Damned If You Don't by Linda J. Parisi Read Free Book Online Page A

taking your anger out on me is a waste of time.”
    If he was trying to scare her, he was doing a good job. But she’d be damned before she’d let him know that. Wait a minute. She was already damned. So what the hell?
    “All right, Jack. I want the truth.”
    “Ditto.”
    “I get to go first,” she retorted, her tone icy cold.
    He inclined his head.
    “One of the things I don’t understand is why you stopped me in the hotel.”
    His lips lifted into a self-deprecating smile. “Couldn’t help myself.”
    Did she dare believe that? Suckers were born every day.
    He pinned her with his gaze. Two could play this game very easily. “You know what I don’t understand?” he asked. “I don’t understand why you came to my room last night.”
    “Couldn’t help myself,” she replied, throwing his look and his smile right back at him.
    A long silence grew between them. She tried to tamp down the well of anguish inside her belly, but as she and Jack stared at each other, it became part of the silence. His gaze told her he couldn’t stop it from growing any more than he could make amends. But he could try.
    “I know you won’t believe me, but it wasn’t just sex,” he finally told her.
    “I made love to you,” she cried, clutching her body as her insides twisted.
    “I know.”
    She watched him lean forward and balance his forearms on his thighs. “God.” He laughed, the sound bitter but at the same time sweet. His gaze lifted, caught hers again, and refused to let go. “I can’t explain what happened except to say I stopped breathing the moment I saw you.”
    Oh, no.
    “So that made everything all right. Being ‘in sex’ with me made it all okay. You knew you were going to have to hand me over, you bastard. You knew. But that was just fine. Because you got your rocks off along the way.”
    He jumped up out of the seat and dropped to his knees in front of her. His posture begged, not to forgive him, for he seemed to understand the impossibility of that at the moment. No, he dropped to his knees, begging her to allow him an apology.
    “I’m sorry. I had no right to do what I did.”
    He didn’t try to excuse his behavior or his actions. “Thanks for making me the exception,” she bit back at him.
    He released a heartfelt sigh, which finally reached through her anger. “No problem.”
    His gaze darkened, catching hers, refusing to let go as they both remembered the ferry deck.
    “You should never have come to my room,” he told her.
    “And if I hadn’t?”
    His smile hurt both of them. But the truth hurt sometimes. “I’d have come to yours.”
    “To keep me near you,” she whispered, her tone bitter.
    “Yes!” he exploded, her pain reaching him. “I couldn’t let you go.”
    Did she dare believe him? That they both fell into the enchanted evening knowing they shouldn’t? “Thanks for being honest.”
    Her tone let him know exactly how she felt. The South Pole would have been warmer.
    His reached up with his hand to graze her cheek, then let it fall without making contact. “I know it’s no consolation but you stopped being a job the moment I danced with you.”
    That didn’t help matters although a small, secret part deep inside her felt better. “You gave me up.”
    “I had no choice.” He raked his hands through his hair. “I had to find out why you were so special.”
    She frowned. “Special?”
    Pride laced his tone. “I don’t get called out on a job unless it’s really important, kitten.”
    She let his endearment slip by while she put on her snark. “Wow. I mean, gee. I’m a celebrity.”
    His gaze hardened. Guess he didn’t like snide. Too bad.
    With a deep indrawn breath, he rose and sat back on the seat. “You need to tell me everything, Morgan,” he replied, his body language simply weary now. “Whoever is paying the bill, well, they mean business.”
    No kidding.
    Her heart sank, but she dared not let him in on the rest of her problems. She couldn’t. So