8
WAR
Frustration torquing me,I grabbed a towel from the laundry basket where I’d dumped the dry clothes a few days ago and scrubbed my wet hair. My mind roiled, every damn thing fucking with my head and hauling me back into a past of blood and pain.
This tension between us sucked, and worse, in my anger, I’d let that little info slip in the garage about my fucked-up life. One she’d thankfully forgotten about since she hadn’t asked.
I tried to talk to her. She offered four fucking days of a sex-a-thon! When I wanted a chance for something more, something real.
My jaw hardened. I glanced back and found her staring at the floor.
Yeah, I knew about the dickhead pilot from Mulligan’s who’d hurt her badly. Why else had she avoided relationships in the last two years?
Hell, I didn’t need Charli to do the fake-couple thing to get the endorsement. I’d managed to reel in my shit for a while now. Though my temper and hook-ups weren’t exactly fresh news, it wasn’t doing me any favors with Charli. If I slept with her, she’d have her time with me, and then she’d walk. She clearly didn’t trust easily.
Reeling in my frustration, I grabbed another terry cloth and crossed to her. She was still staring at the puddle of water on the floor as if it fascinated her…or she was trying to avoid looking at me.
“Look, forget it,” I said, tone cool, handing her a towel. “If you don’t mind waiting till this afternoon, I need to get some work done on the guest room.” I wiped my face, flung the towel on the counter, and strode off.
“So you’re prepared to risk losing thousands in endorsements?”
At her quiet voice, I stopped in the corridor entrance and glanced back to where she sat on the counter. She clutched the unused towel on her lap.
“A hundred and fifty K,” I said, my gaze tracing her high cheekbones, down to her stubborn little jaw and her wet, wavy hair framing her gorgeous face.
Her lush mouth dropped open. “Are you crazy?”
I forced myself to focus. This was the only damn card I had left to play. “Why do you care? All you want is the sex,” I taunted. Low of me, but then I was a bastard, and I didn’t play fair. I’d use anything to get her to give me a chance.
Faint color streaked into her tan cheeks, and she bit her lower lip.
“Well then, let’s go get it over with—four days of nonstop sex!” For the first time, it irritated me to my rioting skull. Probably because for the first time, I was sober—well, I had been for several months. Now, I finally found someone I wanted for longer than a quick fuck, and it felt like a canyon had opened between us.
I stalked back, scooped her off the counter, and headed for the stairs. Her eyes widened. Her fingers snagged my hair. It took a moment before her disbelief receded, and she found her voice. “War, dammit, what are you doing? Put me down!”
I ignored her demand. In the bedroom, the only one with a bed anyway, I tossed her on the mattress. She bounced a few times and glared at me.
I kicked off my sneakers, pulled off my wet shirt and dropped it, then unbuttoned and dragged off my wet jeans. “Undress.”
My order broke her gaping. “War, wait, wait!” She sat up.
Expression cool, I removed my socks, tossed them on the wet pile on the floor, then stood there in my damp boxer briefs. Her gaze did a quick up-down of me, and the red on her face deepened at my half-mast cock. Yeah, I could do nothing about the fucker, currently.
She hastily lifted her eyes to mine. “All right. SinceIstarted this, I will play your girlfriend on one condition.”
I folded my arms over my chest and waited. Who the heck knew what she would say with that sharp tongue of hers.
“There will be no others while we’re together. I mean that, War. I don’t care that this is fake. I’m sick to death of being cheated on. If I see or hear anything, we’re done.”
She had no idea, since I’d gone stone-cold sober, hooking up was the last thing on my mind, and then I met her.
I inclined my head. “Anything else?”
Her gaze glided over my body, but then she glanced away. “It’s in name only, that’s it.”
Is that so?I narrowed my eyes. First, she’d wanted sex with no ties, and now she did a complete turnaround? Yeah, right. Been there, done that, didn’t remember most of it, and I had no desire to go back to meaningless one-night stands. Not after finding her.
“What was the fuck-a-thon all about then?” I raised my eyebrows. “Thought you were dying to get into my pants?”
