He met and held my stare for a long time before looking away. “I needed some space.”
“Is it because I went back home when you didn’t want me to?”
He shook his head and continued to avoid eye contact.
“Jagger.” My voice cracked. “Can you please look at me?”
He turned to meet my eyes.
“Is it because of your nightmare?”
He blinked. “What?”
“I came up the morning after I told you I was going back home to give you the keys to the apartment, and Amelia mentioned it.”
The mask he’d been wearing slipped, and for a moment he looked so vulnerable. His eyes filled with pain and sadness. Without giving it any thought, I walked toward him, wanting to touch him and offer comfort.
But Jagger’s stern voice stopped me in my tracks a few feet away. He held up a hand again. “No.”
“No?”
He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Sutton.”
“Sorry about what? Avoiding me the last week?”
“No. I’m sorry I let things between us get out of hand. It was a mistake.”
I’d been on the verge of tears until I heard that word. It felt like someone had sucker-punched me in the stomach, and it made me angry. “Amistake? A week ago you told me you’d fallen for me and gave me a gift you said meant I was yours.”
He hung his head. “I’m sorry.”
Thiswas the way we were ending? Not even a reason? He owed me that much. “Why is it a mistake, Jagger? Ideservean explanation.”
“I told you at the beginning I wasn’t looking for more than sex.”
“And neither was I!” I raised my voice. “But more than that happened between us, and you damn well know it.”
I felt another rush of emotions coming, this time hurt more than anger, and there was no way in hell I was going to let him see me cry. So I turned on my heel, rushing for the door to at least keep a small piece of my dignity.
When I reached the handle, I stopped. “You were the first man I’d trusted in a long time,” I said without looking back. “Thanks for the reminder that I was stupid, yet again.”
CHAPTER 36
Sutton
2 weeks later
“Good morning, Marcus.”
The beefy bodyguard who had been in residence in front of my building for more than three weeks now nodded. “Morning, Ms. Holland.”
“It’s Sutton. And you’re fired.”
The corner of his lip quirked. “You have a good day, Ms. Holland.”
I’d fired Marcus the first time on my way home the day I’d been kicked to the curb by Jagger. Now it had become part of my daily routine—that and the daily text I shot off to Jagger immediately after.
Sutton: Call off your dogs. I don’t want your bodyguards following me anymore.
