Chapter Six
It was one of the hardest things Sidney had ever done, rising quietly from the bed, finding her clothes, and slipping away into the night. She made it to her room without incident, which was a blessing because she was only wearing her blouse—she couldn’t dare take the chance of waking him by dressing in Claire’s room.
She needed some time, some space. An opportunity to process what had just happened and how she felt about it.
Fortunately, Hanna wasn’t in their room, so Sidney curled up in her bed and replayed the interaction with Cody over and over again.
It was her hope that by reliving it again and again she could become inured to the emotions he roused, but it didn’t work out that way. It just made her want more. To kiss him again, make love with him again, have him again . . .
She didn’t expect to fall asleep but she must have because when she opened her eyes, light was streaming into the room.
She glanced at Hanna’s bed and was shocked to see it hadn’t been slept in. Her sister had never come home last night.
On the one hand, she was instantly worried, because it was absolutely not in Hanna’s nature to . . . frolic. On the other hand, there was hope that she was frolicking . . . with Logan.
Sidney threw off her covers and pulled on her clothes and rushed to the window. She wasn’t sure why she went to the window—surely Hanna wouldn’t be loitering in the yard . . . but she was.
She stood, leaning against the paddock fence, staring at the horses ripping out tufts of grass in the field. She looked peaceful, reflective. But Hanna couldn’t be aware that a storm was heading her way . . . in the form of Tibby, who was charging toward her from the side of the house. Her posture and her pace made clear Hanna’s quiet moment was about to be shattered.
Sidney dressed quickly, grabbed her hat, and tore out the door and down the stairs. Huffing like a grandma with emphysema who lived on the top floor of a New York walk-up, she came upon them just as Tibby spoke.
“I went by your room. I knocked,” Tibby snapped. The words were threaded with accusation.
Hanna turned to her and blinked. “When?”
“Last night.”
Oh hell no.
Sidney stepped into the fray with a carefree laugh. “My sis has always been a heavy sleeper,” she said, wrapping an arm around Hanna’s shoulders.
Tibby glowered at her. “I knocked and knocked.”
Sidney shrugged. She glanced at Hanna. “Did you take a sleeping pill? Yeah, I totally get it. That party went on for hours. I couldn’t sleep at all until it quieted down. Must have been, oh, two or three in the morning. Did you have fun last night, Tibbs?” Tibby winced. She hated being called Tibbs. “I noticed you and Mr. Gray cuddling up in the corner.”
Tibby wrinkled her nose. “He was all right. But I really wanted Purple. But he disappeared.” Her gaze narrowed in on Hanna. “About the same time you left . . .”
Crap. “Oh, Purple was hot all right.” Sidney forced a shudder. “I enjoyed myself with him.”
When Hanna’s gaze snapped to her, Sidney winked. “All right. I admit it. I was naughty.” She waggled a finger at Hanna. “And you should be naughty too. It’s your party.” Before Tibby could respond or anything, Sidney hooked her arm in Hanna’s and tugged her away. “Come on,” she said. “There’s a wonderful spread in the dining hall. Have you eaten?”
It was a relief that Tibby didn’t follow.
Hanna shot her a grateful glance as they entered the dining hall, which was nearly deserted. The long table against the wall was covered with chafing dishes. Scents of bacon and French toast wafted around her.
Sidney handed her sister a plate, but Hanna handed it back. “I’m not hungry.”
“Hanna. You need to eat,” she said as she piled some scrambled eggs and bacon onto the plates, then added toast and potatoes.
Hanna stared at the mountain of food. She looked a little green. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
Maybe she’d overdone it. “Sit. I’ll get you some water.” She glanced around the table and was annoyed to find all the pitchers empty.
“I don’t want water.”
“Of course you do. Water makes everything better.”
Hanna frowned at her. “No. It doesn’t.”
“I’ll be right back. Sit. Relax.” Without another word, Sidney headed off to the kitchen to refill the empty pitcher.
Hanna looked far too pale for her liking. She was known to have a tender stomach in the mornings sometimes, so coffee was out. Maybe some dry toast?
