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“Except you had everything to do with it. You knew it was going to happen. You were there. It is not ok. My manager is having a heart attack trying to do damage control.”

“It was supposed to be good for my image,” he tried to explain.

“What? How?” And then I realized what he was saying. How the pieces clicked into place.

I was what made the image complete. A kiss with me somehow righted the balance of his bad boy reputation. For the same reason he pulled me down, I lifted him up. He used me. And he got what he wanted.

I had to get out of here. I looked for my bag, frantic to get out of Luke’s house. I’d call a cab. I’d call Jake if I had to. I wasn’t going to spend another minute under the roof of a man who would trade me in for his own benefit. Dragging and kicking me into the mud. Using my name with ease as if I were his property to dictate. I had enough of that with Jake.

“Alexa, wait.”

Luke followed me to the next room.

“I’m an idiot. A naïve, stupid, girl,” I huffed. “The country sweetheart who got fucked by the bad boy. Got it. I won’t make the mistake again.”

There it was. I spotted the bag where I had dropped it on the leather couch.

“You’re not stupid. It was a dick move.”

I laughed. “Dick? That’s it. Dick move?”

“I’m sorry. Ok? I shouldn’t have let it get that far.”

“Which part?” I steamed. “What part exactly went too far, Luke? The part where you led me to believe you gave a shit about sick kids? The part when I agreed to come back here with you today? The part when I let myself think we had some kind of connection after I spent the night with you?” I stood with my hands on my hips. My cheeks were hot and my hands started to shake. “I’d love to hear it. Which part exactly should you have reined in?”

I don’t know why I felt as betrayed as I did. It wasn’t as if I was in some kind of serious relationship with the quarterback. We had one night together. One amazing, change-my-life kind of night, but nonetheless—only one night. I was overacting to the level of deception. Too late to dial that down now. I was in full-blown Alexa mode.

“The press. That part.” He moved in front of me to grab my shoulders. I almost stumbled into him with the impact. “And I do care about sick kids,” he added. “And you.”

I glared at him. Nothing he could say at this point was going to soften me. I was angry and there was a violation of my trust he couldn’t heal with sexy bedroom eyes and sweet apologies.

“Well, you suck.”

I threw the bag over my shoulder, shaking his heavy hands from my body. I wanted out from under this.

“Don’t you want to hear what happened?” he asked.

I was three steps out of the living room, but I slowed down before I made it to the garage.

“Does it matter?”

“It does to me. Come back and sit down, Alexa.”

It was the way he said my name. The gravel in his voice. The forlorn look in his eyes. Shit. My phone buzzed again and I hesitated to answer Jake’s next call.

“Don’t answer it,” he instructed.

My eyes darted to Luke. I didn’t have to listen to him. I didn’t have to do anything he told me to do. But I thought about last night. How I gave myself to him. How when I let myself be free in his arms I’d never felt more alive in my life. Listening to Luke Canton last night had been the best decision I’d made in years.

He unlocked something in me I couldn’t get anyone else to see. No one wanted to see it. But Luke did. And only an hour ago I had been ready to go right back to that place. To his bed. To do all the dirty and naughty things we could under his sheets before I had to get on a plane to Nashville. I’d only had a few short hours with the man who had made every part of my body vibrate with ecstasy. It wasn’t enough.

And before now I wasn’t worried about his reputation. I didn’t care about what people thought about Luke. All I cared about was what he could do for me. How he could make me feel. I was here to drain every last drop of pleasure from him before I flew out of town. Because what I wanted was the bad boy. I wanted a rule breaker. Someone to push me.

Did that make me any better than Luke? Or were we the same? Both needing something from the other? Using each other? It was personal gain in different forms. Shit.

My boots clacked along the hardwoods. I stopped in front of the couch.

“Ok, I’m listening. You have two minutes,” I threatened.