“I won’t let anyone speak to you that way. And I don’t care if you’ve made a mistake,” Jason vowed. “I don’t care if it happens here or in your home. I’m not going to let anyone mistreat you.”
“You don’t understand what was going on.” She wrenched the door open, desperate to leave. She was emotional and needed to step away from the situation to think clearly.
“I understand more than you want to admit.”
Claire paused at the threshold. “We have known each other forever, Jason. We have worked closely together for the past year, you have been in my bed this week and you still don’t understand anything about me.”
* * *
JASON STOOD IN front of Claire’s apartment door hours later. Her words had spun in his head all day and he hadn’t been able to quiet his doubts. He’d eventually cut out of work early, a decision that had shocked his employees. All he could think about was making things right with Claire, but he didn’t know where to start.
Jason stared at the white door in front of him as he waited for Claire to answer his knock. It had been a few minutes and he was beginning to doubt she would open the door. Why was he bothering anyway? Jason glanced over his shoulder. He should just cut his losses and move on. It was how he always handled his flings.
He couldn’t do that this time, though. This relationship was different. He was different with Claire. The fling had started out fake but he’d gotten a glimpse of what it would be like to share his life with Claire. He liked what he saw.
Jason knocked on the door harder. He knew she was there because her car was in the parking lot. But her silence told him everything he needed to know without saying a word. She had ignored his texts and calls. And she should. He realized now that he had gone too far.
His sister always complained that he was overprotective. He shouldn’t have forced that on Claire. Just because he was sleeping with her, just because he felt tenderness toward her, it didn’t mean he could interfere.
But it was more than tenderness. It was more than desire. Claire was the most fascinating person he knew and he had fallen for her. He’d fallen hard, fast and easy.
But he couldn’t be sure if it was love or just infatuation. Either way, he didn’t want to hold her back from moving to LA and fulfilling her dreams. He should walk away before he got in deeper.
Jason turned just as the door swung open. Claire stood before him in a fluffy bathrobe. His gut twisted at the sight of her. Her long hair was damp and coiled around her head. The robe was too big and fell over her shoulder. Beads of water clung to her fair skin.
But what he noticed the most was her eyes. Her eyelashes were spiky and she didn’t look at him directly. She didn’t want him to see that she had been crying.
“I’m here to apologize,” he blurted out. He was usually smoother than this but his pulse was racing. His chest felt tight.
Claire didn’t blink. She leaned against the door frame and held her bathrobe together. “For what? For interfering with my client, for the psychoanalysis or for taking work away after I’ve proven myself over and over again?”
Jason winced. He had been arrogant and condescending when he had only been trying to show compassion and concern. “Can I come in?”
She hesitated and glanced to the quiet corridor. “Sure,” she said. She stepped aside reluctantly and allowed him to enter. He hoped she didn’t notice how nervous and unsure he was.
“What’s going on?” she asked as she closed the door behind him.
Jason didn’t know where to start. He went with the first thing that popped in his head. “When you told me about how you hard you worked at school and that you still didn’t get what you wanted, I was surprised.”
“This is what you wanted to talk about?” She leaned her head back on the door. “I can’t go over it again. I won’t.”
“I get the sense that...” He was never this tongue-tied. “I said the wrong thing and I want to know what it was.”
She looked down at her bare feet. “You did nothing wrong,” she said quietly. “I was being too sensitive and I took it out on you.”
Jason was tempted to reach out and hold her. Cradle her against his chest. He wasn’t sure if his instincts were correct, though, and he kept his hands to himself. “Claire, I really want to know.”
“Why?”
“You told me something you weren’t comfortable sharing.” His hands were circling in the air and Jason crossed his arms tightly against his body. “You trusted me with this information and I disappointed you.”