He closed his eyes, emotion clogging in his throat. “Me neither,” he said gruffly.
He rolled onto his back. After a moment, she placed her hand on his chest and he turned his face toward her.
“Before this goes any further, I have to tell you something.” Lana released her breath, her expression sober. She stared down at him, the faint light from the living room casting shadows on her face.
He looked into her pensive brown eyes and what he saw there made his heart lurch. Had he gone too far somehow, breached barriers that Lana hadn’t wanted him to breach? Was she going to tell him it was over?
“Sean, please remember that I did this in the heat of the moment before I thought…”
Sean experienced a rush of emotion. Suddenly, the light mood was totally gone, replaced by something foreboding. He’d wondered how long it would be before the bubble burst and reality would sweep in, and all this magic would disappear. “What is it, Lana?” he asked.
She stared at him for a second, something akin to fear flashing across her eyes, then regret. “I seduced you on a dare I have with Sienna and Kate.”
Feeling as if she’d pulled the ground out from under him, he stared at her. It was as if she’d peeled away some protective layer, leaving him without any defenses, and blood rushed to his ears.
“A dare?” he repeated stupidly. “For what?”
She swallowed. “A souvenir.”
“What kind of souvenir?”
“A sexy one.”
“I see. So, this was only about sex.”
“Yes—I mean no. Let me explain.”
“You don’t have to.” He got off the bed, grabbed his clothes and rushed to dress, almost putting out all the candles.
And he thought that she was treating him just like everybody else—good old Sean won’t mind. Well, he did mind. He minded a whole hell of a lot.No more, he thought as he threw on his clothes and splashed cold water on his face. He wasn’t going to be easygoing Sean anymore.
The scent of the room had been a sexual goad, now it was a painful reminder of his stupid idyllic dreams. It was only now he realized how deep his feelings for Lana went. Down to his heart.
When he returned to Lana, she was still sitting on the bed, draped in nothing but the sheet. Her body was a combination of sleek strength and womanly curves.
“Sean, if you give me a moment to explain. We were at a club, and we were drinking. Sienna walked in with this hunk, and I dared her to go after him. Before I knew it, I had agreed to go after you.”
He drew his eyes from her and without another word, left the room.
The hurt sluiced through him as deep and as devastating as the pleasure had only a few moments before.
CHAPTER6
Lana scrambled off the bed, the hurt look in his eyes arrowing straight to her heart. She grabbed her clothes.
“Sean, wait!” she yelled. Pulling a shirt over her head and hopping into her jeans, she rushed for the door.
“Sean!” she cried. But he was already striding across her living room and the sound of the slamming door was his only response.
She closed her eyes and leaned against the jamb, her throat thick with emotions. Damn, damn and double damn. Why couldn’t he just stop and listen to her?
His car started, a loud, angry noise in the still night. She made it to the window in just enough time to see his taillights disappear into the darkness.
For the first time since she met him, her world tilted out of kilter. The power of Sean’s friendship had kept her grounded. Unsettled by that thought, she regretted the cavalier way she’d treated this whole souvenir thing with him.
Okay, so she had initially thought he would chuckle and hand over a souvenir, but she’d obviously been wrong about his reaction.
Seriously wrong.