“Didn’t mean to wake you.”

She turns over, regarding me with those beautiful blue eyes of hers. “You didn’t.”

“Guess I should have gone for that last orgasm, huh?” I tease, leaning down to kiss her.

She turns her face away from me so that my lips brush her cheek. “What happened tonight—this afternoon,” she stammers, then frowns. “However long—it doesn’t change anything for us.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re not together.” Wrapping the sheet around her hot body as she sits up, she scoots as far to the other side of the bed as possible without falling off. “Don’t get me wrong. The sex is amazing. You’re amazing, and you’ve learned a lot, but let’s face facts. You’re leaving next week and time’s running out on learning the ropes of running Gardner’s. So you have two choices: Let me run it while you still own it, or sell it to me and I can still run it.

“I’m sure I can make it worth your while and be very accommodating,” she adds in an uncharacteristic purr.

Did she just throw my words back at me? Worse, is she trying to sway me with sex? “Are you trying to manipulate me with promises of more sex?”

“Like you weren’t doing the same thing,” she says, but suddenly she doesn’t look so certain of what she presumes to be my motives.

“Actually, I used you just for sex. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less.” A lie, but damn it, I will not be played by her like this.

She flinches.

“Don’t act like the truth hurts you. I can’t hurt you. You made it loud and clear that nothing I do can touch your heart.” I shove away from the bed and begin to dress.

“Leaving already?” she says, her brows lifting in an I-knew-it kind of way.

I stop short of buttoning my jeans and stalk back to the bed, placing a knee on the mattress as I lean down. I grab her chin and force her to look at me. “You’d like that. You want me to prove you’re right. That nothing’s changed about me, and I’m still that bastard who nursed his hate and fed it your image each day while I was in prison and the first couple of years I was in the Corps. But I’m not, Rowan, no matter how badly you want that to be true. I’m just not that guy anymore.”

She yanks her chin out of my grip. “You’re being that guy right now.”

I grab her shoulders and haul her against me, dipping my head.

“What the hell, Seth?”

“I decided I’m not leaving.” Then I slam my mouth on hers and rip the sheet away. Her fingers go to my jeans, shoving and tugging at them. I help her, kicking them off and settling in between her thighs. “You’re wet.”

Her stubborn chin lifts, all defiant. I kiss the dimple in it. I snatch a condom from the nightstand, rip it open, and roll it on. Her thighs widen and her arms wrap around me. She buries her head in my shoulder, as if she can’t bear to see me.

I lift her legs and bring them over my arms. “You don’t have to talk.” I lean down, my chest brushing her hard nipples. “But you will give me those baby blues. You will see who’s fucking you.”

She falls back on the pillow, staring at me with a mutinous look in her eyes before she screws them shut.

Stubborn-ass woman. God, I love her. “Doesn’t have to be this way, Rowan.” My cock brushes against her and she moans in her throat. “Doesn’t have to be like this at all.”

“Doesn’t change anything,” she gasps as I thrust inside of her. “Doesn’t change anything at all, you asshole.”

I frame her face tenderly. “Be pissed at me tomorrow. Love me tonight.”

Chapter 8

Rowan

It’s Friday morning, and Seth hasn’t spoken to me since he got out of bed Tuesday. He actually walked to work instead of riding with me. It pissed me off so badly that I’ve been crashing at Piper’s ever since.

The door opens and he strolls inside, once again ignoring me as he laughs at something Boyd says. My heart pinches and I rub the spot, but I refuse to cry over it, over him, or over this situation.

Although, it is strange to be in the same building and not talking to him. No, not strange. It’s like losing him all over again. Stupid for me to think, really, since he wasn’t mine in the first place. He hasn’t been mine for years.

“I used you just for sex. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Worse, I feel like I crossed a line—that I ventured into territory I had no business visiting. I never should have listened to my brother, but I got desperate. Time is running out, and instead of concentrating on my future, I’m sexing up my ex.

I can’t work like this, much less live like this. I haven’t experienced this constant state of flux since I was a little girl. It has me on edge. So much has changed in my life in the nearly two weeks since Miss Myrtle’s frail body got tired of fighting the cancer that had ravaged her.

But there is a bright side. Jase is finally coming home, and I think I’m going to move back in with him. The house is big enough for the two of us, and I know he’s not planning on settling down anytime soon. Neither of us has ever thought about the future in terms of marriage.

Even as much as I loved Seth growing up, I always thought he’d eventually find someone else. I hold my hand out, splaying the fingers and taking note of the black stains along the cuticle beds. Someone who isn’t quite so rough around the edges and doesn’t like to get her hands greasy on engines. A girl more like Piper or Brooklyn—ladies with brains and class.

There’s a crash, and I start, my heart pounding.

Boyd appears in my doorway. “We’re going to the Double Deuce tonight to celebrate Xavier getting a job. You coming?”

I flash him a smile. “What time?”

“Right after closing.”

“I’ll try to make it. I’m picking Jase up at three and there’s no telling what he’ll want to do. If I can’t, then I’ll make a point to take Xavier to lunch on Monday, with you as our chaperone, of course.” I grab my phone to make a note to myself. “Hey, did you get my email about Jase’s party tomorrow night?”

“Yeah, we all got it. Not sure why you sent it by email, though.”

“Figured it was easier.” I glance at him. Boyd looks like he wants to say something more, but he shakes his head and walks out of my office.

I blow out a breath. The last thing I want to talk about is Seth and me, and what we’re doing. Or what we’re not doing.

God, why did he have to come back into my life like this?

—

Anticipation and excitement zip through me as I drive to Western Prison to pick up my brother. I’ve put Seth completely out of my thoughts. When Jase sees me, all he’s going to get is a happy, chipper sister.

I roll my eyes.

If Jase got a happy, chipper sister, he’d immediately suspect something, or think an invasion of the body snatchers had happened.

Pulling up to the checkpoint, I hand the guard my ID. My name is on the list, so they wave me through pretty quickly. Following the signs to visitor parking, I find an empty space and cut the engine, then get out and lean against my car. Unsure of where I’m supposed to pick him up, I figure here is as good as anywhere.

To pass the time, I start playing one of those mindless games on my phone.

“Rowan!” Jase shouts.

I almost drop my phone in my hurry to shove it in my pocket and run to him. He meets me halfway, grabbing me up in a bear hug.

“I can’t believe it,” I cry. “You’re out. You’re finally out.” Leaning back, I look at him. He’s different without his prison uniform. His blue eyes are vibrant and his smile is gleaming. It’s as if the cloud that’s been hanging over him has been blown away.