“Honestly I don’t know what she wants. She told me that you and I had to meet her, alone, in the mountains. I wanted to talk to her in town. I mean, I don’t know what she’s up to, but we both know she hates you. She insisted on neutral ground, so Jack volunteered his folks’ cabin.”
“Jack knows?”
“Not about the video. Just that we have a problem.”
“Good.” Not that she wouldn’t brag to her friends about a homemade porn tape at some point in her future, but not now. Not with Selena’s grimy hands on it.
“So I need you to get dressed. We have two hours before she gets there.”
“Shit. Can I shower?”
He glanced away from her and put his hands in his pockets. “Sure. I’ll wait out here, okay?”
After a hurried shower, she put on her clothes: jeans, boots and—in anticipation of snow in the mountains—a sweater and jacket. She’d taken time to dry her hair, but not much else.
Once inside his truck, they pulled away toward Mount Bachelor.
The silence became awkward. And then he started to speak, and she wished for that silence to come right back.
Chapter Fifteen
“How’ve you been?” he asked, his deep voice so familiar and welcoming. Yet the clear weirdness of his tone worried her.
“You okay, Dex?”
“You mean, despite the fact we’re heading to the mountain to try and get back our porn tape before it goes worldwide? Yeah, I’m dandy.”
She bit her lower lip. “I’m sorry about this.”
“You mean about the way you kicked Selena at the festival?” He tightened his hands on the wheel. “Maya, I know she’s a bitch, but she has power and money. And now she has our lives in the palm of her hand.”
“I don’t know that I’d go that far.” Maya wasn’t a prude, but she cringed every time she thought about Selena seeing something so personal. Seeing Dex naked!
“Yeah, well I would. It was one thing when you punched her. I’d never tell, and you know Anson wouldn’t. She had no leg to stand on. But now, with that video of us…” He grew quiet. “She could ruin my life here. No one wants a guy shooting dirty movies to take pictures of his kid and family. And I sure as hell don’t want my parents finding out about it.”
“Embarrassed to be seen with me?” she snapped, worried, annoyed and hurt for him. God, she hated Selena Thorpe with every fiber of her being.
“Yes, as a matter of fact,” he barked.
She stared at his profile, seeing the angry flush over his cheeks and narrowed eyes. “You are?”
“I don’t know about you, but my mother hasn’t seen me naked since I wore diapers. I sure as hell don’t want her to see me going down on you, okay? Jesus, get a clue.”
She felt doubly foolish for doubting him. Especially when he glanced at her with something bordering on disgust.
“You thought I was embarrassedof you, didn’t you?”
“No.”
“Liar.” He startled her by pounding the dash. “I am such an asshole for ever thinking we could be together, aren’t I?”
“Dex, no.”
“You wanted revenge? Well, you got it. I blackmailed you once. No, twice. Now I’m on the other end of it, and I hate it.”
“It’s not like that.” She frowned. “You can’t compare yourself to Selena. You never meant any harm.”
“Didn’t I?”
