Page 188 of Positively Pricked

And there it was.The catch.

I couldn’t help but sigh. "I'm not staying with you." I stared up at him, silently begging him to understand. "I can't."

But the look on Zane's face suggested otherwise. In a tight voice, he said, "I've got a guest room."

Stupidly, the statementdidn'tmake me feel any better. In fact, I was pretty sure it made me feel worse.Talk about messed up.

I shoved a nervous hand through my hair. "You've probably got ten guest rooms, but that's hardly the point."

"Then what is?"

"Do I really need to explain?"

He made a forwarding motion with his hand. "Go ahead."

Desperately, I searched for the words. "Well, we had, I dunno, a fling I guess, and now it's over. Don't you think it would be a little awkward if I stayed at your placenow?"

His jaw tightened. "A fling."

I gave a hopeless shrug. "I just don’t know what else to call it." I offered up a weak smile. "I'm not very good at this, am I?"

He didn't even try to smile back. "No. You're not."

Well, at least we agreed onsomething. Unfortunately, it wasn't anything that made me happy.

From the look on Zane's face, he wasn't feeling so cheerful himself.

Under his hard gaze, I started to wilt like soggy lettuce. Over the last day, I'd barely slept and hadn't eaten in hours. Plus, my house was squashed, and no one had bothered to let me know.

If this wasn't a crappy morning, I didn't know what was.

Just like too many other times today, I almost wanted to cry. In truth, it was kind of surprising that I wasn't crying already.

I looked away and tried to think. But my thoughts were a cloudy, distorted mess, and the whole effort seemed like a giant waste of time.

From beside me, Zane's voice cut through the clutter. "All right."

I turned to face him. "Great." It was a lie, of course, because nothing about this was good, much less great.

Zane glanced toward the limo. "You don't wanna stay at my place? Fine. I've got somewhere else. Stay there instead."

Where? In one of his hotels? Oh sure, like that would end well.

Summoning my last bit of resolve, I declined his offer and pulled out my cell phone. Again, I tried to reach Charlotte, and then my parents. As I made the calls, one after another, Zane watched in stony silence.

Obviously, he wasn't thrilled with my decision. Neither was I, especially when nobody answeredorcalled me back.

In the end, what else could I do? I let Zane guide me back into the limo – not because I thought the idea was so terrific, but rather, because I was too worn out to argue.

Turns out, that was a big mistake, because the moment we pulled up to the place he had in mind, I knew I couldn’t stay there, not if I wanted to keep my sanity.