Only this time, he didn’t watch her from afar like all the other times. He’d knocked on her door. To talk. Which they did.
Just not for long.
Honest to Christ, he hadn’t planned on having sex with her that night. Truthfully, Adrian still wasn’t even sure how it all started.
One minute he was asking her how she was, and the next, Jenna was in his arms and his mouth was on hers.
The hours that followed that first, blazing kiss were filled with raw, primal need. She gave and he took. He tasted, and she explored.
In that one night, the woman had given Adrian more pleasure than he’d ever felt in his thirty-two years combined.
So, he’d left.
Not that he’d wanted to. It was just how things had to be.
No matter how many nights he lay awake wishing things were different, wishing shebelongedto him, Adrian knew the status quo would never change. Not for a guy like him.
It was that knowledge that drove him away that next morning. From her bed and out of her life.
Memories from that night would be forever burned in the deepest parts of his brain. But unfortunately for him, that’s all he could afford to keep. Sweet, hot-as-fuck memories that left him wanting something he’d never have.
Life really sucked big, hairy balls, sometimes.
Adrian scrubbed hard against his raw face to clear his thoughts before glancing down at his raging hard-on. For half a second, he considered dealing with it himself, but quickly decided against it.
The idea of jerking off with her waiting for him in the other room ranked too damn high on his creep-o-meter.
Ignoring his greedy cock, he rushed to wash the soap from the rest of his body. While he rinsed off, he silently cursed the unfairness of it all.
After the shit he’d done and seen over the years, he’d finally met a woman he could see himself with long-term, yet he’d been forced to walk away. Why?
Because I don’t deserve her.
Any semblance of a normal life with a normal relationship went out the window the second he signed on Uncle Sam’s dotted fucking line. Adrian knew that. Had always known that.
So why did you think this time…or this woman…could possibly be any different?
“Fuck if I know,” he muttered to himself before turning off the water.
Not one to normally let his emotions run wild…or at all…Adrian used the time he spent drying off to regroup. He was here as a favor to Gabe and his wife. Nothing more, nothing less.
Keep piling up the lies up, Walker. It’s what you do best.
With more force than necessary, he tossed the towel onto the floor beneath the floating sink. Ignoring the annoying voice in his head, he threw on his boxer briefs and jeans but decided against the shirt.
The pepper spray had dripped all over the front of it—probably ruined the fucking thing—but at least his other clothes had been spared.
At least I’m here, with her.
Shutting his subconscious out, Adrian ran a hand through his wet hair, drew in a breath, and opened the bathroom door.
Jenna had pulled the curtains back and was standing with her arms crossed at her chest, staring out the balcony window. Though he knew she could see him through the window’s reflection, she didn’t bother turning around.
For some reason, he found her willingness to ignore him hot as shit. Probably because he was one sick bastard.
Tell me something I don’t already know, asshole.
“Thought maybe you’d join me,” he teased, keeping his voice low and steady. “Offer to kiss the boo-boo you inflicted.”