He’d been certain she wasn’t a virgin, but there was no way to deny what he’d felt. The little gasp she hadn’t been able to hide and the pain in her eyes that had taken over her pleasure for a moment had dampened some of his own. The one thing she hadn’t lied about, and he hadn’t believed her. Was he so clouded by his anger with lies that he’d missed something?

She came out of the shower in a long white robe with a towel wrapped around her hair. Her natural beauty was breathtaking, with her iridescent skin. She walked quickly toward the spare room, avoiding him completely.

“Rhetta, we need to talk.” He’d found a pair of his jeans and had slipped into them while he’d waited for her.

“There’s nothing to talk about. We were going to be married, now we’re not. We had sex. We go to bed, and life goes back to normal tomorrow.” Her voice was a false sing-song, only adding to the tension between them. She made it to her door and she paused. “Unless there’s something I’m missing?”

“Yeah, I think there is.” He pushed away from the window where he’d been waiting. “I don’t feel right about sleeping with you and just shoving you off somewhere. That’s not the way this is supposed to work.”

She laughed bitterly and finally glanced at him. Her eyes were red, but he couldn’t tell if she’d been crying or if she’d just washed her face in the shower. “If I were any other girl, you’d have no issue. It’s just me. You have some weird sense that you owe me. I lied to you, remember? You don’t owe me anything. You told me from the start that nothing would make you angrier than lies. So, it wasn’t like I didn’t understand what I was getting into.”

He strode forward and held her door closed so she couldn’t leave him quite yet. “You might’ve understood what you were getting into, but I didn’t. I’m no good at relationships. If I were, I wouldn’t have needed the agency. But I do know I feel more than just some sense of duty, like you say. I’ve been in the Navy, I know about duty and honor. This is different. I’m not ready to let you go.”

She slid his hand off the doorknob and opened her room. “You don’t have a choice.”

“But, what will you do? That visa extension won’t last forever. How will you gain citizenship?” If she left him and went back home, he’d never find her again, and the loss was beginning to scare him. There was no guarantee if she chose yet another name that he’d be able to find her anyway.

“I’m not your concern, Clint. I already told you that.”

He followed her into her room and she ignored him, dropping the robe to the floor. Her naked body drew him once again. She opened her luggage and shoved things aside until she found what she was looking for. She slid on a pair of panties, then a sleeveless top as he tried to control what seeing her body did to him. She turned to face him, crossing her arms over herself.

“Rhetta. I thought the agency was insane when they said I’d meet you and want to marry you right away, but they were right. I can’t explain it. All I know is that I feel more for you than I’ve felt for any other woman.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m not just going to be some kept woman who you’ll eventually realize was a mistake. I set you free, Clint.”

He didn’t want to be set free, he wanted to dive deep, find out what made Rhetta so strong and why he was so pulled to her. “You signed the agreement.”

Her dark eyes flashed. “Now you’re going to hold that over my head?” Her accent grew even thicker the angrier she got. “Need I remind you that you’re the one who turned the car around, not me.”

He had, but only because he couldn’t force her to marry him, and still wouldn’t. There had to be some way to get her to open up to him, to figure out this fissure between them. He strode to the television and turned on an all music station. All he cared was that it was slow. She eyed him, the wall of her doubt firmly in place. “What are you up to, Clint? I’m tired.”

She wasn’t, she just was uncomfortable with him. He’d step out of his own comfort zone if it meant she’d talk to him again. He reached out to her.

“Come here.” He softened his tone, coaxing, drawing her in.

She slowly trudged to him and stood before him. Damn, she was beautiful. He lightly flipped her damp hair over her shoulders then pulled her into his arms. Her own naturally went around his neck and he swayed to the music. Her body, close to his, was a temptation, a torment, and a treasure in one.

“I thought you said you don’t dance?” she whispered, her voice rough with emotion.

“I don’t, except right now.” He didn’t want to entice her, just hold her and as he rested his hand on the swell of her bottom, he couldn’t imagine that scene with anyone else. She rested her head against his bare chest, her hair cool to his overheated skin.

“Rhetta? Can we start over? You asked me that yesterday, do we get one more do-over?”

She stiffened in his arms, then backed away. “Not tonight, Clint.”

“Fine. I can see you don’t want to talk about this right now. Patton can take both of us to the airport tomorrow, we’ll talk on the way. I’ll head back to Manhattan, and you can go to Texas.” That way if she changed her mind, she could contact him. He would stay single indefinitely if it meant she might let him back in one day.

He always felt better after getting a plan set in stone. Though, she’d given him so much argument about everything since he’d taken care of her brother, it was odd that she’d just suddenly submit to his plan. After they both had a chance to cool off, they would have a talk in the morning.

He left her alone in her room. As he went to his own, the small pile of clothes lay on the floor just where they’d been dropped. He still couldn’t believe what had started with a kiss had escalated so quickly. He’d let it, thinking she wanted him and was now just like any other woman he’d been with. That wasn’t true though. Yes, she’d been untried, but that wasn’t the only thing he couldn’t forget. It was like they were perfectly matched, he’d known just what to do to drive her over the edge and she’d done just the same to him. There was more to them than he’d ever had before. Now, he needed to hold on and not let go, at least until he convinced her she felt what he did.