I really fucking hated this town.
Knocking on Ellie’s door,I wiped what I could of the foul-smelling milkshake from my neck. Whoever thought banana belonged in a milkshake was insane. The scent would linger the rest of the night.
I was tempted to just go home and forget about apologies. The shake running down my spine and chest, coating my balls, was enough to almost make me turn around.
But I was already here, and Ellie deserved an apology for my behavior.
When the door swung open, the usual charm and perfect smile were missing from Ellie’s face. Instead, she quirked an eyebrow at me, her eyes roaming over my soaked chest before returning to my face.
“Can I help you?”
She was not going to make this easy on me. “Can I come in?”
“I don’t think so.”
The door slammed in my face, and then I heard the telltale sound of the lock clicking into place. It would be so easy to turn around right now and call it quits, but despite my reputation, quitting wasn’t a word I was familiar with.
So, I pounded on the door again and waited for her to answer.
It took another five minutes of relentless banging before she finally answered the door, looking even more agitated than the last time she answered.
“What do you want?”
“Just a minute to talk.”
“Why? If you’re not here to fuck, I’m not sure what the point of you entering my house would be.”
Yeah, I deserved that, and probably a punch to the face. I could have worded it differently, but I was still pissed that she contacted Bianca.
“Bad choice of words.”
She huffed out a laugh. “Bad choice…that’s what you think that was?”
“Okay, it was worse than a bad choice of words. It was stupid and…look, I never intended to say anything like that to you.”
“And yet, it came out of your mouth in front of everyone at your office.”
“You called my ex!”
“Because I was worried about you. Not because I was digging up dark secrets!”
“I know!” I shouted, relenting my stupidity. “I know,” I repeated more softly. “Look, it was stupid of me. I never should have gotten upset, but the thought of Bianca touching anything here just pisses me off.”
I looked up into her sweet eyes and watched as they slowly melted before me. I wasn’t sure how the hell this woman ever got stuck with a bastard like me, but for some reason, she was, and she wasn’t slamming the door in my face for a second time.
Instead, the door widened and she stepped aside. “You’d better come inside.”
“Thank you.”
“But don’t sit on my furniture. You smell terrible.”
A smile slid across my lips, but the moment her door slammed, I schooled my features. This was far from over.
“I owe you an explanation.”
“You’re damn right you do,” she scoffed.
“It’s actually really simple. I worked late last night, and I was sitting in your driveway, wishing I could be inside with you, but…I didn’t want to wake you up. I thought it would be selfish of me.”
