Make Me Forget - Page 46

“I can’t do that.”

Her gaze jumped to his face.

“Not until I apologize. I honestly didn’t mean to offend you last night. It’s just that—”

He broke off abruptly and glanced aside. There it was: one of those rare cracks in his armor. He was either genuinely uncomfortable, or he was a terrific actor.

“What?” she asked, opening the patio door a few inches more without being aware of what she was doing.

“You remind me of someone I knew once.”

Dusk was falling. A warbling robin penetrated the billowing silence.

“I was—” His mouth went hard and he glanced away again. He shut his eyelids tight for a second.

“I was . . . I was embarrassed,” he said gruffly.

Her heartbeat began to drum in her ears. His admission struck her as poignant and rare. She had the definite impression this man didn’t open up often, if ever.

“Why?” she asked softly. She felt for him in that moment. She really did, despite her reservations. Still, she wasn’t going to let him off easy. A muscle flickered in his lean cheek.

“For losing control.”

“I didn’t think you lost control, Jacob.”

He regarded her silently, his face a solemn mask . . . his eyes windows to a turmoil she couldn’t understand.

“But I hear you saying you think you did,” she continued quietly. “So . . . I reminded you of this person from your past, and you think it made things extra . . . intense for you?” She took a deep breath for courage. “And so you closed off in the aftermath, because it felt like too much, considering how briefly we’ve known each other?”

“Something like that, yeah.”

She nodded, trying her best to absorb what he was saying. She inhaled choppily when the full impact of his meaning penetrated, and hurt settled.

“So, you are only attracted to me because I look like someone else?”

“No.”

She blinked at his harshness.

“It’s not like that,” he assured, a hint of frustration in his tone. “Look, do you want to walk a little bit? I’d like to talk to you.”

She glanced back into her condo uncertainly. He’d just told her that the reason he’d shown interest in her was because she looked like another woman. Undoubtedly, his admission was also the reason he’d been so amazingly focused on her during lovemaking.

“I don’t think so,” she replied slowly. “I’ve told you that I was at a crossroads in my life . . . that I’m feeling pretty vulnerable lately. I thought I could do this with you. But this is different. I’m not too crazy about the idea of you looking at me and seeing someone else.”

“Harper.” Her gaze snapped to his face at the authority she heard in his tone. “You reminded me of someone else at first. But that . . . she happened a long, long time ago. What I realized today is that’s all a memory. It’s the past. She doesn’t exist anymore. Who I was when I knew her doesn’t exist anymore. The memory drew me to you.”

“But—”

“It’s you I see standing right in front of me right now. It’s you I want,” he said bluntly, cutting her off. His quiet, utter confidence left her speechless.

“Uh . . . let me get some shoes,” she murmured after a charged pause, pointing lamely behind her.

She didn’t know what to make of him. Her uncertainty remained. She was likely making a gargantuan mistake. He was the type of man who could disarm so elementally with his intensity, good looks, and brilliance. But Jacob Latimer’s unsettling confession and demonstration of vulnerability . . .

Well, it’d taken her breath away.

thirteen

Tags: Beth Kery Erotic
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