Infatuation (Club Destiny 4)

Now that she’d had it, she knew she was going to want it again.

With Tag.

Which didn’t help her cause any.

Damn it.

She managed to readjust her skirt - although her panties were a lost cause - as Tag was pulling his pants back over his hips and buttoning them. His shirt was about as long gone as her panties thanks to her need to rip it clean off of him.

Now, as they stood facing one another, their breathing coming back to the realm of normal, McKenna had no idea what to say to him. The silence was strained, and more than a little awkward, which only made McKenna want to fidget. She mentally forced herself not to.

She couldn’t help but ask herself the obvious question: Was this makeup sex? Or was it just I-can’t-get-you-out-of-my-system-but-I’m-damn-sure-gonna-try sex.

She knew which one she wanted it to be, but she also knew that what she wanted and what he wanted were two entirely different things.

“McKenna,” Tag said gruffly.

That was all it took to break whatever small bubble of hope that had swelled up in her chest for all of a minute. The way he said her name was the equivalent of slamming her head against a brick wall, and everyone knew you could only do that so many times before there was permanent brain damage.

She turned and walked away. She didn’t run, and she didn’t even walk very fast, but she did move with purpose. Straight to her bedroom where she grabbed a pair of clothes from her dresser before heading into the bathroom. She was going to take a shower, and when she got out, she could only hope Tag would be gone.

Twenty minutes later, she emerged from the bathroom at least calmer than when she went in. She needed to eat something and then she was going to head over to Sensations, Inc. to see if she could assess the damage a little more with a clear head.

As she walked through the living room, she clutched her chest in shock because seeing Tag sitting there was more than she expected, and honestly, it scared the shit out of her. Along with the brief flash of terror from not expecting him to be there, another emotion surfaced; one she didn’t want to even consider.

With his head in his hands, she wasn’t even sure he knew she was there. She was almost certain he didn’t because this was Tag and he would never allow anyone to witness him looking so... vulnerable.

Her heart pounded harder, but this time it wasn’t from fear. Once again, it was that damn hope surging out of the blue and threatening to make her look like an idiot one more time.

Did she say something? Should she clear her throat and let him know she was standing there?

“Come sit down,” he said before she could string together enough words to make a coherent sentence.

Reluctantly, McKenna moved closer to him, but she didn’t sit beside him on the sofa. She chose to sit on the edge of the chaise lounge she much preferred. Once she was seated, she waited to hear what he would say next.

God, she hoped it wasn’t an apology because based on what she witnessed outside, he really sucked at those.

“Will you come stay with me for a few days?”

His question couldn’t have been more unexpected than if he had asked her to marry him and have his babies. She couldn’t mutter a single word because her heart was suddenly ten times larger than only seconds before. Was he asking her because he realized that there was something more between them than just intense, blinding lust?

“Or I could stay here with you,” he continued, looking up at her now.

There was an influx of nerves that rioted in her tummy, likely from a horde of tap dancing butterflies, but McKenna still couldn’t form a sentence. She was smiling too. Smiling because she just couldn’t believe this was the same Tag she knew so intimately.

“And if not, let me hire a bodyguard for a few days.”

The bottom dropped completely out of her stomach, and McKenna suddenly felt... nauseous.

“A... bodyguard?” Damn her stupid, stupid heart for thinking that this man was capable of feeling a damn thing.

“Yes. I’m worried about what Crawford might do next,” he explained as though he hadn’t just ripped her heart into a zillion tiny pieces before grinding them into the hardwood like dust.

McKenna swallowed. Hard. Then she stood. Once she was sure she wouldn’t either fall over, or go after him with the closest sharp object, she turned toward the kitchen and didn’t stop until she was no longer in the same room.

Stopping at the counter, she had to take a deep breath to keep the tears at bay. She would not cry. No matter what, she would not cry. Not in front of him.

Damn it! She wanted to scream from the pain that had ripped through her from her own stupidity.

“McKenna,” Tag called from behind her. “Are you ok?”