“Wh-what?” she asked, blinking up at him. How could he go from smoking hot to icy cold within seconds? How could he deny what they had between them? That had been pure magic. The type of feeling that people wrote books about. “But—”
“No.” He dropped his hands to his side and curled them into fists. “Damn it, Anna. Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
“Yes.” She pressed her fingers to her swollen lips. “I kissed you. And you kissed me back.”
He swiped a hand through the air, his face red. “No, I didn’t. We can’t do this. It’s wrong. Wrong.”
Her stomach hollowed out, and she pressed a hand to it. Out of all the reactions she expected out of him, pure denial was not one of the ones she had pictured. Was he so appalled that he kissed her that he had to pretend it hadn’t even happened?
God, way to make a girl feel like an unattractive idiot.
She pressed her fist harder into her stomach. Her heart twisted, but she refused to show him how much his rejection hurt. She shrugged and straightened her hair. She could still feel his fingers buried in it. “Fine. Whatever. It never happened.”
“Damn it, Anna.” He thumped his fist down on the bare table by the door, breathing heavily, and she jumped. “You ruined everything. Don’t try that again. Stay as far away from me as you can, and stop trying to force me into feeling something I won’t. I’m not something you can fix up and make pretty, damn it. I’m not one of your pet projects.”
She lifted her chin, ignoring the stab of pain his words sent piercing through her chest. “You know what? You were right.”
He fisted his hands at his sides, still breathing heavily and looking like a caged lion about to be set free for its first hunt. “About?”
“About me not having feelings for you.”
She practically ran out of the room, letting the door shut between them, but she didn’t make it a step before she crashed into Wyatt. He caught her so she didn’t hit the floor, then glanced down at her in surprise. There were tears in her eyes that she refused to let fall, and his gaze fell to her lips with concern.
Her more than likely swollen lips.
His entire body went tense and his eyes narrowed dangerously. “I’ll kill him,” Wyatt, her ever-calm brother, announced. He let go of her and headed for the library.
Crap.
If he reacted this way, what would the rest of them do if they knew?
“Wyatt, don’t you dare take another step.” She grabbed his elbow and yanked him backward. He didn’t budge, but he stopped walking forward. She’d call that a win, thank you very much. “I swear to God if you say one word to him, or tell one person about this, I’ll never forgive you.”
He growled. Actually growled. “He kissed you. He promised to never—”
“He didn’t kiss me. I kissed him, and he told me not to do it again. And I won’t.” She took a deep breath, shaking her head. “I won’t kiss him again.”
“Why would he tell you to never do it again?” Wyatt eyed her. “He’s not going to find anyone better than you.”
She rolled her eyes. Men really were idiots. “Do you want him to want me, or do you want him to stay away? Make up your mind.”
“I don’t know, damn it.” He walked back to her and wrapped her in his arms. She leaned against him, letting him comfort her for a moment before she pulled away. “I want you to be happy, whatever that means.”
She swallowed hard. “Well, whatever happiness I find in life won’t be with him. I see that now.”
“I’m sorry.” He sighed and eyed the closed door behind her. “Maybe it’s good this happened today. Now you can move on. Right?”
As if. She nodded. “Right. Don’t tell anyone, okay?”
He opened his mouth, shut it, and glanced at the library door one last time. “Yeah. It’ll be our little secret.”
Anna gave him one last bright smile, so fake it hurt, and then walked up the stairs to her room. Once she locked the door, she slid to the ground and hugged her knees. She didn’t know what the heck really happened in the library, but he’d kissed her with as much passion as she’d kissed him. It scared him enough to make him push her away even more than before.
She was sick of being pushed away.
All her life, she’d been waiting for him to wake up and see that they belonged together, but that was never going to happen, and it was time to accept that. She had a successful job helping children learn how to speak properly, a nice apartment in the city, and a bunch of friends who loved her. She didn’t need a man to make her happy.