Debra Webb - In His Touch Box Set (Here To Stay, Up Close, Tempting Trace, Basic Instincts) by Debra Webb Read Free Book Online Page A

never have.
    She fastened her gaze back on his and folded her arms solemnly under her breasts. “You took advantage of me and you know it. How could you...” She hesitated and moistened her lips before she began again. “How could you have...?”
    “Made love to you?” he offered. She flinched. Anger swirled, replacing the queasy feeling in Nathan’s stomach. She was as cool as ever. Paige, the reasonable... the attorney at law. Daddy’s little girl. Using her legal mind to dodge questions. “I was out of my mind with grief. I wasn’t thinking clearly.” And I was still in love with you .
    “Well, at least you got the ‘not thinking clearly’ part right.”
    “Let’s drop it, okay?” Nathan took a deep, steadying breath. His brain throbbed inside his skull. He wasn’t in any condition to be getting ticked off right now.
    “No. I won’t drop it.” Her hands went to her hips. “When are you going to admit you’re as much to blame in all this as me—maybe more? After all, you’re the one who got married.”
    Nathan cocked an eyebrow. She was angry—good. He had never liked being angry alone. And she was definitely propelling him in that direction. “You left me, Paige. You were too busy listening to daddy to care about me.”
    “My father is not the issue.”
    Nathan smirked. “You don’t get it, do you, Blondie—”
    “Don’t call me that,” she ordered. Her blue eyes blazed with indignation.
    “Your daddy has always been the issue. If you didn’t live under his thumb, you could see it. Dear old dad is the one who ensured that you went away to that fancy school. His sole motivation was to keep you away from me.” The same old bitterness he always felt when he thought about Paige’s father reared its ugly head. Why couldn’t he have a reasonable conversation with the woman? Hell, he couldn’t even have a reasonable thought about her! “And look how well it worked.”
    “As I told you before, you don’t know anything about me now. You have no idea where I work or live. Nothing. You know nothing!”
    “I know that you chose your daddy over me. I know that.”
    Paige shook her head. “You really believe all of this is my fault and you’re the innocent victim.”
    “Close enough,” he told her, his jaw clenched. Damn, his head hurt.
    “I guess we don’t have anything else to discuss, then.” Her eyes remained on his for a moment before she pivoted and headed toward the door.
    Every ounce of his anger and bitterness suddenly drained away, leaving Nathan weak and hurting. The guarded expression he had seen in her eyes before she turned away worried him. Was she ready to give up? Go back to Memphis and never come back? Isn’t that what he wanted? No matter how much she had hurt him, Nathan couldn’t bear the thought of never seeing her again. These past five years had been pure hell.
    “Is that how you really want to leave it?” At least the question had stopped her departure. He had no idea what he’d say next. In his present condition, he was lucky his brain even worked at all.
    She turned to face him. The pain he saw in her eyes tugged at his battle-scarred heart. “No, Nathan, it’s not. I wanted us to be friends... to work all this out.”
    Her choice of words resurrected the pain and bitterness a hundredfold. “Friends,” he muttered, stepping toward her. “Like it used to be.”
    She nodded, her features drawn in wary anticipation. He saw her ready herself to make a dash for the door. Paige knew better than to be afraid of him, yet, somehow, she seemed to be.
    “You want me to forget the dreams we shared... forget what we meant to each other? Can you pretend it never happened?”
    “Nathan.” The muscles of her neck worked as she swallowed tightly. “Why can’t we just get past all that and go from here? Be friends.”
    “I can do without friends like you,” he snapped.
    She wavered under his angry glare. “I have to go,” she whispered. When she got to the