Free Close Up by Erin McCarthy Page B

the one who left. I’m the one who fell off the face of the earth for a decade.” That was a little melodramatic, but she wanted to drive the point home. She didn’t want his help or his charity anymore. She needed to figure her stuff out, once and for all.
    His hand rested on his glass, but he wasn’t drinking his wine. Finally, after a pause that felt only slightly shorter than the Jurassic period, he nodded. “Fine. I’ll sign the papers. I’ll even consent to you paying, on one condition.”
    Oh, Lord. This wasn’t going to be good. “What condition is that?”
    “You spend this weekend at the lake with me.”
    Her jaw dropped. She felt it literally unhinge and descend somewhere into the vicinity of her breasts as the shock of what he had just said hit her full force. “What?”
    “That’s my condition. I won’t insist on paying for half of our divorce if you spend the weekend with me at the cabin.”
    The cabin. The very place they had spent their honeymoon, far from the pressures of the city, of school and the influence of his family or hers. Where they had created a private world of youthful love, laughter and sex. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t go there and pretend it wasn’t breaking her heart. “Are you insane? Why would we torture ourselves that way?”
    The corner of his mouth turned up. “I wasn’t planning on being tortured. I was planning to enjoy every minute of it.”
    Now she was even more shocked. “What do you mean?”
    His eyes were dark and full of sexual hunger. “You know what I mean.”
    Yes. Yes, she did. “You want to have sex?” Seriously? It was mind-boggling. It was crazy. Stupid. Worst. Idea. Ever.
    And very, very tempting...
    “Well, the TV reception sucks and it’s October, so swimming is out. So, yes, I was planning on having sex. A lot of it.”
    “Isn’t that blackmail?” It wasn’t, not technically, since he was saying he wouldn’t insist on paying if she agreed, which was definitely backward, but nonetheless, it was a little manipulative. Which did not explain why she was suddenly completely and totally aroused. Even her toes were turned on. It was ridiculous.
    “No. It’s a bargain.”
    “Sometimes a bargain is a poor purchase if you don’t need whatever you’re buying.”
    “Ah, but you need this.” He reached out and stroked his finger across her bottom lip. “We both need this.”
    Damn, this table was too small. He shouldn’t be able to touch her. Swallowing hard, she studied him, wondering if she were insane to even be considering his suggestion. If she had any intelligence whatsoever she would walk out of the wine bar.
    “No. That is just not a good idea.” She had enough to deal with. She couldn’t handle a weekend pretending that everything was business as usual with her and Sean, circa a decade ago. Too much had changed.
    But Sean, damn him, gave her a smile. “So I guess it’s okay then if I pay for half of our divorce.”
    He knew her well enough to know she had drawn a line in the sand. He was kicking his foot through it. Damn him. “You wouldn’t.”
    “Oh, I think you know me well enough to know that I’m completely serious. Think of it as a bargain, Kristy. You get what you want—I get what I want.”
    “That is the creepiest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
    He laughed. She wasn’t sure what was so amusing about the situation. “Tell me how you really feel. So why exactly is the idea of spending two days with me so appalling?”
    It wasn’t. But she didn’t want to be manipulated into doing it. “It makes me feel patronized.”
    The smile fell off his face and his eyes smoldered. “There is nothing patronizing about what I want to do with you. What I want to do with you is show you that we worked together. That what we had was better . That it ended all wrong.”
    Oh, my. She couldn’t help but be very intrigued. He still wanted her. There was something really quite wonderful about that. But she didn’t want