Part 22 (1/2)
Her throat closed up.
Her feet plowed forward all the same. Stalking past a silver coffee carafe and spray of hothouse flowers, she spiked divots in the plush carpet as she set her eyes on Don. She tapped her moody lover on the shoulder. ”Don? A minute of your time.”
He flipped his cell phone shut. ”Sure, but we should make it quick. I need to meet up with Lieutenant Colonel Scanlon.”
That ripped it. ”We need to talk.”
Slowly, he tucked his phone inside his sports coat. ”Actually, I was planning on talking to you right after I finished up with Scanlon.”
Yeah right. ”If you're worried about your daughter, that's fine. If you're mooning over your ex and wanting to end things with us, that's not okay, but either way, speak up like a man.”
His eyes narrowed at her final words. The air crackled between them with that same dangerous spark they'd succ.u.mbed to last night.
”You don't pull any punches, princess.”
”I think we already established that with our workout at your condo.” Her body still simmered from the intensity of the coming together, a heat that could swallow her whole if she didn't tend it carefully.
His face stayed closed, too cla.s.sically handsome for his own good, attractive in that way that just grew better with age. She thought for a moment he would walk away right here and now.
Then he crossed his arms over his chest. ”I forgot to use a condom.”
”Right. I noticed. I was there, remember?”
”d.a.m.n it, Paulina, what if you're pregnant?”
His words sank in with a thud. Because of his heavy-with-doom tone? Or because she suddenly realized she didn't want his baby, not this way.
She looked deeper into his expressionless face and found a glimmer of something in his eyes, something that looked incredibly like outright horror.
”It's fine.” Words tumbled out of her mouth ahead of her brain. ”I started my period this morning.”
Of course she lied, but she couldn't live with this awkwardness for even a few days until she started for real. Or didn't.
Right now she needed to focus on not slugging him for the mammoth relief flat-out shuddering through him. She might not want to get pregnant this way, but the thought of carrying his child did not fill her with horror.
Dumping his a.s.s would be a lot more satisfying than any punch.
She threw back her shoulders and thrust her chest out just enough to give him a peek at the lilac lace he would not be seeing up close later. ”I think we both know it's time to call it quits.”
”What?” His incredulity was almost ego soothing.
”Last night was . . .” She struggled for words and could only come up with, ”Too much. Destructive, even. We need to end it while we can still be civil to each other.”
He stepped closer, sliding a hand along her neck, stroking his thumb behind her ear. ”Come on, Lina, we had a fight. We'll do better next time. When this is all over, let's crawl into bed for a week.”
She stared at him through narrowed eyes. ”Did I ever mention I really would like to have a baby?”
He jolted back like a man struck by a live electrical wire.
”Exactly.” She fought tears. Angry tears. Not the other kind. ”Now go away, to your ex-wife or your own lonely corner. I don't care. But please do not insult me by going on about how I'm wrecking a good thing.” So much for not having words inside her. Now there were too many to contain. ”You think this is a good thing? Never talking about what's important? Never going anywhere together except work and our apartments? I think what we have is c.r.a.p.” Paulina spat out the last word and turned on her heel away from him.
He gripped her shoulder. ”Can't we agree to finish this conversation later?”
”I don't have time for this now or later, Don. I have members of Congress and their aides to keep track of, as well as your daughter. Then I have a life to live.”
She jerked free, determined to make it to the door before he could see the tears gathering behind her eyes. She would hold on to her pride. She wasn't that poor, needy little mountain girl in the Kentucky trailer park.
Don watched Paulina stalk away. There was no other word for it. Certainly not swish or sway or anything at all meant to entice him. He stood stunned. He hadn't planned on forever, and he was relieved about the baby issue.
But he hadn't foreseen her reaction or his disappointment.
A rattle in the hall startled him-for all of two seconds until he saw a maid pus.h.i.+ng her cart down the hall. Thank G.o.d this was a secured area, or anybody could have taken him down. Some agent he made today, no good to Paulina, Shay, or himself. He was always careful. Always in control.
Last night, nothing had been about control.
Don pressed his palm against the pinch in his chest. Had all the females in his life gathered to stage some collective intervention to convince him he was a f.u.c.ked-up dude? He looked down at his hand and wondered for the first time if maybe those chest pains had less to do with age and more to do with stress.
Somebody needed to alert the media.
He didn't need persuading anymore.
Shay didn't need any more persuasion.
Hearing Vince say meeting her had changed his life for the better delivered an aphrodisiac stronger than anything she could imagine. His words soothed the old hurt inside her.
But thinking about that hurt, that night, made her wonder. ”How can you say that when I slept with your best friend?”
”That event happened later, if you recall.”
She stared down at her dog, sleeping peacefully in the chair beside her. What a thoughtful gift from Vince. He'd seemed perfect to her back then. He still seemed amazing, but more real. ”If I was so important to you, why did you turn me away?”
”Respect for your old man. Respect for you.”
Oh G.o.d, she needed air. She'd been so mired in insecurities then she'd missed out on a chance for so much. With her restraint already falling fast, this tipped her the rest of the way over the edge. ”If I could go back to that time . . .”
”Well, I have to admit I wasn't all that sure you really wanted me as much as you wanted to p.i.s.s off your dad. That stung my pride more than a bit. Little did I know it would hurt a h.e.l.luva lot worse when Tommy threw your panties at my chest.”
She squeezed her eyes shut, her fingers burying deeper in her dog's fur. She'd wanted something like that to happen, having no clue how much she would regret it now from an adult perspective. ”I'm so sorry.”
Silence hung heavy with her memories of driving over to see Tommy. Of intending to tell him she'd made a mistake sleeping with him. Instead, she'd found Tommy and Vince circling each other, knives drawn. The fight had sucked in more teens, until finally the police arrived.
A gun was drawn.
Bullets flew, and Tommy dropped.
A horrible possibility bloomed in her mind. Her eyes snapped open. ”Were you two fighting about me?”