~ Three Months Later ~
“I still can’t get used to it,” Kelly, who was seated at the table behind the one Sin was currently wiping, whispered.
“I know, right?” A.J, who was with Kelly, agreed. “Can you believe that she’s actually working?”
Sin turned to glare at her friends. “I can hear you two, you know.”
“Sorry.” Kelly offered her a sheepish grin.
“I’m sorry-” A.J stroked her now very-pronounced baby bump. “- but I just can’t get used to the sight of you doing manual labor. I thought you said being beautiful was your job.”
Sin shrugged. “I changed my mind.”
After coming back from Portland, Sin knew that she needed to find something to do otherwise she’d end up locking herself up in her apartment in depression. Luckily, Teddy, the owner of Lani’s Café, had agreed to take her on as a waitress. It had turned out to be one of the best jobs she could’ve taken since most days she was too busy to get lost in her thoughts. Which left the nights… but that was another story.
“You changed your mind? Just like that?” A.J’s eyes narrowed. “What happened out there in Portland? You haven’t been the same since you came back.”
What had changed? Everything! For one, dealing with Claire had convinced Sin that it was time to go straight – for real. As much as she’d enjoyed her Captain Save-A-Scorned-Woman phase, it’d proved to be too risky an occupation. Worse, it’d led to her losing the man she loved. Fresh pain shuttled through her at the thought of him.
Yes! Even now, four months later, she still hadn’t gotten over Worth. The memory of him and the painful way they’d parted was still as fresh as ever. It didn’t help that she actively searched the interweb everyday just to make sure that Claire wasn’t messing with him.
It was a good thing she’d kept up with news about Worth otherwise she’d never have known that Claire had been busted. How the lady’s illicit operation had been exposed was anyone’s guess since it sure as hell wasn’t Sin’s doing. While the trial was ongoing, Sin had had daily nightmares that the cops would show up on her doorstep to arrest her and Ten. But it hadn’t happened. Even better, Worth seemed to have emerged from the whole scandal without any wounds. Last Sin had read, W Sport was as fine as ever.
Still, that hadn’t stopped her from thinking about him, wondering how he was doing and what he was doing. Had he forgotten her yet? Probably! And if she had any common sense, she’d forget him too. Unfortunately common sense wasn’t her forte.
“Sin!” Kelly dragged her back into present time. “Are you listening to me?”
“Hmm?” Sin turned her attention back to her friend. “What were you saying?”
“I was asking if something happened out there that you’re not telling us.”
“No, nothing happened!” Sin lied.
Frankly, she was too embarrassed to tell her friends the truth. Telling the truth would mean confessing that she wasn’t quite as free of her criminal past as she’d led them to believe, and that she’d lied about the whole ‘friend has cancer’ thing. It would mean revealing that Claire had taken her for a ride, and that she’d fallen for a guy who would never love her. It was just too embarrassing.
“Something must’ve happened,” Kelly insisted. Her brow furrowed in concern, she added, “Otherwise you wouldn’t have come back so early.”
“Did something happen to your friend…. What was her name again?” A.J rubbed her forehead as if to beckon the memory. “Ah! I remember… Claire. Did something happen to Claire?”
Yeah! She’s in jail right now.
Fortunately Sin didn’t have to come up with a lie because Ten walked in right then. Sin excitedly called out, “Hey, look who just walked in?”
“Hah! So she finally shows up?” Kelly’s lips tightened into an angry line as her gaze swept towards Ten. When Ten was close enough, she confronted her. “Hey, are you ignoring my calls?”
“Yes,” Ten retorted unrepentantly as she strode towards the three women.
“Yes? Did you just say yes?” Kelly gave Ten an offended look. “Why?”
“Because I know what you want and I’m not doing it.” Ten took the seat beside A.J.
“Come on, it’s just one date,” Kelly wheedled.
“One date with a detective.” Ten snorted. “Yeah! That’s not happening.”
“Are you trying to set my sister up with a detective?” A.J’s eyes twinkled with merriment. “Seriously?”
Sin couldn’t believe it either. “Does he know what she does in her spare time?”
