wouldn’t be fair to any of them. Time to neutralize the situation. Bring in some reason. “Look, I know you’re angry,” he began in an appeasing tone, reminded again of why superficial non-relationships so suited him. “This is an uncomfortable situation for both of us. Last night we had a moment together, and today, all things considered, it’s clearly a good thing that it didn’t go any further than it did. Really, what happened is no big deal.”
A fair acknowledgment on his part.
“No big deal?” Her lip curled in distaste.
“Okay, maybe that was rude,” he muttered, the dread he associated with unreasonable women setting in. What was he supposed to say?
CHAPTER FOUR
CALI felt her stomach congeal. “Talk about an understatement.”
“Yeah, well…” Jake’s jaw shifted, his mouth pulling to the side as he watched her for a second and then shrugged. “It is what it is.”
Excuse me? She pushed up to her elbows to glare at him. What the hell did that mean? The man had just been caught cheating. How dared he be so blasé? This was bad for her—of that there was no doubt. But for Jake? Didn’t he care that his marriage was at stake?
“Anyway, do you need some help with your bags?” he asked, obviously wanting to wrap up the encounter as quickly as possible.
Please. “Oh, I think you’ve done enough already,” she bit out, her panic and temper on the rise. It took everything she had not to kick his two-timing shin.
To think she’d been fantasizing about this guy, aching for more of him…and he was married! He’d made her the other woman. Her instincts stank. She flopped back on the bed, and to her horror tears began to well at the corners of her eyes.
“Cali,” he said from the door. His voice low, oozing understanding. Manipulator. “I can see you’re—”
With a tight shake of her head, she threw up a hand to cut him off. “No. Not a word.”
She felt weak, as though the disappointment was physically weighing her down. And it wasn’t just over him. Sure, Jake was gorgeous—even being a disgusting pig of a cheater couldn’t take that away. But it was his personality as much as his incredible eye-candy appeal she’d found so attractive.
It hurt to be so wrong about him. But, more than being disappointed in who he was, she was disappointed in herself. Three years of keeping her nose clean. Of focusing on work to the exclusion of all else. Of not even giving a man the time of day. And the very first one she decided to give a little flirt to was married.
Her stomach dropped.
To her boss’s sister.
So much for a harmless tryst. She couldn’t think of a single person who wouldn’t be hurt here.
Okay, damage control time. She hadn’t known Jake was Jackson or she would have run for her life. But, even so, she didn’t see Amanda being all that understanding. Obviously it would be in Jake’s best interests to keep the sordid details on the down-low. But what about her? Could she live with herself if she didn’t confess what had happened—if she knowingly participated in the deception of another woman? Sure, they might not have had actual intercourse, but it wasn’t because Jake had thrown up a hand and said no way. He’d been ready to go. He’d wanted to take her home—back to her place, of course.
Oh, he was scum.
No, she definitely could not live with that kind of secret. Even if it meant she’d be sacrificing London—her career. And there was every chance that was exactly what this tawdry little rendezvous had cost her. Because Amanda wasn’t a machine. She was a flesh-and-blood human being, with emotions, who might not be able to put reason ahead of hurt.
Why hadn’t she just walked out of the bar last night? With her track record, why had she pushed her luck and let a man get that close at all? Hadn’t she learned how easily men came between her and her future?
This one was trouble, Jake thought, meeting the flash of Cali’s cold stare. She shifted and her bound curls caught the light streaming through the window, making the soft mass gleam like gilded silk. And for a moment he could see it wound around his fist, thick between his fingers as he pulled her head back.
That was the wrong line of thinking, considering he’d decided she was off-limits. And she’d decided he was an ass.
But, even with a disdainful sneer marring her lips, she made a pretty picture. Faded jeans hugged the sexy lines of her trim hips. A sleeveless shirt was tied behind her neck and ruffled out, accentuating her lean, athletic build, as well as the natural curves he’d had pressed against him all too briefly the night before. Her body was fit, with an arsenal of feminine dips, hollows and swells—enough to make any man’s mouth water.
She was a siren, all right. And at that moment a particularly hateful looking one. Of course the outrage might have something to do with the blatant full-body assessment he’d just concluded.
“Nice,” she hissed.
He was an ass. “Sorry,” he acknowledged, with an unrepentant smile.
Cali’s eyes rolled. “Right. Whatever.” Scrunching up her face like a raisin, she fisted her hands against her eyes, muttering, “Stupid, stupid…One night—sure, no problem…stupid. Stupid!”
Jake raised his brows at her self-directed tirade, concerned by the intensity of her dismay. That was until she spun on him.
“And you—you’re the epitome of every bar-side scavenger I’ve ever heard about. You revolt me!”
Jake stiffened, his concern rapidly evaporating under the scalding lash of her tongue. “What?” Scavenger? Man, that got under his skin. And he revolted her? This from the woman who had begged him for just one more kiss? “Were you even there last night?” No wonder she hadn’t gotten much lip action lately—she was insane.
Glaring daggers, she snapped, “To my eternal regret.”
Where in the hell was her outrage coming from? This couldn’t be the same woman who’d tied him up in knots and nearly brought him to his knees. He didn’t understand—and he hated that.
He waited for enlightenment to smack his forehead.
It didn’t.
There had to be an answer. “Are you on drugs?”
“Get lost, Jackson.”
And now with the Jackson business? Nice. Yeah, you first. “Seriously, Cali, what’s your problem?”
Her head snapped around. “Are you kidding?”
He rolled his shoulders, then cocked his head, waiting her out. She issued a disgusted grunt and blew a renegade tendril of hair from her eyes with an exasperated breath. “I work for your sister-in-law. And, as I’m sure you’re aware, a position within her corporation is highly coveted.”
Jake watched her march around the