As she filled the pitcher from the tap, a familiar heat swelled behind her. A shiver of prescience took her.
Or maybe it wasn’t prescience. Maybe it was just his cologne. It made her mouth water.
That was probably the only reason she didn’t lose her hold on the pitcher when he spoke. “Why did you leave?” His voice was low, wounded and danced on the air around her.
She glanced at him over her shoulder. “Um . . . It was over?”
His face went a little red. “It wasn’t over.”
“Yeah, it kind of was.” She turned away, heading for the dining hall, but he whipped her around.
“Was it?” He yanked her closer and took her lips. He kissed her with a raging passion. She willed herself not to respond.
When he realized she was motionless in his arms, he lifted his head and frowned at her as though he could not understand why. She could hardly blame him. Hell, she could barely understand herself.
It took everything in her to pull away and affect a playful tone. “Now, now, Cody. You’ve already had your kiss.”
“I find I want more.” There was a delicious growl to his voice.
“An agreement is an agreement.”
He leaned back, his perfect features arranged in an alluring pout. “Didn’t you like it? It seemed like you liked it.”
She’d loved it. “That is hardly the point.” She scooped some ice into the pitcher.
“It’s exactly the point.”
“No, Cody.” She set her palm on his warm chest and attempted to hold him off. Her will was weakening. Alarm bells rang in her head. “It’s not.”
“Then what is the point?”
She stared at him for a long moment, searching for the words, contemplating which truth to tell him. Before she could choose between the dismal options, he spoke.
“We should, you know, explore this thing.”
Thing? Was that what it was? What it had been? A thing? “We don’t have a thing.”
A flush rose on his cheeks. “We did.”
She pushed away. She had to. “Seriously, Cody? You screwed me once in the backseat of my Mustang—”
“I see you still have it.”
Seriously? Fucking seriously? Did he imagine she kept the car because it reminded her of him? Of the night they’d both had too much to drink and she gave herself to him in a besotted stupor?
Hardly.
She couldn’t afford a new car. That was all.
He smirked at her, and her fury escalated.
“You screwed me in the backseat of my Mustang, and a day later, you were dating Tibby Pucey.”
“I—”
“Tibby Pucey!”
“I—”
“The very next day. Couldn’t you even wait, I dunno, a week?”
“Look—”
“Whatja do? Hitch up your britches and head straight over to her place?”
“Sidney, please.” His sharp tone stalled her rant, but only a little. “I only dated her because—”
“Yeah, yeah. I know.” Everyone knew. Tibby’s father was the richest man in town. Sidney’s stomach heaved. Bile tickled at the back of her throat. “And I couldn’t give a shit why you date who you date. Just keep away from me.”
“Sidney—”
“Just drop it, Cody. The fact is, you use women and then just throw them away.”
“I absolutely do not—”
“And I refuse to be one of them.”
He leaned back and studied her for a long, long moment. “You’re punishing me, aren’t you?”
“What?”
“For what I did back then.”
She sucked in a breath and tipped her head to the side. Perhaps a little offense was warranted. “Do you think you deserve punishment?”
His Adam’s apple worked. “Maybe.”
That was as close to a Cody-pology as anyone could ever expect. She refused to allow him such absolution. “Well, I’m not punishing you.”
“You’re not?” For some reason hope flared in his eyes. It was only logical to squash it.
“No.” She stepped away and picked up the pitcher, holding it between them like some kind of cold, beaded shield. “I’m protecting myself. That’s all. You are a dangerous man and I will never forget that.”
***
Cody stared after Sidney as she swept out of the kitchen and back into the dining room.
Dangerous man?
How was he a dangerous man?
And then it hit him, in a rush. The only way he could be dangerous to her was if she shared his feelings. If she had the same mindless, irresistible attraction for him as he had for her.
The thought exhilarated him, and then, his belly dropped. Because she was determined to end this.
He could not let that happen.
With that thought in mind, he hurried to catch her. When he spotted her in the dining room, she was with her sister and—shudder—Tibby. Even as he watched, Logan entered the room and headed for them.
