Just that firm denial. Not even unkind, but gentle. Hell, a part of her wished the rejection had been harsh, mean. Because the soft tone smacked too close to pity. And like salt rubbed into an open wound, it was agony to her pride, her heart.
“You have one more year left of school.” He cupped her jaw, smoothed his thumb over her chin.
She shook her head. “I don’t care. I can finish online—”
“And what about the Meyers internship? That’s an honor and a once in a lifetime opportunity, and you worked damn hard to win it.”
Only two business students out of the thousands who applied for the prestigious internship program won it. Hayden had been chosen—one of the first women to be selected in the past five years, and the first Latina in the history of the program. During her senior year, she would work in a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Houston, earning invaluable experience and connections in the field she hoped to be employed in one day. When she’d been notified of her acceptance two weeks ago, she’d been ecstatic. Now, staring at the resolve in Griffin’s eyes, she resented it.
“I can’t let you throw away all your hard work to follow me,” Griffin murmured. “You’ve worked too hard, put in too much time.”
“I don’t—”
“No, baby.”
Still in that awful, terrible, tender voice. And under it, she caught not just the resolution, but the determination.
The finality.
Jerking free of his hold, she stumbled backward before catching herself. Murmuring her name, he reached out to steady her, but she flinched from his touch.
“You have no idea how much I want to—”
“Stop it,” she ordered, slamming up her hand, palm out. “You’ve never lied to me, so please don’t start now.” Inhaling, she welcomed—finally—the numbness that eased in, coating the gnawing, pulsing pain and grief in a cool wash of white. Sealing it until later when he wasn’t standing in front of her, and she could crash into pieces without him as a witness. “I shouldn’t have asked you to take me with you. It was unfair,” she apologized, the flat tone a far cry from the desperate one of moments ago. “You’re right. I’ve always known how unhappy you were here, and you never made any promises to me.”
Silence permeated the room. The occasional honk of a passing car as well as snatches of conversation and laughter probably from students returning home after hitting the bars filtered up to her bedroom, punctuating the thick quiet.
“Look at me, Hayden,” he quietly demanded. Helpless to resist, she shifted her gaze from the base of his throat to his face. His hooded stare and tense, too-still frame reminded her of a predator about to leap on its prey. “Care to explain that?”
An unbidden shiver tripped over her skin at the dark, faintly ominous question that wasn’t a question but an order. Disgust curdled in her belly. Because even as he stood here cracking her heart in two, he excited her, sent desire skating through her.
God, she was pathetic.
Crossing the room toward her dresser, she shrugged a shoulder. “Just what I said. You made no promises. And we both knew there was an expiration date on…this.” She jerked open a drawer and withdrew a t-shirt and shorts. It was one o’clock in the morning, but she needed more cover than the flimsy robe. More armor. Besides, she wouldn’t be getting any more sleep tonight.
“This?” he repeated, his voice closer.
She stiffened, momentarily pausing before stepping into the shorts and pulling them on. Only then did she remove the robe and let it slide down her arms, keeping her back to him.
“Yes, this. Friends with benefits. Fuck buddies. Whatever you want to call it.” The lies tasted like the filthiest of ashes on her tongue. The past eight months hadn’t been just a casual passing of time filled with friendly fucking. For her, it’d been…everything.
He’d catapulted her to a world where she’d transformed into a carnal creature that craved every erotic, dirty thing he said and did to her body with a need veering close to addiction. Instilled in her a feminine confidence that changed her, emboldened her. Wrapped her in a security that she’d felt free to explore and indulge her every fantasy without fear of judgment or recrimination.
He’d made her feel wanted, beautiful…loved.
But apparently, it’d all been a figment of her infatuated virgin’s imagination.
“You’re going to want to shut up now.” The low growl had her stomach tightening, her sex pulsing. Her nipples beaded against the cotton of the shirt she’d tugged down. She sank her teeth into her bottom lip, trapping the moan begging to escape. Only he had this effect on her. Could make her ache with just his voice. It was his super power and her kryptonite.
“Why?” she pressed, bitterness escaping the numbness in her chest and creeping into her voice. Part of her needed to poke him, shove him. Needed to hear him admit she’d been a fling, a fuck toy. Needed him to hurt her so badly with his words that this messy, terrible cracking of her soul could be a clean break. “I’m telling the truth. I mean, sneaking into each other’s apartments to screw is one thing. But could you imagine taking me to your parents’ house for one of their fancy dinner parties?” She laughed, the sound of it brittle and harsh, the jagged edges of it scraping her throat raw. “Picture you, a Sutherland, escorting the poor housekeeper’s daughter to—”
“Shut the fuck up.”
The enraged snarl burned her ear seconds before hard, implacable fingers clamped down on her arms and whirled her around with enough force to steal the breath from her lungs. Her heart rammed up against her sternum, but not with fear. Need. Lust. It flared to greedy life at his touch, her pussy already softening and clenching in anticipation of having him tunneling through her flesh once more. She whimpered as his mouth slammed down over hers. Helpless, she opened under the relentless carnal onslaught, submitting, silently begging for more. God, the taste of him. Crisp but sultry, like lightning striking wet earth in the midst of a thunderstorm. He electrified her, stunned her. Set her on fire.
She clawed at his shoulders, rising up on tiptoes to increase the almost bruising pressure.More, more, more, the sexual creature he’d brought to life inside her chanted. And maybe he heard her. Or possibly, after teaching her the exquisite pleasure he alone could bring her, he just knew what she desired, what she craved. Twisting her hair in a firm, merciless grip, he jerked her head farther back, tilted her face so he could deepen the penetration and angle of his tongue. Mimicking what he would do with her body. Take. Own.
Leave.
