“Unbelievable,” I said as I walked across the grounds, not really caring where I went. The ground was hard in places and soft in others, the thawing process beginning.
“What is yourdeal?” Stick said as he caught up to me. He took hold of my elbow and steered me to the guesthouse where he sometimes stayed.
I tried to shake him off, but his grip tightened. Not so that it hurt, but I knew I wasn’t going to be free of him.
That thought made a bark of laughter rise from me, and he looked over. “Jane? What the hell?”
We reached the guesthouse, and he opened the door and gently pushed me inside. I heard him close and lock the door behind him. “Okay,” he said from behind me. “Now. What the fuck?”
I turned on him. “Are you serious? What the fuck? They totally ratted you out in there. And you’re surprised that I’m pissed?”
“What? What your dad said? That I brought you here to bond with Caro so you’d be more…amenable?”
I scoffed at his nonchalant questioning of what I took as a very large betrayal. “Umm…yeah.” My voice sounded shrill to my ears, and I realized with a blinding flash of clarity that I sounded just like my mother did when she’d yell at my father that she wanted her own Dotty.
And that realization sent me over the edge. “Howdareyou manipulate me like that. Don’t you think there are enough strings being pulled around here—and for all of my fucking life, thank you very much. It would be nice to have something—someone—that wasn’t knee deep in their shit.”
He came toward me, and I backed away. I vaguely noticed the living area of the small guesthouse on one side, and a bed on the other. For all the afternoons I’d spent at Caro’s house, I’d never been in here. Only the main house and the garage. There was a door behind me that must lead to the bathroom. And a small kitchen area off the living room. Small and tasteful, except for the jeans lying on the floor next to the bed, and the sweat socks piled to one side of the bedside table. The only clue that Stick had invaded this private sanctuary.
He was still following me, stalking me, and my back hit the far wall.
“You honestly believed that shit your father was spewing?”
“Yes,” I said. I put my hand out to stop Stick from coming closer. He snorted disdain at the movement, took my hand and raised it over my head, pinning it against the wall.
“No you don’t. You did notice that it was your father who said that, right? Not Caro or Grayson? And you get that your dad is, shall we say, not the mastermind of the group.”
“All the more reason that he’d be the one to slip up and let the cat out of the bag.” I knew what would happen if I reached out my other hand. He would pin that one too. And that was what I wanted. I wanted to provoke Stick. I wanted to lose control. I wanted to feel his hands on mine as they held me to the wall.
I raised my hand and pushed at his chest. We both knew it was halfhearted, but he didn’t scoff this time as he grabbed my wrist and brought it up to meet my other one, holding both in one strong hand.
“He didn’t slip up. There was nothing to slip. He made the wrong conclusion.”
“I don’t believe you,” I said.
He stepped into me, pinning me with his body as tightly as he did with my hands. “Yes you do,” he whispered. He dropped his head and nuzzled my neck, his tongue making a quick graze across my jawbone. “I don’t know if Caro played you, though I’d like to think she didn’t.” He kissed his way up my neck. I arched back, giving access, wanting more. “But I wasn’t a part of any master plan. Not one that included you. I wouldn’t do that.”
He kissed me, and I devoured his mouth, as if I could believe his words more if I tasted from where they’d come.
Peppermint, always peppermint. I got so aroused from the scent of stupid peppermint these days.
He broke the kiss, resting his forehead on mine. “You believe me, Jane.” It wasn’t a question.
“I’m just trying to find one decent human being in my life, you know? One…good guy in this whole mess. Of either gender. A white hat out there in the sea of black ones,” I said softly.
“You have,” he said, leaning back so he could meet my eyes. “I never proclaimed to be a white hat. But in this”—he pressed his body into mine—“with us”—he tilted into me, letting his erection rock into me—“I’m a good guy.Yourgood guy. Or, at least, I want to be.”
“Stick,” I whispered, the futility of the situation—oursituation—coming through in my voice.
He bristled, and I could tell I’d hurt him like I had that very first day he’d brought me Yvette. So long ago now, and yet had anything really changed?
How many times had I kissed that mouth? Tasted peppermint as our tongues swirled and danced? And every time I swore it would be the last.
But not today. Today I needed more. I needed all of Stick.
I pushed my body into his, blocking out the knowledge that there couldn’t be more between us. “Do it.”
He stared me down. “Do what?” He knew exactly what I meant. What I needed.
