She shook her head. “Not at all. But I think that’s all we are ever going to have.”
“Sex? It’s more than sex, Aly.”
She frowned and got to her feet. She felt vulnerable and raw as she moved around gathering up her clothes, dressing as quickly as she could. She heard Jay behind her, dressing as well, and by the time she turned around he was fully clothed and looking every inch the Marine that he was.
This wasn’t the sexy, demanding lover of only minutes ago. This was the man who’d called her down here with a mission in mind. She had the feeling that lovemaking hadn’t been his objective.
“I want more than sex. It wasn’t some hot lover I was missing when I was lying in the desert sand feeling like I was going to die.”
“Who were you missing?”
“You.”
“You had me,” she said, trying to objectify what had just happened so it wouldn’t mean as much to either of them.
“I did. I made a mistake. I’m trying to make up for that.”
She laughed because he sounded so wounded and so...well, not like himself. “You said sex was the only place we communicated honestly.”
“I was a guy looking to get laid when I said that.”
She raised her shoulder and tipped her head to the side. “Isn’t that who you were tonight?”
“No.”
She arched her eyebrow at him.
“Well, yes, but I want more. Dammit, Aly, nothing is going the way I planned.”
“Welcome to the real world, Marine. It’s not like the Corps where there are rules and everyone follows them.”
He stalked over to her and put his hands on her waist and lifted her off her feet to kiss her. She could have ignored it if it was hard and demanding, but instead it was soft, seductive. It was every tender feeling she had burning inside her, waiting to get out.
She almost put her arms around him, yet she knew she had to get away. She needed to get some distance between them or he was going to have his willing little Vegas-minded sex-crazy wife back. And she wasn’t that woman.
Really, she assured herself. Tonight was her chance to have Jay one last time before she set about curing herself of caring about him. Curing herself from wanting that hot body of his pressed against her again. Curing herself of the broken heart that she’d never been able to heal.
Chapter Five
“THEREALWORLD?” he said, grasping her hand and stopping her before she got too far away. “I know more about reality than you do. You are about to go happily back to your safe, happy life never knowing what I’ve done to keep you secure.”
“That’s not what I meant. You think you can plan out every detail and I’ll just fall in line like a good little girl.”
“God knows that you are a good girl, aren’t you?” he asked sarcastically.
She stopped abruptly. He knew he was pushing her into a corner. He didn’t care. He felt so out of control right now he wanted to see her lose it a little, too.
“I always have been, but then following the rules didn’t exactly help me out with my marriage,” she said.
“I never intended to hurt you,” he said.
“Well, you can’t be blamed then for your actions, is that it?” she asked.
He pushed his hands through his short-cropped hair and realized this conversation was on a downward spiral. “No, that’s not what I meant.”
“What did you mean? You have no defense, you walked away and left me and now you’re back... I’m entitled to be angry.”
“Yes, you are,” he said, letting his own anger abate. He knew Alysse hadn’t meant that the way he’d taken it.
