Page 35 of The Arrogant One

Her brows rose. “Your …sister?”

“That’s the woman you think I’m with. The other couple are business associates who happen to be married. I’m not on a double date, Sadie. I work with my sister and the associates also happen to be my good friends.”

She was silent. Processing. Her expression lightening, even if there were hints of confusion mixed in.

“Jesus … I thought …”

“I know what you thought, but that assumption wasn’t even close to being accurate.” I let that settle. “That’s only the first issue. The second is that I still don’t know why you left.”

She stared at the ceiling, licking the gloss off her lips, her head shaking. “I needed to make an important phone call, and I didn’t want to do it in the suite.” She finally looked at me. “It was a rushed decision and … not the right one.”

Not at all what I’d suspected.

Regretwas a word that had been haunting me, and I needed to use it again. “You’re telling me you regret it?”

“You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

“Why should I? You leaving changed everything. Tonight is luck, but what if we hadn’t been so lucky?” I pulled my hands out of my pockets, ready to touch her.

“I don’t know. I’ve been thinking about that. And …” Her head tilted to the side. “Yes, I regret it.” Her voice was soft. “Yes, I’ve felt horrible about it.” Her voice turned even quieter. “And, yes, I’ve wished every day that I could have a do-over.”

I took a step, and this time, she didn’t stop me, not even as I slowly closed the distance between us, my hands going to her waist, pulling her against me. “You’ve got that do-over. Right now.”

Her fingers pressed against my chest. “I was hoping for a moment like this. Maybe not exactly like this—I certainly didn’t want our run-in to go down this way. But out of all places, I can’t believe you’re here at the same time as me.”

I brushed my nose over her cheek. “What if I weren’t?”

As I pulled back, her eyes glued to mine. “I wouldn’t know how to find you. I wouldn’t know how to fix it.”

“And we’d go forever without seeing each other again.”

She nodded. “I hate that thought.”

I stretched across her hips toward her lower back. “About that do-over …” I leaned into her neck to get more of her scent. “I wouldn’t mind hearing a little,I missed you, Lockhart. I’m happy to see you, Lockhart.” I smiled even though I was out of her line of sight. “My pussy is tingling and wanting you, Lockhart.”

She laughed. “You are …”

I leaned back to stare at her. “I’m what, gorgeous?” I licked across my lips as I took her in. “I have to say, jealousy looked so fucking sexy on you.”

“Dick.” She laughed. “You enjoyed that bit, didn’t you?”

“Once I figured out what was happening and the cause of it, I did. Getting there was just a little painful.”

She arched into my fingers. “But let’s say you had seen me with another man tonight. That I had looked at him the way I’d looked at you. Smiling. Laughing. Would that have bothered you?”

I didn’t know why, but I didn’t like the thought of that.

When I had been between her legs, the idea that I’d made her scream the loudest fucking owned my mind. That no onehad ever licked her like me. That she would wake up craving my dick the same way I dreamed of her pussy.

Those were the thoughts that made me reach for her face and hold it. “If I’d looked out into the bar and seen you with another man, tonight would have played out the exact same, except for the conversation we’re having right now. That would have looked different.”

“How so?”

“I’d have asked you if he could make you feel as good as I could. If the answer to that was yes, I’d have left you in the restroom. If the answer to that was no, then …”

There was a rattle on the door, followed by a knock and a, “Hello? Is someone in there? Why is the door locked? Excuse me, do you know why the bathroom door is locked?”

I glanced toward the door, seeing if it budged by someone sticking in a key, and then glanced at Sadie again, her eyes gradually returning to mine.