Free Perfectly Broken by Emily Jane Trent Page B

satisfied?”
    Feeling unnerved by the realization, he
continued to press. “So the whole I-don’t-want-to-be-alone thing
was a pickup line?”
    She nodded. “It’s effective.”
    Tomas was ticked off. “I don’t like being
manipulated.”
    Unruffled, she replied, “Don’t you? You seemed
to enjoy it at the time.”
    He gripped his fork. “You played me.”
    Her blue eyes gleamed. “I wanted you.”
    The silence extended.
    Tomas tried to chill, but he was annoyed.
    “So tell me how it went,” he said.
    “Haven’t you figured it out? I went to the
funeral parlor and saw you. I was attracted to you. You nearly
caught me, but I escaped down the hall.”
    Tomas stared at her.
    “Then I rode with some of your relatives to the
church.”
    He ran a hand through his hair. “They didn’t
question who you were?”
    She shrugged. “A friend of the family.”
    Tomas looked at her, at how innocent and sweet
she appeared. Of course one of his distant relatives, not knowing
any better, would give her a ride. “Go on.”
    “Well, I saw you walk down the aisle to the
front of the church. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw you look
back at me. You are handsome, you know.”
    He held up his hand. “Don’t try to butter me up.
What happened then?”
    She lifted her wine glass from the wooden table.
“I knew you had your eye on me, and would come after me, so I made
sure to get out of the church just before the ceremony ended. I was
respectful at the gravesite and didn’t come too close. I watched
you from a distance.”
    “And you saw me look back for you when I got to
the limo?”
    She nodded and took a sip of her wine.
    Tomas had caught on. “So you rushed back to the
procession in time to catch a ride back to the church. Discreetly,
you caught a cab and followed me back to the hotel.”
    Susanna batted her eyelashes. “And while you
parked, I went in. It was a guess that you’d head to the bar.”
    He completed the story. “By the time I got
there, you had your drink and waited at a back table.”
    “Are you mad?” she said.
    He clenched his jaw. “It’s dishonest.”
    Her eyes softened. “It worked out okay.”
    “Because you got me up to the hotel room?”
    She nodded. “And you said yourself that it was
good.”
    Tomas shook his head. “You are one weird
chick.”
    “Should I leave?” She pushed her plate back. “I
tried to tell you this wouldn’t work out.”
    “Forget about leaving. You don’t get off that
easy.” Tomas took a big gulp of wine. “I’m just pissed that you put
me through hell. Do you know how I felt that day, having you taunt
me and then disappear?”
    “I guess.” Susanna brushed her hair back over
her shoulder. “But if I had come up to you and been direct, it
wouldn’t have been the same, would it?”
    He pondered that. “You mean like, ‘Hello, I’m
hot for you and I think right after your grandfather’s funeral we
should go to your hotel room and fuck.’ Something like that?”
    “Would you have preferred it?”
    Tomas let out a heavy breath. “You are
exasperating.”
    “And now should I leave?”
    “Stop talking about leaving.” Tomas took her
hand. “Dinner is not over yet. There is still dessert.”
    Susanna bit her lip. “You said just
dinner .”
    Tomas grinned. “Got ya.”
    She looked confused.
    “I meant the sweet confection type of
dessert.”
    She smiled. “Oh.”
    “And I know just the place.”
    Tomas paid the bill, and they left. He intended
to extend their evening together, still trying to figure her out.
Though he didn’t like the idea that she had picked him up the day
of the funeral, it wasn’t a deterrent to wanting to feel her body
next to his again.
    What got under his skin the most was that he
wasn’t the first. Susanna had said it outright. She made a habit of
hanging around funerals and picking up guys she wanted. Could it be
that Tomas was jealous? He had met her only days before.
    And in that time, she had come on to him