Chase pulled in behind the luncheonette, and I was glad to see the only car in the lot was mine. Not that I expected to see Preston sitting there waiting for me, but judging by the tone of his texts—from obnoxious to apologetic to worried, then frantic, and when I finally responded after he threatened to report me missing if he didn’t hear from me immediately, back to obnoxious—I didn’t know what to expect. My favorite text had been this one: How dare you make me worry half the night and all day.

How dare I, indeed.

I invited Chase inside, although part of me was afraid of what might happen if he accepted. Could he be thinking the same thing?

“I gotta go. I think if I stop for too long, I might keel over.” He looked tired, but he still had an incredibly sexy smile. He definitely should smile more.

“Me too,” I admitted, although at that moment, keeling over with him sounded pretty good.

He fastened the extra helmet to his bike. It was dark in front of my apartment, and we were standing outside the aim of the motion detector. I wanted to kiss him, and not just a simple thanks-I-had-a-terrific-time kind of kiss either.

It made no sense. I’d been hurting, thinking that Preston might still be seeing Suzanne, yet here I was doing almost the same thing. I’d just spent an amazing twenty-four hours with a very sweet, very good-looking guy whose kisses made me forget my own name. And I was pretty sure I wanted more.

Was I that fickle, or was I living up to the perception everyone had of me?

Chase stretched, and his T-shirt rode up over those amazing abs of his. He stifled a yawn. “I have to work in the morning, and we have a race tomorrow night. You coming?”

“I wasn’t planning on it.”

“If you change your mind, I’ll be there.”

Not knowing how to end this—whatever it was—started to feel a little awkward. I dug around in my purse until I found my keys, giving me something to look at other than that intense stare of his.

“Thank you again. I had the best time.”

“I’m glad.” He gave me another smile and raised his helmet. “I’ll wait for you to get upstairs and inside.”

If I stood this close to him one second longer, I was going to grab him by his T-shirt and drag him upstairs. Maybe not even a second. I backed away, then turned and raced up the steps before I could change my mind. When I’d unlocked the door and flicked on the outside light, he revved his engine and pulled away with a wave.

I stood in the doorway until I could no longer feel the vibrations of his Harley under my feet or hear the roar of his engine in the distance. Then I listened to the silence.

What an amazing day it had been.

It wasn’t until I turned on the inside light and locked the door behind me that I noticed the huge bouquet of red roses on the kitchen table. I sank against the door as if the thorns on those roses had let all of the air out of me.

As usual, there was no signature. Although red roses weren’t my favorite—I preferred deep pink, but he’d never asked—they were beautiful and surely expensive, as they’d come from the best florist in the area. But it didn’t matter. I still wanted to open the door and dump them over the deck and smash the vase in the parking lot.

Maybe I would go to the track tomorrow night. And maybe afterward, I’d kiss Chase exactly the way I was already regretting not kissing him tonight.

* * *

I woke around ten the next morning, and that was only because some asshole was pounding on my door. I opened it to find the asshole holding another bouquet of red roses. It wouldn’t have surprised me at all to learn he owned his own greenhouse—or at least the damn florist.

“What the hell happened to your face?” he demanded.

“Really? That’s what you have to say to me?” I tried to close the door, but he pushed it open and stepped inside.

“Do you know how sick with worry I’ve been? Where did you go? How did you get home?”

I glared at him. “If you were so sick with worry, why weren’t you sitting outside my door when I got home last night?”

It looked as if a vein was about to burst on the side of his head.

“Last night? You didn’t get home until last night?”

I blinked at him, struggling for the right words.

“Seriously, what happened to your face? You look like you fell asleep in the sun.”

“Maybe I did.” It was obvious I had. Why didn’t I just admit it?

He set the flowers on the table next to yesterday’s roses. “You going to tell me what happened?”

“Before or after you humiliated me at Blondie’s?”

“After.” His voice grew a little softer. “And I apologized.”

“When? In a text message? After you demanded to know ‘where the fuck’ I was?”

“C’mon, baby.” He slipped his arms around my waist. “I was drunk and upset. You know I don’t like fighting with you.” He kissed my neck. The scruff on his face scratched my skin.

“You’re hurting me.” I pushed against him. “I have a bad sunburn.”

“I can see that.” He continued to hold me and kissed lightly along my neck. In spite of the burn, goose bumps sprang up along my arms. “Why don’t you let me rub aloe all over you?”

That sounded like a great idea, but I wasn’t about to say so.

He kissed my shoulder and along my clavicle, then worked his way back up to my chin.

“I love you, Rain. I don’t want to lose you. Please tell me you forgive me.”

I pulled away. “It doesn’t matter if I forgive you or not, because the way things are going, you’re going to lose me for good.”

“Baby, don’t say that. You’re killing me. I’ve told you, it’s complicated.”

I gave him a hard shove. “Stop it! I don’t want to hear it anymore. In fact, I don’t want to do this anymore. I’m done. I deserve more than this. I deserve to be with someone who loves me and who’s not ashamed of me.”

For as much as it hurt, physically and emotionally, I pulled away, walked to the door, and held it open. The fact that he actually looked stunned proved how out of touch he was with what he’d been putting me through.

But it didn’t last. Within seconds, he was smiling as if he’d caught me bluffing.

When my tears spilled over, the cocky look on his face faded.

“Rain, don’t do this. I’m not giving you up. It’s not over.”

I wiped my face with the heels of my hands, cringing from the sting. “Seriously. It was over before it began. I should’ve never let this go on. You’re still hung up on someone else, and it isn’t fair to her or to me. Go be with Suzanne. I’ll get over it. I want to get over it, but I can’t if you won’t leave me alone.”

“Fine, then I won’t leave you alone.” He plunked onto the couch with his arms folded and stared straight ahead.

I slammed the door with a loud bang and stomped into the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee. I’d slept twelve hours, and I felt as if I could sleep twelve more. When the coffee was ready, I poured myself a cup and ignoring him, went back into my room and lay down.

Just as I expected, Preston followed. He lay down beside me, his chest pressed against my back, his arm around my waist.

“I can’t live without you.”

“Yes, you can.”

“Please don’t be like this.” He clutched me against his chest so hard it was difficult to breathe. I was about to tell him he was hurting me again when I realized he was crying. I pushed against him, but he held me fast.

“I don’t want you to see me like this.”

My sensitive skin throbbed, but I squirmed around in his arms until I was facing him. I’d never seen a man cry before. “Preston. Please, don’t.”

He buried his face in my shoulder. I held him against me, and when he finally looked at me, my heart broke. His eyes were red and swollen, and he looked so anguished that I felt guilty for pushing so hard, for threatening to end it.

And I felt guilty for the feelings I’d begun to have for Chase. While it had never made sense before when Preston claimed that things between him, Suzanne, and me were so complicated, I understood it all now.

I kissed his tearstained cheeks. I kissed his lips. And I gave in. Again. And he was more loving and tender than he’d been in a long time.

Afterward, Preston slept while I lay beside him, staring at the ceiling.

He’d made lots of promises to me over the past hour, but my heart still hurt. And not just because of Preston.