“Don’t push me. You know I’ll do it.”
She chewed her lower lip, her heart at war with her brain. She knew what she should do: keep the door locked and wait for him to give up and leave. Her soul seemed to ache for him though. In fact, her damned fickle heart was leaping with joy at the idea of seeing him. In the end, there really wasn’t a choice. Dane was too hardheaded. She’d seen how he could get in the courtroom. If he said he would break the door down, then that’s exactly what he intended to do.
She sighed and stepped forward, then flipped the deadbolt. The instant she turned the knob Dane pushed the door wide and forced his way inside. He slammed it shut behind him and Lydia instinctively stepped backward, the dangerous look on his face turning her blood to molten lava. Oh, God, now he resembled the masterful Apollo. The gleam of sexual awareness in his dark eyes and the sensual tilt to his lips were reminders of how easily he could turn her into a begging wanton. His wrinkled white dress shirt stretched over a muscular chest and taut abs, and the black slacks couldn’t begin to hide an erection like Dane’s. Her mouth watered.
He dropped his briefcase on the floor next to the door and said, “Did you really think you could quit?” He moved closer, his steps slow, purposeful. “Just fax me a damned piece of paper and I’d be forced to let you walk away from me?”
“You don’t have a choice.” Lydia swallowed the lump in her throat and moved around the chair. Putting furniture between them seemed like a smart idea. “I quit, end of story.”
“The hell it is,” he growled as he stopped and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’ve given you space, Lydia, but it’s time we talk.”
“There’s nothing to say.”
He pointedly glanced at the chair and quirked a brow. “Afraid, little Lydia?”
Afraid of her own ability to keep her hands off him, yeah. “You don’t scare me, Dane. You’d never hurt me.”
“Then quit acting so skittish and come here.”
She stuck her nose in the air and kept her position. “I’m fine right here. Say what you want and leave. I have things to do.”
A muscle in his jaw jumped. “Like look for another job?”
She shrugged, as if his presence was a nuisance. “That’s only one of the things on my to-do list.”
“You aren’t leaving, so forget it. And I’m about tired of
you acting like I raped you the other night. You enjoyed us, damn it. I know you did.”
Her face heated at the reminder of just how much she had enjoyed their attentions. “I never said you raped me.”
His face softened a fraction. “It was wrong not to tell you who we were, baby. I hurt you and I’ll have to live with that for the rest of my life. But I can’t bear to think of you leaving me. The thought of never seeing your pretty smile again has my gut in knots.”
Pain shot through her. “Why, Dane? Why did you go through with it? I deserved better, don’t you think?”
Dane moved and it took every ounce of willpower she possessed to keep from running. He stepped around the chair, his movements slow, as if afraid of spooking her if he came at her too fast. When he was within inches, Lydia inhaled, taking in his masculine scent. God, she missed him. It wasn’t fair that he smelled so good, looked so delicious, while she resembled something out of a horror movie. It seemed to emphasize how far out of her own league she’d ventured.
“There are no excuses for my actions. I know that, baby.” He touched her cheek and Lydia very nearly leaned into him. She held firm, but barely. “So help me I didn’t do it to hurt you. It wasn’t some damned stunt to make a fool of you either. I saw you sitting at that table with Roni and my brain closed down. All I could think about was getting you in my bed. I would’ve done anything to make that happen.”
“Including pretending to be someone else,” she reminded him, still angry at his betrayal even though his nearness was causing her anger to slowly melt away.
He grimaced. “If I had it to do over again, I would tell you. As God is my witness, I would tell you before I ever brought you to that apartment.” He stroked her lower lip and Lydia groaned. “You have to be honest with me too, sweetheart. Would you have gone with me? Knowing it was me, would you have let me have you?”
Lydia grabbed his wrist and forced him to move his hand away. He did, but his reluctance was etched into the hard planes of his face. “I don’t know. I honestly don’t know what I would’ve done.”
“Why did you come to Kinks?”
Lydia knew that question would come eventually, but she still wasn’t prepared to tell him the reason behind her presence at the club. “I told you. Sex with a stranger.”
“Can you honestly stand here and say you didn’t have some idea who Apollo really was?”
Lydia shook her head, unwilling to go down that road. “I didn’t know and you didn’t tell me. You should have told me.”
“I think you had some idea, Lydia. You just don’t want to admit it, not even to yourself.”
“It doesn’t matter now. It happened. We move on.”
“The hell we do. Damn it, Lydia. Can’t you see I care about you? I’ve never been so jealous of anyone the way I was jealous of Apollo.”