That full mouth tightened. “Don’t play fucking games with me.”
“I’m not.” I reached out, and he backed away, so I put my hands up. “Okay. As you might’ve guessed, I’ve never had a relationship. Never wanted one, didn’t believe in them.”
“And?”
Torre wasn’t making this easy, damn him.
“And…you’re the first person I’ve dated.”
“You’re kidding me.”
“No. I have—had—no desire to get involved with anyone. My parents went through a horrible divorce, and it soured me on relationships.” It was the smallest of details, but the most I was willing to give.
“I’m sorry. That must’ve been hard.” I thought I saw a crack in his stony facade. “You were only sixteen, right?”
I dropped my gaze. “Yes.” God, I didn’t want to get into this. I couldn’t.
Torre’s phone buzzed, and he checked it and made a face. I couldn’t help but say something.
“That’s Mike, am I right? I bet he’s ready to come back down here and beat the crap out of me to defend your honor.”
Despite his annoyance with me, Torre’s lips twitched. “Something like that. I’m supposed to be upstairs, watching the basketball game with my family.”
“All right. I’ll let you go. I just…” I shook my head, at a loss for words, and I heard Presley in my head:Tell me Torre was just another easy fuck, and I’ll never mention him again.
Why had it always been so simple before? My breaths grew short, and my pulse spiked. I imagined this was how people felt skydiving—stepping off into the unknown, praying that the chute would open and you’d catch the wind to bring you to safety.
If I would say nothing else to him, Torre deserved to hear the truth.
“I don’t know if I can do this.”
“Do what? You’re talking in riddles. Why did you come here today? What do you want, Frisco?”
“I want you.” Simple enough and the truth.
“You could’ve had me. You did until you went dark and left me feeling like a trick.”
My gaze snapped to his. “I didn’t know you thought like that.”
“You don’t know me at all,” he yelled and threw his hands up. “Maybe if you’d called me, you’d understand how I felt. But you didn’t. So the only conclusion I can draw from all this is that once we had sex, you lost interest and you don’t want to be with me anymore. ”
I hung my head as shame raced hot through my blood. “I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have ever felt like that. It isn’t true. Wanting to be with you was easy. What’s hard to come to terms with is you’ve become impossible to forget.”
Torre stilled, and I thought for a second he understood, but then he shook his head. “Nice words, but I’m not going to jump back into bed with you.”
“You know, I can talk to people without wanting to have sex with them. Even those I find myself incredibly attracted to.”
He snorted. “Meaning me? Forgive me if I’m skeptical. You’ll have to do better than that.”
At least we were talking. “Okay. Insanely attracted?”
He rolled his eyes, but not before I saw the slight upward tug of his lips.
“I already said I’m not good at this. Can we start over and see what happens this time?”
A shadow crossed his face. “What’s the point? You said you don’t know how to be in a relationship, and I won’t be with a man who can’t be faithful.”
“Never.” I swept in, cutting him off. “The reason I stay away from relationships is because I’ve never found anyone I’ve ever wanted to be faithful to. Relationships don’t last because of cheating. And just to set you straight, I loathe cheaters. If you recall from our previous conversation, that’s my cardinal rule. Don’t fucking cheat, and stay away from people in relationships.”
