“What happened, baby?” he murmured, brushing his thumbs across her cheekbones. “Why are you so sad?”
“I… I don’t know.”
“Naughty little kitten. What have I told you about lying to me?”
“Please go.”
The words were a plea, and for the life of him, he couldn’t understand why. “Talk to me, baby. What happened?”
Tears shimmered in her eyes, but then she blinked and they were gone, replaced by a fury he hadn’t been expecting. “You want to know what happened?”
“Yes,” he replied automatically, with more certainty than he felt. For someone who’d just told him he hadn’t done anything to upset her, she looked plenty pissed off to him.
“I realized what a fucking idiot I was being, so I called things off before I—before someone got hurt.”
Irritation rose to shove aside the concern he’d been feeling since she opened the door. “What the hell are you on about, girl?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Excuse me? Girl?”
Oh, she didn’t like that at all. Good. Maybe it was petty of him, but he had a sudden need to put her in her place. “Yeah. You’re about two seconds from getting your ass blistered, so it seemed appropriate.”
“You can’t just keep threatening to beat me when I do something you don’t like, Austin!”
“You’re right,” he conceded, dropping his hands to his sides.
“I am? Of course, I am,” she corrected herself hastily, leveling another one of those icy glares at him.
“If I keep threatening, but not following through, it sends the wrong message.”
He saw the moment his words registered in the widening of her eyes and the shake of her head. “That’s not what I meant!”
“I know.” And dammit, she had a point. He was moving too fast, and he knew it. Instinct was pushing him to claim, to conquer, and he was dangerously close to letting those instincts take over.
But he damn well knew better, so he took a step back. “If you want me to leave, I’ll go. But I would like to know why, first.”
“I already told you.” Some of her bravado faded, leaving her looking sad and exhausted. “This thing between us isn’t going anywhere, and we both know it. So it’s better to just call it off before someone gets hurt.”
“What makes you think it isn’t going anywhere? Is it because you’re too smart for me? Because I know that but I figure my dashing good looks make up for it.” He flashed her a smile, which seemed to surprise a laugh out of her.
“You know it’s not that.”
“Then tell me what it is, kitten, because I’m at a loss here.” Not entirely true — he had a pretty good feeling what was going on, but he wanted to hear her say it.
“Because we both know you’re not going to stick with the fat girl, okay? Happy?”
“Not exactly. What did I tell you about speaking badly about my woman?”
A pink flush crept up her neck and she sucked her bottom lip between her teeth. “I’m not your woman.”
“Why? Because you don’t want to be or because some voice in your head says you don’t deserve to be?”
Her eyes narrowed, but he could still practically see the wheels turning in her head. “The second one, I guess.”
“Well, tell that voice to shut up. I want you, Katherine, and as far as I’m concerned anyone who has a problem with it can fuck off. Including that damn voice in your head.”
“I want you, too, it’s just not that simple for me.”
“Yeah, I guess I get that. But isn’t it worth a shot, at least? Do you really want to walk away from this and spend the rest of your life wondering ‘what if’?”