Or maybe as simple as it seemed.
No wonder he’d fought sleeping with her so hard. He’d only been hanging out with her as a favor to her brother. And she’d pretty much thrown herself at him.
And here she’d thought he’d been clam jamming her because deep down he liked her. Not as a favor to her brother.
Her stomach roiled, and nausea swept through her.
It made sense, though. Just before James had arrived tonight, she’d even flirtatiously asked if Blake really liked her. And he’d looked as if he’d wanted to jump out a window.
I’ll takeNaïve Virgins for $500.
“Let me handle your brother, and then we can talk.” Blake opened the door and strode out, closing it behind him.
No kiss. No apology. Not even a hint of the tenderness that had been there all day.
Because they’d been living in a fantasyland. He’d gotten caught up the moment. Maybe they both had.
Her purse sat next to the bed, and she slipped the strap over her shoulder and then went to open the bedroom door as quietly as she could.
The sound of the men speaking in the kitchen met her ears. Low, angry accusations.
“I didn’t mean for any of this to happen, man, you need to believe me.”
Blake’s words made her heart crack and tears sting her eyes.
Good Lord, now he’s basically saying how much he regrets sleeping with me?
Humiliation mingled with the pain.
She needed to get out of there. Now.
There was absolutely zero need to stay around for the reckoning heading her way.
The layout of the apartment meant she could get out the front door without them seeing if she were quiet enough.
Tiptoeing like her life—and not just her dignity—depended on it, she made it to the front door. She twisted the handle, pulled it open, slipped outside, and then closed it extra carefully.
Then she ran like hell to the grocery store she’d spotted on the way in that was a block away. Only there, hiding out in the canned soup section, did she let the tears fall as she ordered an Uber.
*
Blake’s head poundedas James continued to lay into him.
He deserved it. He knew it did. How the hell had it come to this?
He shook his head. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen, man, you need to believe me.”
James’s laugh was harsh. “Anyone. You could’ve had any other chick. Why her?”
It was the question he’d been asking himself all week.
“You are the most emotionally unavailable person I know, Blake. You have been since the accident. Especially with women.”
“I’m not talking about this—”
“Oh, you sure as hell are. You’re going to break her heart,” James’s voice was unsteady, “just like you do with every other girl who falls for you.”
“There haven’t been that many.”