“You are such an asshole.”
“At least you know what I am and what I’m about.”
“Right. A fuck,” she snarled.
“I’m not going to give you what you want, Day.”
“You don’t know what I want.”
He stared. “Tell me you don’t want me.”
“There’s that ego of yours again.”
“Cassidy,” he chided.
Turning her head, she glared, her cheeks blazing red, about undoing him, as she demanded, “Did you plan today so you could be this… prick?”
Mac’s eyes narrowed behind his sunglasses. No, but she’d goaded his temper, so he groused back, “I’d planned to buy a boat and fuck you on it.”
“Partly accomplished,” she acknowledged in a mocking congratulatory tone. “Because I got fucked, didn’t I?” And she stood up, moving out of his way before leaping up on the bench, then stepping up on the foreside of the console to climb over.
“Shit.”
He had to move fast to follow her; if she started this heap up and slammed on the throttle, he’d go overboard with so little skirting, which was probably her plan. His feet hit the deck, and her eyes nailed him with enough ice to add a chill to the day.
He wedged her against the control panel and grasped her face between his palms, forcing her to look at him. She braced her hands on his bare chest but then jerked her hands away as though his flesh had burned her. “What do you want?”
“I want to go back.” Her eyes chased away, looking to the sky instead of back at her reflection in his glasses.
“Not my question.” But she knew that. Her expression told him she wasn’t going to answer, so he asked another question, “Why are you upset?” More valid anyway. He’d told her; warned her. She’d assured him he wasn’t anything she wanted beyond meaningless sex.
But she wasn’t built that way. He’d told her that, too. They both knew it. He’d known it all along, and he’d allowed this to happen; they both had, regardless of her assurances otherwise. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew there would be this moment.
“Because you’re keeping me from turning the key. The minute we get back to the dock, I can finally get away from you.”
His lips twitched. Damn, she did have a temper on her. He liked it, her stubbornness, and he liked goading her, enjoyed seeing the spark even when she directed it toward him. Liked it even more because no matter how much she’d claim to hate him, he could have her writhing beneath him like a woman possessed with little effort.
Like now, he could flip the switch in her despite the fury in her eyes. He knew it. Because her over-reactive anger wasn’t for lack of caring. It was because she wanted more than he was willing to give.
Not true, he corrected himself. He wasn’t unwilling…
He released her and moved back. It was time for her to learn a few truths about him, too. It wasn’t like he could lose her. He didn’t have her. But maybe she’d feel less rejected. Perhaps she’d understand why she needed to get better at the whole walking away thing.
“You forget where we are? Who brought you here?”
“Yours isn’t the only vehicle in the state. Enterprise, Hertz, at this point, paying for an Uber would be worth it.”
Mac surveyed the increasingly active lake, not giving a damn that they were sitting in the middle of it. “Let’s go below.”
She snorted. “You’vegotto be kidding.”
He glanced toward the sun, high in the sky. “Unless you want to roast, no. I’ve got a story for you.”
“Not interested.”
“Day.” He frowned at her because he was uncomfortable; serious. “It’s not something I want to share, but it’s something you should hear.”
Chapter forty-seven