“No, but he’s interested in her and he keeps begging Spencer to set them up on a date.” Kelly coaxed, “One date with him wouldn’t be so bad. It’s just a meal after all-”
“… which could end with me in handcuffs.” Ten stared at her like she’d lost her mind. “Girl, you crazy!”
“No, think about it…” Kelly said just as the wind-chimes atop the front door jingled indicating the arrival of a new customer.
Sin shuffled off to cater to the customer while her friends sat at their table chatting and generally just being the noisy group that they were. Even though Ten was the only one who knew what had happened in Portland, being around Kelly and A.J was still a comfort for Sin. There’s was just something about being with her friends that made her realize that her situation wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been. Yeah! Worth was gone. But at least she still had friends.
Even though the months after Sin and Worth’s separation had been painful, they’d brought much needed perspective. Their parting was for the best. In the long run, things between them would’ve never worked out. They were just too different. He was Wentworth Ransom III, and she was Tamsin Jacob. They came for two different worlds separated by a line that no one could cross without getting seriously burnt. And she had the scars to prove it.
“Another cappuccino here,” a customer called out to her.
Sin rushed to serve him. Given that it was a Saturday, people kept walking in; from hipsters to seniors, couples to friends, families to singles. Sin spent the next two hours on her feet either serving customers or stopping by her friends’ table to catch up on their gossip.
Her legs were aching so much that when the wind-chimes at the front door rang again, she actually sighed. “Not another one.”
“Another what?” A.J asked.
Sin turned to towards the door. “Another cust-”
The moment she saw who’d just walked in, the blood drained from her face and she took a step back. Was she seeing things? She’d missed him so much that she was hallucinating him, right?
“What’s he doing here?” Ten’s voice cut into Sin’s stupor.
In that moment Sin realized that she wasn’t seeing things. She wasn’t mistaken. Wentworth Ransom The Third had just walked into Lani’s Café.
“Who? The guy who just walked in?” A.J asked. “Do you know him?”
But before Ten could answer, Kelly let out a little scream. “Sin! You’re spilling coffee on the floor.”
“Wha- what?” Sin lowered her gaze only to find out that her hand had gone lax and the pot she was holding was almost upside down. “Sorry… sorry.”
Her heart thudding wildly out of control, she set the pot on the table. But even then she couldn’t keep her gaze from wandering back to him. What the hell was he doing here, big as life and looking better than ever? He’d grown his hair a little longer so that it brushed his nape. The hairstyle still suited him, and it matched perfectly with the lumberjack look he was spotting; plaid shirt, denim pants and brown boots.
He looked around the café as if searching for something… someone. Soon, he found her. His eyes lit up and his lips spread into a grin as he started towards her.
Sin wanted to move. She wanted to run far, far away where he couldn’t catch her, but her feet refused to move. It was almost as if they were glued to the floor. Her friends were saying something, asking her questions about who the man was, but their voices were like the buzzing of bees in her ears. Everything in her was focused on Worth.
His grin widened when he finally got to her. “Hi, Sin.”
Seeing that grin sent anger shooting through her. How could he smile after everything that happened? How could he smile after breaking her heart? How could he smile after ignoring her for four months?
Four months!
Without conscious thought, she grabbed the coffee pot. Worth barely had time to duck as the heavy pot sailed toward his head. The shattering sound of glass crashing into the wood floor brought the whole café to a standstill. Sin could feel everyone’s eyes on her and Worth but she didn’t care. All that mattered was that he was here, and that her whole body was battling over how to react to it.
Part of her wanted to jump into his arms and tell him that she’d missed him. The other part of her wanted to punch him and tell him to get the hell out of here. But she could do neither. Instead, she jerkily removed her apron and tossed it on the floor, revealing the denim shorts and tank-top she wore beneath. Ignoring the tempting feel of his heat as she skirted past him, she stomped out of the restaurant.
Once outside, she took the stairs on the right side of the café and headed straight to her apartment. Her fingers were trembling so badly that it was hard to fit her key into the lock, but somehow she managed it. Once she was in there, she sat on the bed, breathing heavily and trying to steady her pounding heart.
What was he doing here? Why was he here? How had he found her?
She didn’t even realize that she hadn’t locked the door until she heard the doorknob turn. Her shocked gaze flew to the door and her pulse sped up. It slowly opened, and he appeared. Instantly, she shot to her feet.
