“You wouldn’t bring anyone else into a world that’s already broken your heart.”
Fuck. That stung and tears stabbed at her eyes with a blinding sharpness. She stepped back from him and hit the wall with a thud that reverberated throughout her entire body. “How fucking dare you,” she gasped out. “What doyouknow about heartbreak?”
He sighed. “Don’t cry, Jay.”
“No. You donotget to say shit like that to me and then tell me not to cry.” Jay swiped at her eyes, wanting to storm out, to leave, but that was the problem with a small apartment like this. The only place to escape to was the bathroom—and he was blocking it with the body she couldn’t let herself look at, because it would mean having to admit that she wanted to.
“Why is this so hard?” she asked pathetically.
“It doesn’t have to be. It could just be . . . easy.”
Nicholas stepped closer and she froze, breathing a little harder. He gave her a minute, but it felt more like a cat toying with a mouse when he leaned in and slid his palm down her back, her hips, all the way to her ass.
“You look good in my clothes.”
Jay eyed him, wanting to be angry. He flicked the hem of his shirt, giving her a little teasing grin, and it was a tantalizing glimpse of what normal could look like, for them. No cruel games. No fronting. Just a man who looked at her as if she were his first glimpse of sun in a world of darkness.
(You have to come to me in the light)
Her face must have changed, because whatever he saw there made him put his fingers between her legs. She still wasn’t wearing underwear and he watched her suck in as he gently traced the swollen edges of her pussy, dipping just deep enough that there was no denying she was wet.
You hurt me, she thought, her breasts rising and falling beneath the peeling decal on his faded T-shirt.You hurt me and you made me like it, and I know you’re going to do it again.
His gaze dropped to her lips, which had already parted, but he was the first to pull away.
“Did you want to hang around here all day or are you going to show me the city?”
Jay swallowed around the catch in her throat as he absently wiped his fingers on his shorts. “Really? You want to see it? I—I thought you were here to drag me back to Hollybrook after fucking me to my senses.”
That made him frown and she almost regretted saying it. “I rented you that U-Haul for at least a week.” His eyes passed over her empty cabinets assessingly. “It looks like you’ve gotten most of it done already. I think you can afford to take a break.”
Jay didn’t want to admit that she owned so little, she’d barely even begun. She had already caught him glancing around in disbelief, like he thought she lived in a slum. “I wasn’t expecting to play tour guide but sure, I suppose I can think of some places to take you to.”
“Good, because you stood me up the last time I tried to show you a night out here.”
Jay gave him a harsh look, leaning away. “You were going to fuck me in your hotel.”
“Yeah, but I was going to buy you a really expensive dinner first.” His mouth shifted into what she could only describe as an obnoxious fuck-boy grin. “And lots of shots.”
“Charming.”
“I can be.” Nicholas gave her ass a light swat that had her drawing in a ragged breath. “I’m sure you’ll be averysatisfactory tour guide. Where do you usually go to have your fun?”
“Probably nowhere you’d be interested in, if Turkish nightclubs are your scene.” Jay tugged the shirt down defiantly. “I seem to remember you partying your way through most of high school, though, so this must be a natural progression.”
“And you used to do just about anything your friends told you to do.” His smile had a dangerous edge that made her heart beat faster. “You pounded the shots back, too, even if most of them did end up being water. And I remember everyone would stop to watch you dance.”
“Well, I don’t do that anymore,” Jay said sharply, aware of every point of contact between them. Of the heat pouring off his body like a furnace. The way the tackiness of his shirt made the fabric mold to his chest, showing every line of muscle, and—fuck. She took a step back, crowding against the wall. “I’ll take you to the art museum. Lily said they have an exhibit on ephemeral art.”
Nicholas watched her with obvious amusement. “I think the last time I went to a museum was for a fundraiser at the Getty. I was so busy dodging people with clipboards that I didn’t have time to look at the art.”
“I really doubt anyone’s going to be chasing you with a clipboard at the SFMoMa, unless it’s me and I’m beating you over the head with it.”
That made him swat her ass again. “We can go to your museum but if I have to look at a bunch of paint smears for an hour, we’re getting drunk at lunch and I get to stare at your ass as much as I want.”
“Oh my god, you are such a cultureless swine.”
“What? I have art at home.”
