This time Merissa poked him, both for the nickname and for not giving a straight answer. “You have a guess. What happened?”
Frowning, he rubbed his pec. “That hurt.”
Baloney. His chest felt like granite.
Merissa guessed, “You broke things off with her and she had a hissy?” When his eyes flared a little, she said, “That’s it, isn’t it? You being the man-whore that you are, you’re never content with one girl and that particular girl didn’t want to share so she spread those lies to...what? Get even with you?”
“I’m not a man-whore.”
“Oh please.” How Armie could deny that with a straight face, she didn’t know. “Total man-whore. But so what? You’re an adult and if you want to sow enough wild oats for a battalion, it’s your own business.”
“I—”
“But at eighteen, well, how many oats could you have sown?” She couldn’t ever remember Armie not being sexual. By the time she was old enough to really take notice of him, he’d already been experienced, or at least it had seemed so to her. Girls chased him, same as they did her brother. She’d grown up with that as a fact of life.
“You were so popular—of course you didn’t want to get tied down.”
“I—”
“It’s ridiculous.” She hadn’t known the details of his experience, only that he always seemed to be with a different girl and that the way he looked at that girl had been noticeably aware, with the full force of his hungry, blatantly sexual attention.
As he’d grown and matured, his nature had ripened. How he smiled at, listened to and focused on women made them hot and needy and ever-so-willing. She knew, because even when he wasn’t trying to seduce her, he managed to anyway.
But when he’d been eighteen—surely no one had expected him to get into a serious relationship at such a young age. Or at least, no one should have.
“Yes, you’re out there,” she said, because no one could deny his pleasure-seeking lifestyle. “Sometimes way out there from what I’ve heard. I mean, two or three women at a time? Outrageous. But force?” She made a rude sound.
“You saw the ties on my bed.”
“Yeah, and we’ve all seen the women ask you to...do things to them.” Merissa tried to ignore the heat in her face. “Geez, I imagine you have a hundred women who could be character witnesses. Lea should have known—”
Armie kissed her, fast and firm, putting a halt to her rant. It dazed her, that warm press of his lips to hers. When she got her eyes opened again, she saw him grinning.
“You—”
Before she could get too annoyed by his humor, he pulled her in close and laughed.
His body was warm, solid, and his scent surrounded her. Giving in, Rissy savored the moment. “Ridiculous,” she couldn’t resist grumbling one last time.
“Thank you.” He held her back the length of those long muscular arms. “For knowing better.”
Did he really think anyone who knew him would believe the lies? “You’re welcome.” Because it was so nice, she moved back against him again—and Armie let her. “So what happened after you broke Lea’s heart?”
His hands opened on her, one on her nape under the fall of her hair, the other low on her spine. “Lea’s heart was never involved. She was a nice, sweet girl, who, as she put it, wanted to take a walk on the wild side before she headed back to college at the end of the summer break.”
“Having you qualified?”
“Given her pampered life and the rich boys she was usually around, I guess I did. At first I wasn’t on board. I didn’t want to be some princess’s trophy, you know? But she tracked me down everywhere I went, constantly flirting, damn near throwing it at me, until one night at a party I finally gave in.”
Merissa tilted back to eye him suspiciously. “Is she homely or something?”
He snorted. “No. Or at least, she wasn’t then. I haven’t seen her since.”
“So you were resistant only because you didn’t like her motives? Hate to say it, Armie, but that doesn’t sound like you.”
“I know.” Armie absently smoothed her hair while thinking about it. “Lea was one of those rich girls, and I couldn’t figure out why she was after me. She always had a gaggle of her goofy girlfriends with her and they’d watch her approach, egg her on and then giggle about it. Like it was a joke maybe. Back then, the thought that she was slumming spooked me a little.”
Slumming? How sad that he would think that.
“I wish I’d stuck with my instincts because I no sooner banged her than she became a superstalker and I couldn’t shake her.”
“Guess she liked slumming.”
He gave her an absent smile. “A quickie in the upstairs of a friend’s house during a crowded party wasn’t all that memorable, believe me. But she started claiming she was in love with me and trying to buy me stuff. Like she offered me a car. How crazy is that?”
“A little crazy,” Merissa admitted.
“I got these anonymous naked pics, some of them pretty raunchy. They didn’t show a face but I knew they were from her.”
“Because any other girl would have claimed them?”
“Right. How else could I show my appreciation?” He shook his head. “She stuck one under the wiper on my car, mailed a few to my house, even managed to stick one in my locker at work.”
“Wow.” Very stalkerish.
“Finally I just flat out told her I wasn’t interested. I gave her the whole bit about it was me, not her, and that she was super sweet and all, but Cannon and I were both interested in MMA and anything serious with a girl just didn’t factor in.”
“Clearly your rejection didn’t go over too well.”
“A few weeks later the accusations started. It blindsided me. I didn’t hear them from her. It was her old man who confronted me, and he was nothing like his daughter.”
When Armie went quiet, Merissa crowded in closer in silent support. For a full minute, he just held her, and she waited, not about to press him.
Finally, he said, “Mr. Baley showed up at our house with a couple of cops. He...”
Merissa stroked his chest, pressed a quick kiss to his neck.
Like steel bands, Armie’s arms tightened around her. “I didn’t know what the hell was going on, but Baley was quick to tell me. He said I’d raped his daughter and left her devastated. But the real kicker was that Dad didn’t back me up. He was just coming off a bender, and I swear he was...I dunno, gleeful to see me under attack. He told them I was a violent punk and said I was out of control, that I’d attacked him.”
Oh my God. Heartbroken for him, Merissa pushed back to see his face. “Armie, no.”
“Yeah. And it was a partial truth, I guess.” He shifted, seeming uncomfortable in his own skin. “You know my mom took off when I was fourteen, right?”
“I knew she was gone, but I don’t recall any details.” She’d been a kid back then, very uninvolved with her brother’s friends.
“The details suck. Basically she just decided she’d had enough of Dad drinking and cheating, so she booked. Left me with him and never looked back.”