Free Careless by Cheryl Douglas Page B

sex to her, nothing more. “I guess I should be flattered
you chose me, huh?” But he didn’t feel privileged, he felt insulted.
    “Hey, what’s wrong? I thought you’d be
baskin’ in the glow of your triumph, not sulkin’ like a two-year-old.”
    “You didn’t get that tattoo because I meant
something to you…” He tried to push past her before he said something he
wouldn’t be able to take back, but she was on his heels by the time he made his
way into the kitchen.
    “Why does it matter why I got it? The point
is I did.”
    He rolled his eyes. “Most people get
someone’s name tattooed on their body because…” They’re in love. God, he
couldn’t say that. She’d think he was no better than her obsessive stalker.
“Forget it, it’s not important. Let’s just forget it.”
    “Like I can.” She repositioned her dress.
“I’ve had to look at it every day for the past two years. It’s been torture.”
    “Why?” He grabbed the letters off the
counter, intending to retire to his room and study them until he had a handle
on this guy’s motives. “You were hopin’ you’d be able to forget you ever met
me?”
    “Yes.”
    He didn’t know why he was surprised by her
brutal honesty. It was her trademark. “Yeah, well, I’m glad you haven’t been
able to forget, ’cause I don’t think I ever will.” He headed down the long hallway
toward the bedrooms.
    “Mike.”
    He didn’t trust himself to turn around, so
he stopped in his tracks instead. “Yeah?”
    “You were more than an incredible lover. I
felt something for you that night, something I’d never felt before.”
    She was constantly catching him off guard.
When he assumed she would be sweet and vulnerable, she was a little tyrant, but
when he expected her to have her back up, like now, she stunned him by letting
her guard down. If she was willing to put herself out there, he decided he should
have the courage to do the same. “I felt the same way.”
    “Really?”
    He turned to face her and immediately
wished he hadn’t. There was no way he could fight his attraction to this woman.
She was everything he’d always hated: loud, obnoxious, opinionated, reckless,
and totally self-sufficient. He hated that most of all. Most of the women he’d
dated were sweet, shy, and content to let him take the lead in the
relationship, but he knew this little vixen would make him fight for every inch
of ground he gained with her.
    “Really.”
    Tori linked her hands behind her back as
she looked up at him under the veil of her long lashes. “So, where do we go
from here?”
    “I want you more than I’ve ever wanted
anyone, but I felt that way once before, and givin’ in to that temptation
caused us both a lot of grief. I don’t want to make that mistake again.” He
winced when he saw the flash of hurt cross her face. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean
it like that. I just—
    She held her hand up. “It’s okay. You don’t
owe me any explanations or apologies. We both knew the score. It was supposed
to be about sex, nothin’ more. If either one of us got our hopes up, then that
was the mistake.”
    Mistake. He hated that word. If he never heard it again in his
life, it would be too soon. “You weren’t a mistake, sweetheart.” It was time
for him to lay it all on the line. “In fact, that night I spent with you was
just about the best damn night of my life.”
    Tori looked like she wanted to believe him,
but their past relationship had taught her to be skeptical of his random acts
of kindness. He didn’t blame her. He’d never treated another woman as
abhorrently as he’d treated her, and he had to face facts. The road to
forgiveness was bound to be gutted with potholes.
    “I don’t—”
    Mike held his hand up. Not that he wasn’t
curious to hear her response to his revelation, but he knew anything she said
to him now would be impulsive. He wanted to give her time to think about what
he’d said before she reacted. “We’re gonna