed to him again. He’d pursued Diana until she’d given in. She’d played his ego with PhD level expertise—an intricate dance that had hypnotized Jace into believing that he was the only man for her. The only one who could take care of her the way she needed. She’d exploited his need to feel capable, the need to prove he could be someone’s hero and not just the family screw up.
Looking back, he could see how manipulative and unstable she’d been. His divorce attorney had called Diana a borderline personality—needy, attention-seeking, emotionally destructive. But Jace had fallen in love and stumbled right into the snare she’d set out for him. He’d spent the marriage like a lovesick idiot trying to be Mr. Ultimate Husband. She’d spent it emptying his bank account and fucking the guy she really wanted.
Never would he let himself be humiliated like that again. If Evan thought her designer imposter relationship with Dr. Dan was what would make her happy, then so be it. Jace was done campaigning otherwise. Evan had proven the mantra he’d been preaching for the last five years. He was just a good time, a fun lay, not anyone’s superhero.
And the first rule in life: Stick to what you’re good at.
Now it’d be even easier to do that. Because whatever hope for love that had survived after his divorce had officially snuck out of his hotel room without even leaving a note.
* * *
Evan sat in the lobby area of The Ranch, fastening and unfastening the clasp of her watch, the rhythm of the repeated clicking like a metronome for her frayed nerves. Breathe in. Breath out. Don’t think. Don’t feel.