“What are you doing here?” Her voice was high-pitched and filled with all her anxiety and fear.
“I came to see you.” He closed the door behind him. The grin was gone now and replacing it was caution and concern.
She swallowed. “Why?”
“You know why,” he said. By the huskiness in his voice she knew he was relieving the memories of their time together. His voice surrounded her, as if he were physically touching her, reminding her of how it’d felt to be touched by him.
She immediately shook her head. “No, I don’t know why you’re here.”
“I missed you.” He took a step forward, and she instinctively took a step back. “Didn’t you miss me?”
“Why would I miss you?” She folded her arms over her chest to hide her shaking hands. “You shouldn’t have come here.”
“Maybe.” He smiled ruefully. “But I couldn’t help myself. I missed you too much.”
“Well, now that you’ve seen me, you can leave,” she gritted between her teeth.
“Not yet.” He took another step towards her, and this time she held out her hand, palm face-up, to halt him.
“Don’t!” She sounded chocked up even to her own ears. “Don’t come closer.”
Surprise flashed in his eyes. “Are you scared of me?”
Yes, she was scared of him. But she was even more scared of herself, of how much she was shaking, of how much her legs were aching to go forward instead of backwards, to meet him. Yes, she was scared.
“I won’t do anything to you.” His voice was soft as if he was trying to calm a skittish filly. “I just want…. I just want us to talk.” He took a deep breath as if to steady himself. “I’ve spent the last few months thinking about you, wondering where you were, what you were doing, how you were… I’d just like to catch up-”
She forced a laugh. “Catch up? Why would we do that? It’s not like we were friends? It’s not like we were… anything.”
“You know that’s not true. We had feelings for each other.”
“Feelings!” This time her laugh was real. What the hell was he talking about? She arched her eyebrows. “I thought you said that it was all fake? That you were just playing with me.”
“I lied.” He started towards her again. “None of it was fake.”
His confession sent shock roiling through her. Was he saying that he’d actually had feelings for her? How was that possible? He’d never once shown them. Her momentary shock gave him enough time to close the distance between them. Before she could back away, his hands closed over her upper arms.
“Get your hands off me,” she growled.
He didn’t drop his hands. Instead he surprised her even further by murmuring, “I love you.”
What? Shock ricocheted through her rendering her both speechless and unable to move.
He ran his finger up her arm, skimming it across her neck until it rested over her racing pulse. “Did you hear me? I love you.”
“Yes I heard you.” She swatted his hands away from her skin. “What are you up to, Worth? What is this? Another game to see how long it will take you to get me into bed again?”
Instant remorse filled his expression. When he tried to touch her again, she blocked his touch with her arm and took a step back. His hand fell.
“I didn’t mean what I said that day,” he said. “I was just… I was just angry that you were leaving me… No, that sounds like an excuse-” He paused and swallowed hard as if trying to find the right words. “I’m sorry about all the things I said. I didn’t mean them but they were still cruel and hurtful-”
She cut him off. “So you knew you were being hurtful?”
“I did… I do. But I swear if your forgive me, I’ll never hurt you again.” His eyes were filled with what seemed like sincere remorse. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Just give me a chance to make things right.”
It actually seemed like he meant what he was saying, and for a moment Sin believed him. However, in the next moment she realized that it didn’t matter whether he was being sincere or not, or whether she believed him or not. Any chance she gave him would only lead to a dead end because love couldn’t exist between them. They were just too different; things would never work between them.
“You can have the forgiveness,” she forced herself to say. “But I’m sorry I’m all out of chances. Go home, Worth.”
“What do you mean you’re all out of chances?”
“I mean you don’t need to make anything right because there was never anything in the first place.” She smiled but there was no humor in her smile. “We were never in a relationship and will never be in any, so there’s nothing to make right.”
He frowned. “But we love each other.”
“You must be mistaken about something. I never said I love you.” She lied, “I don’t love you.”
“What?” Surprise flashed in his eyes.
“I don’t love you,” she repeated.
“You don’t love me?” Worth narrowed his eyes. “I don’t believe that. How can you not love me?”
“I don’t.”
“How can you not love me?” he repeated, disbelief echoing in his voice. He canted his head as he studied her. “Is there someone else?”
