LITMIR.BIZ

      THE WORDS CUT right into him. Silly him, assuming she’d consider staying in New York.

      Staying with him.

      After last night he thought things might be different between them. He’d shown her that he believed her, that he listened to her. Cared about her. But apparently that didn’t count for anything.

      “You’re going back there?” He ran a hand over his head, trying to tamp down the anger that was rearing up within him. “To that hick town where the people call you a sexual deviant?”

      “It’s my home, Rhys.” She blinked at him, her brows furrowed. “I never said I was planning to make a life here.”

      “You ran away from that place because of how they treated you, and all of a sudden you’re feeling the pull of loyalty.” He shook his head. “I thought you hated that place.”

      “I’m angry about what happened to me, of course, but my family is there. Kylie is there… She needs me.”

      “What do you need, Wren?” He stood, shoving back his chair so hard it almost toppled over. “Because it’s hard for me to tell whether or not you care about your future. You seem to base all of your actions on other people.”

      “No, I don’t.” Her face reddened in a way that told him she knew damn well he was right.

      “No? You came here to find justice for your friend. You’re now offering to put yourself at risk to get Sean Ainslie to confess.” He ticked the items off his fingers. “And let’s not forget how you buttered me up to make sure I wouldn’t turn you in.”

      “That is not true.” Her face looked as though it might crumple, but instead she stood and drew in a deep breath.

      “Isn’t it? Because from my standpoint, it seems like everything you’ve done is to serve someone else. You don’t live your own life.”

      “I do. I spent time with you because I cared about you.”

      Cared. Past tense.

      Because now she didn’t need anything from him. The realization that she’d used him was like a slap across the face.

      “You don’t get to say that to me.” The frustration tumbled out of him unbidden. “Not after you’ve screwed my reputation only to throw it back in my face by putting yourself in danger.”

      The hurt that streaked across her face wrenched like a knife in his chest. “I didn’t force you to sleep with me.”

      “My record here has been one hundred percent clean. I have been a model employee until this. And now my reputation is on the line, and for what?”

      She’d let him believe she wasn’t involved when she was and, worse than that, she’d let him believe that he meant something to her. That he was important and real and visible.

      “I’m sorry, okay?” She threw her hands up in the air. “It was selfish, I know that. But I wanted to help my friend and…I liked you. You were the first guy who’s ever made me feel like I’m not useless and wrong. If I could change things, I would.”

      “Well, you can’t. I’ll have to earn back Logan’s trust, and he’s not the kind of guy who dishes it out easily.”

      “What do you want me to say?” she said, wrapping her arms around herself.

       I want you to tell me I mean something to you.

      “If you don’t know what I want from you, then it’s clear you don’t actually care for me at all.”

      She looked so small and vulnerable, and his instincts urged him to bundle her up in his arms. But he couldn’t touch her again, not now that he knew how little he’d meant to her. The thought of staying with him hadn’t even crossed her mind.

      “Are you trying to hurt my feelings?” she asked, her voice coated in frustration.

      “This isn’t about feelings. It’s about actions.”

      She shook her head and sucked on her cheek, though he could still see the tremble in her lip. “Have you ever thought that maybe life isn’t all black-and-white? You can’t just spreadsheet everything out and use a formula to make a decision.”

      “Do you think that’s what I did last night?” Damn it, she had a way of dragging him out of his logical mind-set into dangerous emotional territory. “Do you think I came to your apartment because a formula told me so?”

      She blinked. “Well—”

      “No, I came to your apartment because I couldn’t stand the idea of not clearing the air between us. When I saw Sean there…” Why was he even bothering? “You know what? It doesn’t matter. You’ve made up your mind.”

      “I never meant to hurt you.”

      “Just promise me one thing,” he said. “At some point in your life, you’ll start basing your decisions on what you want instead of hiding behind everyone else’s needs.”