CHAPTER 15 #3
“No, you’re not.” His voice was harsh. “You’re not driving home like this.”
He was right. Her surroundings were starting to spin. “I’ll call a cab, a rideshare thingy,” she said, digging for her phone to evade any eye contact.
“Get in my truck, Lainey. I’ll take you home.” He tugged her arm, not taking no for an answer. Her rubbery limbs and relaxed body didn’t fight him.
“It’s fine, I’ll call...”
“Lainey, get in the fucking truck.” He yanked the passenger door open and stood there waiting.
She slumped her shoulders and climbed in.
They drove three blocks in silence. Lainey couldn’t take it anymore. “Aren’t you on active duty or something? What are you doing off base?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
Lainey scoffed. “I met your parents tonight.”
No response. He kept his eyes on the road.
“Well, they’re lovely people.”
Again, nothing from him. More silence as they made their way across town.
They turned into her neighborhood.
Why had he shown up? And so late too? She’d had it. “Why can’t you leave well enough alone? I was doing fine before you came along. I was going about my life completely content. I never wanted to get tangled up with a guy who’s leaving in a few months.”
“Hmmf. So that’s what it is. You think I’m going to bail on you? That’s why you broke it off? I didn’t say I was leaving in four months, I only said it was an option.”
Finally, she’d gotten a response. An option. Robert was a guy with a lot of options, she’d determined. “Not only that,” she protested. “I’m not ready to date anyone.”
He pulled to the curb in front of her house and jammed it into park. She lunged forward. He turned to her, his stare burrowing into her. “You seemed pretty fucking ready the other night. Especially when it took you three tries to say my name.”
Rob...Rob...Robert! Yeah, she remembered vividly how and why it’d taken her three tries to shout his name.
“That’s what this is about? Our one-night stand?”
He broke his stare and chuckled. “This group of trainees is going to be the toughest, meanest sons of bitches I’ve trained.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
He locked eyes with her. “Because of what you’re doing to me.”
“What I’m doing to you? What about me? I lose myself around you. When I’m with you, everything feels far away, my life, my past, who I am. I don’t know who I am with you, Robert!”
Tears welled up. She questioned how much tequila was in those damn margaritas. She sighed. “I’m scared. If this doesn’t work out, I have to hang on to who I am, who I was before you. It’s all I know!” She was shouting now. She never yelled.
Robert looked out the window, shaking his head, clearly trying to calm himself. His jaw was clenched. When he finally opened his mouth, his voice strained to sound calm. “Lainey, how do you think I feel? Someone is covering me for two hours so I could come tonight and talk to you.”
“You attacked Mac!” She continued shouting for some reason.
“That was a misunderstanding,” he snapped back. “I told you it was a mistake.”
With no apology, she thought. “Mac has helped me so much since losing Geoff, then some strange man tackles him in his best friend’s house!”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry that happened.”
Finally, an apology.
“But he was prying open that fucking file cabinet with a screwdriver. What was I supposed to think?”
“Maybe ask him who he was before attacking him?”
“You are ...” he trailed off, controlling his anger better than she had.
“What? Say it? I’m what? Older than the women you’re usually with? Fatter?” That damn tequila had completely disintegrated her filter.
He sighed, running his hands over his face. “You’re drunk and need to go inside.”
“You’re drunk and need to go inside,” she imitated him using an antagonizing low voice.
He reached over, grabbing the back of her head. She gasped. He yanked her hair a little as he pulled her mouth into his. He kissed her hard and hungry.
His claiming touch mixed with her infatuation ripped through her.
She kissed him back just as ferocious. She clasped the side of his face, feeling the warmth of his skin as he worked his tongue into her mouth.
The battle inside her raged with temptation.
She bit his bottom lip, and hard too, before pushing him away.
He laughed at the surprise, dabbing his lip with his index finger, checking if she’d drawn blood.
However, she wasn’t laughing. She was furious. She was angry at Geoff, at Mac, at that Sam woman, and at Robert.
Determining he wasn’t scarred for life, he shifted his gaze on her again. “I think you’re smokin’ hot. Is that what you need to hear? You’re a damn fire hazard walkin’ around. I don’t want anyone else.”
I don’t want anyone else. Did he really just say that?
“I can’t. I just can’t.” She pushed the door open to jump out, but he snagged her arm. She glared back at him.
“You really want this to be over?” he asked in a demanding tone, which enraged her and turned her on, all at the same time.
“Yes!” but her heart was screaming, No. She jerked her arm loose and slammed the door behind her.