She could’ve said ‘no’ and not complicated matters further. However, she realized that the best way to prove to a man that you were over him was to replace him with another. So she nodded. “Yes, there’s someone else, and I love him.”
“No.” Worth shook his head vehemently. The look of stricken panic in his eyes almost made her take back her words, but she didn’t. He shook his head again. “No, you made that up. There’s no one else.”
“Why would I need to make up a relationship?”
“I don’t believe it.”
“Then don’t.” She shrugged. “I don’t love him to make you believe me.”
“You’re lying,” he insisted.
“I’m not.” She reminded him, “It’s been four months since I left Portland. That’s a lot of time for me to find another man and fall in love with him.” It was spiteful, but she couldn’t help throwing his cruel words back at him. “You know how easy I am.”
Worth winced at her words. “I shouldn’t have said that either. I’m sorry, Sin. I really, really am.”
He moved closer and for some reason she didn’t move back. Soon, he was so close to her that their breaths mingled. He cupped her cheek, his touch raising chills over her heated flesh. “Please just forget everything I said. It was said in anger and I didn’t mean any of it. Forgive me. I swear I’ll never hurt you like that again. I swear.” His words ended on a whisper and he dipped his head lower as if to kiss her.
She put her hand against his hard chest to hold him back. “No.”
He frowned but didn’t move away. “Is this about the phantom man you’re in love with again?”
“He isn’t a phan-”
Worth crushed his mouth over hers, swallowing her words. His mouth was hot over hers and his tongue unrelenting as it swept over the seam of her lips. There was so much passion in the kiss that she found herself responding, parting her lips, moaning. She moved her hands up, wound them around his neck and her fingers sunk into the thickness of his hair.
Ah! She’d missed him.
Worth’s appreciative growl was almost as delicious as the taste of him. Their tongues tangled and danced while their hands roamed. His hands wandered down her body, to her ass. He pulled her closer to him so her mound was sealed against the hardness behind his pants. Moisture pooled between her thighs and her throaty moan of pleasure escaped her lips.
When he tore his lips from hers, she almost screamed in protest.
“There’s no one else.” Worth’s gaze was filled with dark desire as it roved her face. His arms tightened around her body possessively. “You wouldn’t kiss me like that if you had another man.”
His words were like a splash of cold water. They sent common sense flooding through her and she quickly shoved him away from her then took a step back to give herself space to breathe, space to think. But that proved too hard to do… he was still in the room after all.
“Can you leave?” Her voice was shaky even to her own ears.
“Why?” Anger flashed in Worth’s eyes. “Because of that man? He doesn’t even exist.”
“Even if he didn’t exist, I would still send you away.”
“Why?”
She wanted to tell him all the reasons they couldn’t work, why they couldn’t be together. She wanted to remind him of what he’d said himself; that she wasn’t his type, that he didn’t deal with women with a criminal record. But she couldn’t have that conversation now. Not when her lips were still tingling with the memory of him. Not when she still wanted another taste of him. Not when her body was still hot and craving contact with him. No, it was too dangerous to spend more time with him here, alone. At this rate she’d end up sleeping with him…
“Don’t ask me why.” She licked her suddenly dry lips as her eyes met his. “Just leave. Please.”
Though he didn’t say anything, he didn’t leave either. So she prodded. “Do you want me to open the door for you?”
He watched her for a while then sighed in obvious frustration. “No, I’ll do it.”
He turned on his heels and headed for the door. One second he was in the apartment with her and the next he was out. However, she didn’t even get time to sag in relief. Just seconds later, the door swung wide open again. He was back.
Her heart jerked in alarm. “What do you want?”
He didn’t talk but the way he was panting and the look in his eyes sent nervousness racing down her spine. It looked like he wanted to kiss her again… like he wanted to do more.
She took an instinctive step back. “What do you want, Worth? Please leave.”
“I’ll go. I’ll go.” He dragged in a deep breath. “But it’s not over. It can’t be over.”
Then like a wild tornado he left again, and this time it was for real. Sin collapsed onto the bed, half-relieved and half-scared. She was relieved that he’d left before things had gotten even hotter between them, but his last words left her oddly nervous.
What did he mean? It’s not over?