Tough Cookie by Tawna Fenske

Author:Tawna Fenske [Fenske, Tawna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-02-16T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Devon

Dammit.

The instant I see the dazed look in Skye’s eyes, I know her wheels are turning. And they’re rolling straight down the hill into a stinking heap of regret.

“What’s wrong?” I repeat when it’s clear she’s not going to answer.

She looks at me and I know. I know.

“Skye.” Maybe I can stop the train. “Stay with me here—”

“You should go.”

I shut my mouth and stare at her. How the hell did we get from “best sex of my life” to “let’s order pizza” to “get the fuck out of my apartment”?

Never mind, I know.

This is Skye we’re talking about, self-proclaimed empress of the emotional pendulum. Her passion, her emotion, they’re what I dig about her.

Right now, I’m not digging it so much.

“Hey, we don’t have to do pizza.”

I know before the words leave my mouth that it’s not the fucking pizza that’s the problem. What was I thinking yammering on about date nights when I know damn well what this is between us?

Sex. Just sex.

That’s what we agreed, right? What I signed on for before I let my brain get fogged up from the afterglow.

She still hasn’t said a word, so I start again. “Look, Skye,” I start slowly. “How about we just calm down and—”

Her eyes flash, and I shut my fucking mouth. I couldn’t have picked a worse phrase if I’d tried.

Humor. Try humor.

“How about a protein bar?”

“I’m—not hungry,” she says softly. “Not anymore.”

“You were starving an hour ago.”

“Well, now I’m not.”

Okay.

I rake my hand through my hair and try to think of what else to say. What worked with Lisa when she’d spiral during cancer treatment?

My ex-wife’s sobs surge through my memory.

I need to have boundaries, Devon.

Fuck me. I’ve done it again, haven’t I?

Skye stares like she’s trying to guess the next move in a chess game. I know I look like a dumbass, sitting naked on her couch while she’s bundled tight in her blanket, but no way is she sharing. Not the blanket, and definitely not what’s going on behind those sea glass eyes.

“I’m sorry.” She looks down at the blanket, not meeting my eyes anymore. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Had sex with me, or ordered me to evacuate immediately afterward?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know.” She bites her lip and looks miserable. “I—I thought we made it clear that we weren’t getting involved. That this isn’t the right time for dating or—or whatever.”

She’s right. She’s completely right. I thought something shifted somewhere in the middle of the best sex of my life, but that must’ve just been me. Bile tastes sour as it surges up my throat, but I can’t let her see that. She’s fragile and reeling and doesn’t need my emotional crap on top of that. “No, you were clear.”

“I just thought—the pizza and the dinner date and—” She stops and looks so unsure that I consider throwing her a rope.

But I know what it looks like when a woman sets a boundary. I see it in her eyes, in the tension buzzing off her bare shoulders.

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