She bit her lip, debating whether to ask her question, then curiosity overtook her. “So what about you and Chandra? You haven’t mentioned her. Are you taking another break?”

Randall tugged on his ear, but kept his eyes on the road. “No, we broke up months ago.”

“Seriously this time?” she said doubtfully.

He shot her an annoyed glare. “Yeah, I’ve realized there’s nothing between us. We had fun, but it wasn’t much more.” He paused. “Anyway, stay away from Remy. He’s more trouble than you can handle.”

She felt socked in the stomach. So Remy wasn’t good enough for her? She needed to move on and was sick of nobody measuring up to her fantasy, namely the ones of Randall, and now even he was saying it.

“Where do you get off telling me that? Remy is better than those,” she screeched and almost said “hookers” but controlled herself, “women I see you with in every gossip mag. I’m not the little girl who had a crush on y-you—” She gasped, alarmed to the core. Did she just say that? How could she be so stupid if things weren’t awkward enough?

His head spun and his eyes stared at her like she was nude.

Her eyes closed. Damn, damn, damn! What could she say to fix that slip-up? Nothing came to mind. Please ground, open and swallow me up.

A car behind them honked, and Randall pressed the gas pedal. They rode in deafening silence as her ears burned. After what seemed like an eternity, Randall pulled in front of her house and parked. He turned, giving her his full attention. “When did you have a crush on me?” he said evenly.

She gave a nervous laugh. “I was young and stupid when I moved here. Don’t worry about it.”

His emerald eyes glittered in the moonlight, and his jaw clenched. “Kayla.”

Clearly, he wasn’t going for that. Should she tell him the truth? She groaned, thinking what did she have to lose at this point. “You helped me and I was grateful for what you did. I didn’t understand your life. I lived in a dream world where you were the sexy, caring guy that would save me,” came out in a whoosh. “I was naïve.” She stole a glance at him.

His eyes bore into her, but she continued, “I followed your every move and thought you would make time for me. When that never happened, I assumed you didn’t care. Even my one trip to Los Angeles, you went out with women—or worked—and left me with your housekeeper when I just wanted to spend time with you. I was devastated, so I stopped expecting anything.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? I didn’t know you were hurt.”

A shadow of pain returned and squeezed her heart. Even now, knowing how he was, she wanted to kiss the knit of his brow, run fingers over his smooth skin, and nibble on his lips until the small creases of seriousness disappeared. Not at all good.

She licked dry lips. “I didn’t trust you not to hurt me again. I tried to tell you how important my graduation was, but you still missed my college one. I can’t fault you for that, but if you paid attention, you would’ve noticed how I acted. Sometimes you were so self-absorbed I don’t know how you saw your nose in front of you, but now I know that there is more to you.”

He sighed. “I shouldn’t have chosen work over you. You have my promise it won’t happen again.” He put a placating hand on her shoulder. “I understand—”

She shrugged him off. “I’m not a kid.”

“I know you’re not.”

“Then stop treating me like one,” she snapped.

“Fine, I will.” Before she knew what happened, he dragged her toward him, her body draping over the armrest. She braced herself for...a kiss?

Instead, he stopped short of capturing her mouth, his lips and breath so close that her mouth gave a betraying tremble. His finger came up and outlined her bottom lip. Fire shot to her stomach and snaked downward until she shivered then melted against him. Her martinis weren’t helping the situation either. She suddenly wasn’t in front of her house, but floating on water. Her senses concentrated on Randall’s mouth, his warm, hard body, and the feel of his arms around her...until he groaned and pulled back.
Her eyes flew open from the loss of his heat and found him gawking. His eyes were intense and filled with a stormy wonder as he stared at her. “What?” she croaked, desire making her squirm. “Why did you stop?”

“Kayla, I’m—”

Her stomach plunged as disappointment ripped through her, killing the desire and fuzziness in her head. “You’re going to apologize, aren’t you?”

He grimaced. “The thought crossed my mind.”