Say what?

“Hang on a second…” I started.

He was walking away, muttering to himself. “I knew I shouldn’t have started this. You’re more trouble than you’re worth.”

Um, say what?

I narrowed my eyes at his back. “Excuse me?”

He was gone.

The tears were no longer threatening in my eyes, they’d filled them and they were flowing over. But instead of them being full of the confused emotions of a woman who was close to getting everything she ever wanted and was scared to death of it, they were tears of a pissed off woman-on-the-edge who was close to murdering someone.

Emotional tears were unacceptable.

Pissed off tears were perfectly fine, so I let them flow.

I stomped into the bedroom and started to tear through it. I pulled on a pair of jeans, my bra and my Def Leppard T-shirt, my black belt and boots from the night before. I found my handbag sitting on my clothes in the armchair which Lee must have recovered for me last night.

He’d get no thanks from me for that act of thoughtfulness.

I shoved anything I found that was mine in my bag, rifling through drawers and the closet, making an utter mess along the way. I didn’t care, I was way beyond caring about tidiness.

I went into the bathroom and got my face soap, he could keep the goddamn toothbrush, and saw that Lee was leaning against the doorjamb when I walked back into the room.

“Ready?” he asked, his face stony.

“Damn straight,” I answered, stalking to my bag and pushing stuff into it, zipping it with a vicious tug. “You’re a crazy man. You’re nuts. You and Tex should form a club. After years and years, you think you can crook your finger and I’d come running, no questions asked. I just wanted to talk! I wasn’t asking for an act of devotion akin to wrestling a tiger.” Some of my stuff poked out of the bag and I jammed it in and carried on with my rant. “Getting me all hot and bothered, twice…” I stopped and held up two fingers at him as he stood in the doorway, then I went back to my bag, lugged it up and looped the strap over my shoulder. “Then walking off leaving me that way. I’m more trouble than I’m worth? Ha!”

I grabbed my handbag and stomped toward him, with the intention of going right by him.

“Don’t bother taking me home. I’ll call a taxi. I’ll call Ally. I’ll call my Dad. No more favors from you!”

I had made it to him and said (maybe yelled) the last bit up on my toes and leaning into his face.

When I was done ranting, he stood in the doorway and I stood in front of him, too close for comfort. I was still crying and I was sure my face was red and wet with angry tears.

“Get out of my way,” I demanded.

He didn’t move.

“I said, get out of my way!” I shouted.

“Why are you crying?” he asked conversationally.

“Because you piss me off.”

“You’re crying because you’re angry?”

“Seems like it, now get out of my way.”

Quick as a flash, he grabbed my purse and threw it across the room.

I watched it sail, land in the armchair again and then I turned back to him, eyes wide.

“What the –” I started.

He pulled the bag off my arm and also threw that across the room. It landed on the floor with a soft “phunf” a foot away from the armchair.

I watched it go and then turned back to him. Words escaped me, so I just stared.

His hands came up to my face, his thumbs running along the tears on my cheeks.

“Stop crying,” he demanded.

My mouth dropped open.

“You can’t just tell me to stop crying,” I informed him.

“How hot and bothered were you?” he asked.

That was the time to try my “knee him in the balls” maneuver, I was pretty much sure of it.

“Get out of my way,” I jerked my face out of his hands and started to walk back to my bags.

He stopped me with a hand on my arm and swung me around.

“Quit it!” I yelled as he pulled me to him. His face was no longer blank and stony, it was soft again and I was pretty certain he was a raving lunatic.

“No. Now, I’m gonna take you to bed and make love to you. Later, we’re gonna go to your Dad’s barbeque. After that, we’ll talk.”

I shook my head and tried to pull free. “Sorry, I have different plans for the day.”

His arms slid around me. “Honey, it occurs to me from what you asked me earlier that you have the wrong impression about me. Today, I’m gonna show you who I am. Tonight, I’m gonna tell you what I want. Tomorrow, you can make up your mind.”

I blinked at him.

“I’ve known you all my life,” I reminded him.

“You have no f**king clue.”

I stared for a beat and fear, curiosity and elation shivered through me at the promise I saw in his face.

I shook my head. “I have to go to the bookstore, get Tod and Stevie’s car, make macaroni salad.”

“Matt returned your neighbor’s car last night. Ally can go to the Fortnum’s. King Soopers has macaroni salad.”

“No.”

One of his hands slid into my hair and pulled my head back and to the side, exposing my neck. His mouth, all of sudden, was there.

“Yes,” he said against my neck while walking me back to the bed.

“Stop it, you’re crazy! One second you tell me to pack my bags, the next second you’re on me like white on rice.”

The backs of my knees hit the bed and we both went down, him on top of me, his lips on mine. “Gorgeous, give me ten minutes and I’ll be in you.”

At that promise, and him calling me “gorgeous”, an electric spasm went straight through my lower belly and he kissed me and that was it.

I’m a slut. I don’t know what to say, even with the emotional scene, I gave in.

To tell you the whole truth, I wanted him to show me who he was and tell me what he wanted, and I didn’t want to wait another second to find out.

And then the buzzer went. Three quick blasts and then one long one.

Lee stopped kissing me and put his forehead on mine. “You have got to be f**king kidding me.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“It’s code, urgent, God dammit.” He put his hands on either side of me, pushed up and started to walk away then turned back. “How hot and bothered are you now?”

“On a scale of one to ten?”

His eyes crinkled at the corners and he walked out of the room.