Although it felt as if she’d just shut her eyes, she awoke with Rian around 9:00 a.m. At first they were both disoriented but Rian quickly came to his senses and rolled away from her to stumble unevenly to the bathroom. He shut the door and CoCo rose blearily to squint at the bright light streaming into the cheap hotel room. Her mouth tasted as if a small animal had died in it and she reached for her bottle of water to chug it down. She listened for signs of life in the bathroom and when Rian emerged, there was no mistaking the cool distance in his expression.
Might as well get this over with. “I didn’t know Stella—”
“Save it. I’m not really in the mood to talk about last night,” he cut in, moving to grab his clothes and disappear back into the bathroom. She heard the shower going and she exhaled an unhappy breath, her head pounding. She guessed they weren’t going to go for round two anytime soon.
Her body responded with delightful little aches and pains in private places, reminding her how vigorously they’d entertained each other last night, and she actually blushed when she realized she really wanted to feel him inside her again. He was a beast in bed. No shame there.
But judging by that dark look, touching her was the last thing he wanted to do anytime soon. He blamed her for what’d happened. As if she’d known that Stella had dosed him. Yeah, right. Stella was impossible to control, dosed or sober. But as she tried to formulate a reasonable explanation to that effect, she couldn’t see how hanging out with a person like Stella was a good endorsement.
Her wounded pride began to take over and she started to lose that contrite feeling. Hadn’t she tried to tell him that it was the drug causing him to be all over her? Was it really her fault that he couldn’t keep his hands where they belonged? And furthermore, why was he drinking someone else’s drink? Every idiot knew that you never shared drinks in a club. That was practically an invitation to get dosed.
She scooped up her discarded clothing and quickly dressed, starting to silently fume at his high-and-mighty attitude toward her. By the time he emerged, her temper was percolating at a fine clip and she was ready to give it to him.
“Look, don’t you dare treat me like some dirty girl you picked up at the bar, banged and then can’t get away from fast enough. I’m not that girl. And for the record I tried to stop you and you were all hands so you can quit with the holier-than-thou attitude because it’s really pissing me off.”
“Just drop it,” he warned, his wet hair dripping onto his back as he threw his towel back into the bathroom. “I never should’ve gone to that stupid club with you. I ignored my gut instinct and look what happened.”
“Exactly what happened? You got laid. I don’t see any other guy crying in his beer when that happens. Get over yourself, Rian. It’s just sex.”
“Speaking from experience, no doubt,” he quipped and she flushed with rage. “Don’t start fires you can’t put out.”
“I hate you, Rian Dalton,” she said, her chest heaving from the exertion it took to keep from throwing anything within grabbing distance straight at his melon head. “You’re a real dick.”
“And you’re a paparazzi’s meal ticket. Now that we’ve established our previous roles...let’s get back to the point of this relationship—obviously, things went south last night but it’s not going to happen again. We’re going to hole up for the next couple of days and pretend that what happened didn’t actually happen at all. Got it?”
“Gladly.”
“Great.” He gestured to the shower and she shook her head, unable to believe his nerve. She didn’t get discarded. If anyone got the boot, it was the guy, not CoCo Abelli. “Don’t you want to shower?” he asked when she just stood there, rooted in impotent anger and the overwhelming desire to tackle him to the ground.
But she couldn’t find the right words even as she seethed. She didn’t want to admit it but she was hurt by his attitude, even though she shouldn’t have been surprised. He’d been a jerk when they first met, and he was a jerk now. Leopards don’t change their spots. She was stupid to believe anything different. Screw you, Rian. Screw. You.