“Please! Don’t make me beg!” I cried out, letting my knees buckle so I slid to the floor.
“Get off the floor,” he barked out.
“No! I’m not leaving! You can’t make me!” I cried out in desperation.
He started to haul me off the floor, which only furthered my hysteria.
“Okay, you can make me. This is your house, and I get that,” I rambled. “You could kick me out at any time, just like you do with Milo. And I probably deserve it. I’m a horrible person and I don’t deserve your kindness, but please!”
Suddenly, I was up against the wall, his body pressed firmly against mine. This close, I could feel his heart hammering in his chest, and mine, equally pounding in measure with his. Heat burned from his fingertips as he held them to my arms, but slowly, they trailed to my elbows, and then dropped to my waist.
It felt like all the air was sucked from the room as his knee nudged my leg slightly open.
“Josie,” he murmured, “You really shouldn’t fucking be here.”
“Because of her,” I whispered.
He nodded slightly. “And other reasons.”
Tears slipped down my cheeks at his words. Because he didn’t want me. Because I wasn’t good enough. Because I was the insane neighbor who banged on his door in the middle of the night to sleep on his couch.
And he was tired of me.
But there was also a darkness swirling in his eyes that I’d never seen before. Those gray eyes were like storm clouds with a dangerous presence looming in the distance. I didn’t understand where this was coming from. He’d always been distant, but this…
For the first time since I’d rammed my way in here with my sleep-addled brain, I realized there was way more going on than an affair. Something he was trying to keep me away from.
“What is it?”
I barely choked the words out, but the moment I did, his hand tightened on my waist painfully.
“You shouldn’t be here with me. Not now.”
It was worse than I thought. Way worse, and I hadn’t seen it. I mean, I should have seen it, but the way he acted… “She’s your wife.”
“Not my wife,” he murmured, his body shifting closer. “Not even close.”
“But she means something to you.”
He nodded again, this time, his hand trailing up my waist, brushing against my breast as he slid his fingers into my hair, gripping a tight handful.
“If you really knew me, you would never have come over here,” he murmured.
“Tell me,” I asked breathlessly as he leaned in closer.
His mouth was just a hair’s breadth from mine, so close I could almost feel the warmth of his lips.
“If you stay…”
My eyes flicked up to his, those gray eyes burning into my own. Where was this coming from? What was happening?
Suddenly, his lips were crashing into mine—his hand twisted in my hair, guiding me where he wanted me. But all too soon, he tore himself away from me, breathing hard as he stared at the ground.
“JR—”
He held up his hand, stopping me as I started toward him.
“I’m no good for you, Josie. This…whatever this is,” he snapped, slashing his fingers through his unruly hair. “Christ, Josie. Can’t you see it?”
