“You’re going over there?” she asks curiously, following me into the hallway.
“I doubt she’ll answer my call,” I mutter. “Besides, she deserves an in-person apology.”
“You should take flowers,” Janelle suggests.
I glance over my shoulder at her, frowning at the thought. “What? No way. She gets an apology, not flowers.”
“Flowers are a great way to apologize,” she counters as I key in the alarm code.
It disarms and I open the door, facing Janelle as I back out. “No flowers. Lock the door and set the alarm when I leave.”
“Yes, Dad,” she drawls but grins before I fully shut the door.
♦
I’ve never been to Veronica’s before, but I have her address along with all types of contact information she gave me when we agreed she’d keep Janelle at her place when I was gone. What I didn’t realize when I entered the lobby is that Veronica’s home takes up the entire top floor, as the building’s concierge advised me when he rang up to Veronica’s unit.
“There’s a Mr. Nadeau here to see you, Ms. Woodley,” he says into the phone.
Whatever Veronica says causes the man to flush. “Of course, Ms. Woodley.”
He hangs up the phone, swallows hard, and looks at me. “I’m sorry, sir, but Ms. Woodley won’t see you.”
“Is that what she said?” I ask dubiously.
“No, sir. She used a lot of curse words along with it, but it’s essentially the same message.”
Hmmm. She’s going to be difficult. I smile at the concierge before pulling out my phone. I shoot Veronica a quick text. Let me up or I’m leaving here and putting Janelle on a plane right back to West Virginia.
I hit send and start toward the lobby door. I make it no more than a few steps before the lobby phone rings and the concierge calls after me. “Mr. Nadeau, wait. Ms. Woodley has changed her mind and will see you now.”
I smile evilly but let it slide before I turn around. Tucking my phone away, I accept a card with a temporary passcode for the elevator that will take me to the top floor, directly into Veronica’s home.
When the elevator car stops and the doors slide open, Veronica stands there, arms crossed over her chest, and lights into me. “You have a lot of nerve coming here after—”
“That’s not going to work for me,” I say, cutting in over her tirade and striding right up to her. Her eyes flare for a second before they flutter closed because I’m kissing her.
Christ… it wasn’t my intention to do this, but now that my mouth is on hers, her hands have latched around my neck with one of her legs wrapped around mine, and yup, my hands are on her ass and I can’t remember why I came here to begin with.
Whatever it was, I don’t care right now. Her body feels too good pressed against me, and it’s time to admit that no matter how I might feel about this woman, I want her like no other.
My hands grip her ass to lift her up, and her legs easily wrap around my waist. I angle to the right—the nearest wall—and walk her into it. My pelvis presses against her, and I know she can feel exactly how much I want her.
Veronica gasps and wiggles her hips so she grinds against me. I kiss her harder, and she accepts it, gives it back in spades.
I manage to tear my mouth away, press my forehead against hers, and say through ragged breaths, “If we don’t stop now, I’m going to fuck you.”
Veronica’s mouth is swollen, her eyes bright and skin flushed. She shrugs off my threat. “Fine by me. I haven’t had sex in a really long time.”
Well, I have. Hooked up with someone on this past road trip, but the totality of that experience was nothing compared to how damn hot just this kiss was with her pressed up against the wall.
“Besides,” she says, tilting her head and running her lips along my jaw, tingles pulsing up my spine. “It would only be a hate fuck.”
I pull my head back to look at her. “A hate fuck?”
“Yeah,” she replies with a frown. “I mean, what else would it be? You don’t like me, I don’t like you. A hate fuck.”
“I don’t hate you,” I say indignantly.
“And I don’t hate you, so we’ll call it an I don’t like you fuck, if that makes you feel better.”
I consider that a minute and decide it sounds right and give a slight shrug before taking her mouth again for another soul-shredding kiss.
“Please tell me you have condoms,” she breathes into my mouth.
Fuck. I pull back again to look at her. “I don’t. I didn’t come here with the idea in mind we’d do this.”
Her eyebrows knit. “But don’t all men carry one in their pocket, just in case?”
“No, not all men do that,” I rebuke. But in truth, I had one in my pocket that got used on this recent road trip.
Veronica sighs with regret at the same time I lower her body to the floor. The moment has passed, and I doubt we’ll get that back again.
Our hands fall away from each other, and she straightens her clothes. Giving a little cough to clear her throat, she says, “So, why are you here?”
The heat has gone out of her, but before she remembers she was pissed when I arrived, I seize the opportunity to say, “I wanted to apologize for the way I treated you back at my place. I didn’t realize there were two very different sides to the story, but Janelle caught me up.”
She doesn’t say a word, merely appraises me coolly.
“And I want to thank you for how you handled it… defending Janelle the way you did. At first, I thought you had overstepped, but really, you were protecting her better than maybe even I could have. I’m not sure I would have thought to make such demands on that principal.”
Veronica blinks in surprise over my compliment. “Thank you for saying that.”
I nod an acknowledgment. “I’m pulling Janelle from that school and am going to get her into the Phoenix Fine Arts High School.”
Veronica’s face lights up, and for a moment, I’m absolutely dazzled mute by her beauty. I mean, she’s a gorgeous woman, but when she radiates true joy, she becomes mesmerizing.
“That’s amazing,” she gushes. “Janelle is so gifted with her drawing.”
“I know,” I reply with a fond grin. “I have hundreds of her drawings she’s sent me over the years. I should’ve taken the time to choose her school better, but I’ll rectify the situation early next week.”
“You’re a good brother,” she says softly, but I don’t acknowledge that statement. I’m struggling mightily to do right by Janelle. So far, Veronica seems to have connected much better than I have and has done more to further her happiness here. I have some work to do.
“Well, I better be going.” It’s completely awkward that just moments ago, we were going to fuck, and now I’m leaving. But there’s no reason to stay, because she’s right… we don’t like each other.
“Okay,” she says, and I move for the elevator. “Wait… Riggs.”
I glance back at her, and I can tell by the tone of her voice it’s not got a damn thing to do with kissing her or sex. She sounds worried. “I don’t mean to pry, and you don’t have to give me details, but Janelle told me that she shared some of her past with a friend who then spread it around the school.”