“You’re not going,” he said matter-of-factly.
“What do you mean I’m not going? And more importantly, how do you even know I’m going anywhere?” Ivy narrowed her eyes at his impassive stare, realization dawning. “I’m gonna kill her.”
“It was Gabe not Hope. He caught wind of what your girlfriends and you were up to and thought I’d like to know.”
She glared at him expectantly, but he stared back with a blank look. After a long and awkward silence, Ivy let out a long exhale.
“Fine, I’ll bite. Why would you want to know about what the girls and I are up to tonight, Sean?” She tried to sound bored but, in her chest, her heart was pounding.Why was he even here?
“Because I care, Ivy.”
The casual drop of the “c” word shot a surge of anger up her spine, making her whole body stiffen. How dare he drop bombs like that after his behavior? “What the hell does that even mean?” she demanded, throwing her arms out. “You have some nerve showing up here like an overbearing ass and—”
“It means—” He interrupted, his jaw bunched. He looked her over again, his gaze lingering on the dip of her neckline, where the tops of her breasts were peeking out enticingly thanks to her new push-up bra. His jaw flexed once before he snapped his gaze back up to her face, his eyes flashing. “Are you planning on going out to find your fuck friend tonight?”
She took a step back with a shocked gasp. “Pardon me?” She was so appalled she was nearly speechless. Nearly. “Please tell me that you did not come here, into my personal space, to tell me who I’m allowed, or not allowed to sleep with.”
Sean pushed off the doorframe and straightened to his full height, taking up all the space in the world. Then, with one long step forward, he was in her apartment and shutting the door firmly behind him.
“What if I did?”he asked simply. He didn’t move again, but he was close enough that the scent of him filled her nostrils and curled into her stomach, warming her from the inside out.
“Then I’d probably have to learn how to hide a body real fast.”
Dammit, why did it have to be him? Why did she have to feel this incessant attraction to this obstinate man? The one man who’d never been obstinate with her in their entire relationship, but had now suddenly decided to be a possessive alpha ass.
What had happened to him? To her? To them?
Suddenly, the weight of a thousand defeats fell onto her shoulders.
“I can’t do this with you anymore,” she said quietly, sadness filling her from the soul up.
“Ivy—”
“Look, I don’t know what century you think you’re living in. Or who the hell you think you are since I told you my plan, but you don’t get to call these kinds of shots—ever.” Anger. Anger worked. It never failed to mask the hurt she was feeling, so she let it flood her system as she stepped right up to him and his nerve. “You had your chance, mister, and all I got from you was a big fatHell No. So, guess what, you don’t get to stand there all tall and sullen and moody and tell me how to live my life, because—”
“I’ll do it.”
Those three words froze the rant she’d been spewing right on her lips. Her heart jumped into her throat, then erupted like a fistful of butterflies. He couldn’t mean what she’d thought he meant.
“What?” she whispered shakily, wanting him to clarify. Not wanting him to clarify.
“I agree.” His voice was hard, his mouth a firm line. “You’re obviously determined to find some action, and there’s no way in hell I am going to let you get it from a stranger at a bar or from Greg-Fucking-Lewis. So, I’ll do it. I’ll be your fuck buddy, your boy toy, your man servant, your sex slave, whatever the hell you want, Ivy. Please just stop your manhunt.”
Ivy’s jaw fell open, and she was pretty sure she was losing feeling in her outer extremities because she couldn’t feel her fingertips when she poked him in the chest.
“Ouch. What the hell?” Sean rubbed the spot on his pec that she’d poked.
Yep, he was solid. Fully present. Moving and breathing in front of her. Definitely not a hallucination.
Snapping her mouth shut, she straightened her back and squared her shoulders. If he was playing, she’d play too. She wouldn’t be made a fool of twice by this man. She had more dignity than that. She hoped.
“Well, I am sorry to inform you Mr. I’m-God’s-Gift-To-All-Women, but the offer no longer stands. In case you haven’t noticed, I am not the kind of girl who stands around and pines after someone once she’s been rejected. I asked. You said no, and I moved forward without you. You can’t waltz around thwarting my plans left, right, and center because you don’t approve of my choices.” She took a fortifying breath and continued, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a girls’ night I’d like to get to.”
She tried to shove past him, but he caught her hand, stopping her.
“What if I changed my mind?” he asked, his breath caressing her hair, his baritone rumbling right by her ear. “What if I realized I made a big mistake? The biggest. What if I want your choice to be me, like it was when you started down this warpath?”
“I don’t understand,” she said, the tremor in her voice betraying how dangerously close she was to losing it. “Why are you doing this now?”
