“Why did you?”
“I’m not sure myself. I suppose I was curious—too curious for my own good.” Curious about all things Phineas North. Curious if her heart would keep skipping beats for him. It still did. She wasn’t sure it had ever stopped.
“I suppose I can’t blame you,” he murmured offhandedly. “If I were you, I’d be loath to leave a handsome man, too.”
She snorted, a bit of the tension draining her body at his attempt at dry humor. “There is no such thing.”
“When it comes to you, Selena Savage, there is no such thing as no such thing.” A short pause. “We don’t have to define terms if you don’t want to, but what are we going to do about this situation we find ourselves in?”
Her eyes met his, and the burning in their depths intensified, refusing to leave her in peace.
Peace.
Lord, she finally understood why Warrick desired his peace of mind. Selena wanted nothing more than to fall back onto her bed, curl up surrounded by all of her pillows, and shut out the world.
However, that woman had robbed of any peace even if she were to do exactly that. “I realized something tonight,” Selena said slowly, collecting her thoughts. “You are the reason I haven’t been invited into the club.”
“Me? How so? Is that what the person you met said? Is this what you meant when you said everything was my fault?” A brow shot upward. “You give me too much credit, Selena.”
She shook her head. Revealing the woman’s claim that they were lovers would open the conversation to the conditions of entering the club. She couldn’t reveal this. Not yet.
Two days . . .
Just two days.
She would claim every minute of those two days and clear her head and consider her options.
“The credit is deserved,” she replied simply. “You and your long legs, big head, and brawny shoulders are the reason I have not received an invite.”
“It’s astonishing how you can turn what ought to be a compliment into an insult.”
The corner of her lips twitched. “But it’s true.” She leaned forward. “You speak of curses. Is there even such a thing? If there is, then you are as much my curse as I seem to be yours.”
“Because I’ve been protecting you from fortune hunters?”
“Following me.”
A stormy furrow gathered between his brows. “Protecting you.”
“Why are protecting me in the first place?” She shot back, regretting the impulse as soon as the words left her mouth.
“Bloody hell, Selena. You know why. How long are you going to crucify me for that mistake? Yes, it’s my scrawl on the list. Yes, I lost the list. I’m the reason the list made the betting book. But you should know better than anyone how easy it is to misplace a scrap of paper.”
Selena let out a heavy breath. He wasn’t wrong. She couldn’t blame him forever. At some point, she had to let it go.
Cut ties with Warrick.
This man . . .
Who am I? Who are you? Who are... we?
Until she could answer those questions, she could not claim him, his heart, or anything else for herself.
She gave a curt nod, mostly to herself, but also in acknowledgment of him. “You are right, of course. It’s time to let the past go. You made a mistake. All of you. You shouldn’t be cast into the fire for it. Lord knows, mistakes are part of being a human.” She’d made too many recently to count on all her fingers.
Fingers. Fingertips.
He slanted her a skeptical look. “You aren’t just saying this to appease me, are you?”