To Cody’s horror, Logan pulled Sidney into his arms . . . and kissed her. Full on the mouth.
Cody’s blood went cold. And then it went colder, because when Sidney spotted him staring at this display, she wrapped her arms around Logan’s neck and kissed him back, making it a point to moan and groan like a steer with a bellyache.
Why the hell was Logan kissing Sidney?
And why did she feel the need to paw him like that?
Cody crossed his arms over his chest and growled, but Sidney ignored him. In fact, the kiss didn’t end until Tibby rose with a huff and stormed from the room.
And even then, it took Cody nudging Logan, not so subtly, to break the two apart.
Sidney stepped back and gazed up at Logan, her lashes batting as though she had something in her eye. “Well, that was yummy.”
“Glad to oblige, ma’am.” Logan shot a look at Cody and grinned. “All part of the service.”
Cody made a noise, something like a snarl. “That’s not what you’re here for,” he snapped at his friend.
“Really?” Logan smirked. “I’m pretty sure that’s what I’m here for.”
“Not her.” He thrust a thumb at Sidney
“Excuse me, Mr. Double Stud.” Sidney fisted her hands on her hips and glared at him. “I am a paying customer here, just like all the other women. If I want to kiss a hot and hunky guy”—she patted Logan on the chest—“I shall kiss a hot and hunky guy. Maybe I’ll kiss all of them. I’m a free agent, remember?”
“Goddamn it, Sidney—”
“Pfft.” She wiggled her fingers dismissively in his face. “Come on, Hanna. Let’s take our breakfast to our rooms and eat in private. And you . . .” She turned to Logan, who was grinning like a loon. “Thank you for the kiss. It was very pleasant.”
Logan’s grin was impish. “You’re welcome, ma’am.”
Cody waited until they were gone before he whirled on his friend. “What. The. Fuck.”
“Hmm?”
“What the fuck was that?”
Logan batted his lashes. “Young love?”
He probably wasn’t prepared for Cody’s feral growl. As it was, he took a step back. “Why were you kissing her? I thought it was Hanna you wanted.”
“It is.”
“But you kissed her sister. Right in front of her face!” How could Logan not see what a horrible idea that was? “That’s not how seduction works.”
Logan’s grin was of the shit-eating variety. One that made clear no more seduction was needed with Hanna. Even though that was what Cody had been angling for, he wanted to punch Logan in the face.
“Why did you kiss Sidney?”
“I had a very good reason, but, before I tell you, I’m curious about something.”
“What?”
“Why are you so wound up about a simple kiss?”
Cody shook his finger in the general direction of the spot where said kiss had taken place, abomination that it had been. “That was not a simple kiss.”
“It most certainly was.”
“She was pawing you.”
“Only so she didn’t fall off.”
Cody glowered at Logan’s joke, which wasn’t funny in the least, and also wasn’t much of a joke. Fortunately, his friend took pity on him. “Seriously. There wasn’t even any tongue.” He paused. “Well, no tongue of mine, that is.”
Fury bubbled and spat in his gut. “She tongued you?”
Logan held up his fingers a smidge apart. “Little bit.”
“I could kill you.”
“I don’t see why.”
“You kissed her.”
“Only to throw Tibby off the scent.”
Cody blinked. “What do you mean?”
“Apparently Tibbs got this idea in her head that Hanna had snuck off with me last night.” He batted his lashes. “No idea where that came from. Anyway, I was just defending Hanna’s honor.”
“You defended Hanna’s honor by manhandling her sister?”
“Yeah. Pretty much.”
“Jesus.” Cody scrubbed his face with his palms.
“It worked, didn’t it?” Logan asked with a wink.
Cody couldn’t even respond. He sighed heavily and then, after a moment said, “Well, did it work? Did you and Hanna get together?”
In response, Logan just rearranged his cowboy hat and shot him another one of those shit-eating grins.
And yeah, it was answer enough.
If only Sidney was as easy as her sister.
At least he had all of today—and tonight—to seduce her again.