“You’re welcome.”
“It meant the world to me to have you there as my emotional support girlfriend.”
She laughed at the sarcastic tone to the description of her role. “Happy to do it.”
“I think you were. And I know it took a tremendous effort for you to not jump in and try to correct or help any situation.”
He’d seen right through her there.
“It wasn’t my rodeo to ride at.”
He laughed. Probably not the best analogy she could have come up with.
Her mind was never focused on sex as much as it was now. Or around Arik.
“We have three hours to get to the airport,” he said.
At least he wouldn’t comment on her statement.
“Do you mind if I shower first?”
“Go ahead. Then we can get some breakfast before we leave.”
“Did you want to see your grandmother first?”
She threw the covers back, her shorts jacked up into her crotch, having her spread her legs to have them drop down.
His eyes followed her movements.
How many more humiliating moments was she destined to suffer in Arik’s presence?
“She knows we are on a schedule,” he said. “I’ll talk to her later.”
She nodded and made a mad dash for the bathroom with her clothes in hand that she’d yanked out of her suitcase without looking.
Twenty minutes later, she felt more composed and in control.
She opened the bathroom door and didn’t see Arik anywhere.
While she was folding her clothes to put back in her suitcase, the door opened and Arik came in with two coffees in his hand.
“Oh, thank you,” she said. “I would have choked down the one from that little machine there, but the powdered creamer makes it rough.”
“It’s the least I could do considering what I put you through last night.”
There was still humor in his eyes.
Did he remember that he started it first? Did he wake up mortified he had his body pressed to hers just as she’d done not that long ago?
No, he wasn’t mortified over it.
“As I said, think nothing of it.”
Too bad she couldn’t kick it from her mind as easily as the words out of her mouth.
19
GAMBLE TO HIS HEART
