Page 27 of 1001 Dark Nights: Bundle Forty-Two

He tensed inside. “Job’s done. Youdon’t need me to stay.” He managed to keep his voice level. To not let her hearthe disappointment that surprised even him.

She turned to him then, her teeth grazing her lower lip.“What if I asked you to stay?”

“Why? Do you still need protection?”

“No,” she said, squeezing his hand. “But I think... Simon, Ithink I might need you.”

Chapter Nine

I hold my breath, thinking he’s going to say nothing.That I’m going to have laid my heart—or at least my desire—on the line, andhe’s going to spurn me.

Then he kills he engine, and hopefills my chest. When he turns to me, his face is completely expressionless, buthis eyes say everything. They show lust and need and desire, and I think thatI’ve won. That I took a risk, and it paid off. He wants me. And oh, dear God, Iwant him too. More than I ever thought I could want any man.

“I don’t date actresses,” he says, shattering all of my hope. “I made up my mind a long time ago aboutthat. I already told you about my mother. That was the first brick. The restcame with Kristen. She wanted to be an actress. We were going to get married.Turns out I wasn’t as attractive as the sitcom actor she met at class whopromised he could get her an audition. She left me. She told me that I couldn’tdo enough for her. That she had to take care of her craft. That she had to putherself above everything else. So she walked. And she took my heart with her.”

“I’m so sorry.” I want to kill the bitchbecause she hurt him and because she destroyed this newly budding thing that’sgrowing between us before it’s even had a chance to root.

“Between my mother and my fiancée, I got soured on theindustry. Or I got soured by the integrity of the people in it.”

“I really am sorry. And I do understand. I would never wantyou to do something that you don’t want to do.” I’m trying desperately to bemature and to fight back tears, but I fear I’m going to lose one or both ofthose battles.

“I don’t want to do something I don’t want to do either,” hesays.

Then, to my utter confusion, he leans forward and sweetlykisses me.

I taste the tears when I speak. “Is that goodbye?”

“No,” he says. “It’s thank you.I’ve held on to that for a long time. That belief that everybody who works inthis business is as cold as my mother and my girlfriend. It’s not true. Thankyou for that.”

“Don’t put me on a pedestal,” I say, even though I should beturning backflips and telling him that yes, yes, I’m the perfect woman. Perfectfor him, and to please just take me home and take me to bed. Instead, I findmyself saying, “I fucked my way through this town.”

“You told me. And I get why. And as far as I can see, you’venever pretended to be someone you’re not.”

“No. I haven’t. But I don’t know. I feel like I’ve becomehard.”

He takes my hand and lifts it to his mouth, gently kissingmy knuckles. “You’re not. You do a good job wearing your armor, but deepinside, you’re not hard at all. Or if you are, maybe we both are. We’re a lotalike, you know. We’ve both gone through this life mostly alone.”

I reach for his hand and squeeze. “We don’t have to be.”

“Frannie.” He pulls his hand free, then stands up and startspacing. “I don’t even know if I should say this.”

“Please do. It’s usually the things left unsaid that causeproblems.”

“You’re right about that.” He drags his fingers through hishair. “It’s just that this is all so fast. The way I feel about you. The thingsyou make me imagine.”

I tilt my head, my entire body filling with happiness.“Naughty things?”

He laughs. “Definitely. But tender things too. Waking upnext to you. Walking with you. It’s stupid. And it’s not.”

“No.” My voice is thick with lust. “It’s not stupid at all.”

“Frannie,” he says, and there’s no denying the heat in hisvoice. “I want to be inside you,” he whispers. “How comfortable are you withthat bad girl persona?”

My brows rise as I try to figure out what he’s thinking.“I’ll be as bad as you want me to be.”

“Good. Get out of the car.”

“What? Why—”