She lifted her chin and rested her head back on her chaise, attempting to ignore him. “You’re blocking my sun.”
“Babe, you do not want to test me right now or you’ll end up just like Mary. Slung over my shoulder with your ass in the air.”
She lifted her head, her eyes taking in the dead serious look in his eyes. Yep. He’d do it, too. She wouldn’t put anything past him. Huffing out a breath, she swung her legs over the side and surged to her feet to bite out, “Fine!”
“Fine,” he bit back without a second’s pause.
She flung on her cover-up, snatched up her belongings and marched toward the hotel, Wolf trailing behind her, and every eye in the place following her. When she reached the bank of elevators, she jabbed the call button and stared straight ahead. She could feel Wolf’s presence at her side, feel his closeness. Hell, the very air crackled with his nearness, just like it always had when he came around her.
The doors opened, and they stepped inside. She punched the button for the eighteenth floor as the doors slid closed.
“You got a room to yourself?” he asked.
“Yes,” she replied, not looking at him, keeping her eyes on the flashing numbers above the door as the elevator ascended.
“You gonna look at me?”
“I’m trying not to,” she replied tersely.
“This how it’s gonna be?”
“Apparently.” She heard him give out an aggravated sigh. Too bad. Let him be aggravated. She owed him nothing. But even as she tried to keep up the cold exterior, she could feel her insides turning to jelly. She fiddled nervously with the big silver cuffs she wore on both wrists. He affected her still. Hell, he probably always would. She wasn’t sure what his intention was or what he wanted to talk about, she just prayed she had the strength to get through it. Maybe if they had a discussion, he’d leave her alone. Perhaps he just needed closure. Perhaps, if she was being honest, they both did.
The elevator dinged as the doors opened. She stepped out, and he followed her as she led him down the hall to her room. She slid her keycard in the slot and opened the door. Tossing her things on the bed, she turned to face him as the door clicked shut.
His eyes scanned the wall of floor-to-ceiling windows that provided an excellent view of the sun setting over the Spring Mountains in the west. He moved to stand in front of them.
“Nice view.”
“Thank you. So what did you want to talk about?”
With his hands shoved in his pockets, he turned back to look at her. “Why’d you leave? Why didn’t you say goodbye? Why wouldn’t you pick up my goddamn phone calls? Take your pick, Crystal. Where do you want to start?”
She moved to the small bar and cracked open a bottle of water. “Do we really need to do this? What’s done is done.”
“Yeah, babe, we really need to do this.”
“Fine. I left because I overheard Cole say Mack wanted me gone. I left because there obviously was nothing there for me anymore.”
“And the leaving without saying goodbye part?”
She let out a breath. “What would be the point?”
His brows shot up. “What would be the point? You’re seriously standin’ there askin’ me that?”
“Wolf—”
“Don’t you think maybe I should have be included in this decision of yours? You think maybe we should have talked about it before you just up and left?”
“What would that have changed?” she snapped at him. “Huh, Wolf? Tell me that!”
“You wouldn’t have been leaving town, that’s for sure. That’s what that would have changed!”
“Did you ever think that maybe I needed to leave? That I couldn’t take it anymore? Did you really expect me to stay and continue as we were?”
He yanked his shades off his head, tossed them on the bed and ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “Look, I didn’t come up here to argue.”
“Fine. Leave.”