Free Taking Him (Lies We Tell) by Jackie Ashenden Page A

it’s my café.”
    Ellie bit her lip. It was still sore from when she’d bitten it last night. From when Hunter had given her the best orgasm of her life then walked away.
    “Uh oh,” Kara murmured, “you look pissed. I’m betting a certain hot, tattooed gentleman is to blame.”
    “Why would you think that?”
    “Because you’re staying with him. Which, I may add, you still haven’t told me much about.”
    “Yeah, well, you still won’t tell me why you left the con that night either, so too bloody bad.”
    Kara was silent a moment, studying her. Then she pushed her glasses up her nose and said in a quiet voice, “What’s he done, Ell?”
    Stupidly Ellie felt her eyes fill with tears. Trying to hide it, she leaned forward and picked up her coffee, taking a long gulp and burning her throat in the process.
    “Nothing.” Suddenly she didn’t want to tell Kara what had happened. She wanted to keep it to herself. Keep it private. In the cold light of day she felt ashamed of herself. Of how needy and desperate she’d been. She’d thought she had no shame when it came to him but turned out she did. He’d pretty much decimated her meager stock of female pride then stamped on the pieces of it.
    And she still didn’t know why she wasn’t allowed to touch him. Bastard.
    “Again with the nothing. Must have been a pretty bad lot of nothing to get you so angry.”
    Yeah, she was angry though she was hazy on the reasons for that too. Because she had no right to be, not really. He’d given her what she’d wanted and nothing more. Given her what she’d thought she’d never get. And yet…in the end it wasn’t enough. She’d hoped for sex at least, not a quick fumble in the hallway.
    Ellie didn’t look at her friend. “I…” She stopped, trying to think about how she could convey it without telling Kara everything. “Staying with him is harder than I thought.”
    “Why? Because he’s hot and you want his body, but he doesn’t know you’re alive? That kind of hard?”
    Well, that wasn’t strictly true now, was it? “Uh, kind of. But mainly it’s like…like he’s a different person.” It was the best thing she could come up with and that, at least, was true. She’d been expecting the Hunter she knew. The Hunter she loved. But the man who’d looked at her with the flame in his eyes wasn’t that Hunter. He was different. Darker.
    “So what kind of person did you expect him to be?” Kara asked.
    “Oh, you know. The person he always is. A tease. A pain in the neck. But kind and, you know, good to be with. Like an older brother.”
    “Huh.” Kara wound the end of one long blue strand of hair around her finger. “So he’s not like that at home?”
    “No. He’s not.”
    “Details?” Kara pulled a face when Ellie didn’t say anything. “No? Okay, well, perhaps you’re expecting him to be someone he’s not.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    Kara blinked owlishly at her. “Babe, do you actually know him? I mean, not just ‘older brother Hunter’. Not just ‘babysitter Hunter’. Do you actually know Hunter the man?”
    An uncomfortable feeling turned over inside her. “Yeah, of course I do.”
    “Really? People aren’t always who you think they are, Ell. People wear masks. Shit, isn’t that why we dress up? Why we wear the clothes we do?”
    The uncomfortable feeling sat in her stomach like a stone.
    What did she know about Hunter? Really know? He liked fiddling around with motorbikes. He liked building things. He had a family he hardly ever saw and didn’t talk about. He’d been kind to her as a kid. Oh, yeah, and his touch set her on fire. But what else did she know? What were his hopes? His dreams? Why did he never talk about his family? What was it he liked so much about making things? Why had he touched her then walked away?
    What had she been expecting him to do?
    She blinked at her iPad as if that contained all the answers, but of course it remained blank. The screen dark.