Justin usually helped him but today he’d called and said he wouldn’t be able to make it. He’d sounded tense, but T.S. hadn’t asked. Not his business until Justin wanted him to know. He’d enjoyed the solitude. He was usually with his crew, working on the latest project or seeing clients to line up future work. It was rare he got the opportunity to work alone these days.
He cleaned up the mess, putting his tools aside, before he glanced at his watch. It was a bit early but he might call it a day and see if he could talk Missy into doing the same. They could pick up something and take it back to her place to eat. Maybe a pizza. His stomach growled in agreement. Yeah, a pizza would definitely work.
He stood at the kitchen sink and scrubbed his hands while his thoughts wandered to Missy. He knew he was spending way too much time with her. Allowing her to become too important in his life. But he couldn’t seem to stop himself. She made him smile. She challenged him in every way possible and he found he liked that. She was smart and sassy and sexy as hell.
Just thinking about her made him hard. Hell, he’d walked around semi-erect for the past four weeks.
A sound behind him made him glance over his shoulder. As if his thoughts had summoned her, there she was. Tall and gorgeous in her high-heeled boots. Her dark brown winter coat brought out the color in her eyes and complemented her skin. He wanted to eat her up.
“Hey, babe. I wasn’t expecting you to show up here.”
“Don’t call me that.” Her harsh reply had him reaching for the towel and drying his hands. Tension radiated from her body and thin lines of stress stretched between her brows.
“What’s wrong?” He started toward her but stopped when she took a step back. If he didn’t know better he’d think she was afraid of him. This wasn’t right.
“What’s wrong?” she repeated. “What’s wrong? I went to the police station today and identified my second attacker.”
T.S. swore under his breath. Damn independent woman. “You should have told me. I’d have gone with you.”
She stared at him as though she didn’t believe a word he was saying. His concern was pushing way into the worried zone. “I wouldn’t think you’d like spending time with the police, considering your past.”
T.S. felt his insides freeze. She couldn’t have found out about his past. He never talked about it. To anyone. Only Lucas and his mother knew about those dark days. He’d cut all ties with his old neighborhood, plus it was old business. Ancient history. “What do you mean?”
“What do you think?” She crossed her arms over her chest. He recognized the defensive gesture for what it was and he braced for the worst. “I found out you’d been in prison. In prison! Why didn’t you tell me?”
He mimicked her pose, crossing his arms over his chest. Every muscle in his body tensed. A nerve beneath his right eye twitched. This was what you got when you opened yourself up. He knew better but he’d allowed it to happen anyway. “It wasn’t any of your business.” His voice was hard and cold.
Missy jerked back in surprise, but quickly collected herself. “How can you say that? We were sleeping together.”
Anger filled him and he lashed out. “Babe, we weren’t doing much sleeping.”
She flinched, but set her jaw in a familiar stubborn line. “No, we weren’t. But I made the erroneous assumption that there was more to our relationship than sex. My bad.”
He raked his hand through his hair. Shit, he hated feeling like the bad guy here. He hadn’t done anything wrong. “Look, it happened a long time ago. I don’t talk about it. With anyone.”
“Fine.” Missy turned and stalked toward the door.
“So that’s it. You’re just going to walk away.” His chest tightened with each step she took.
“You were the one who said it was nothing but sex. Well, I don’t sleep with ex-cons.” She laughed but it wasn’t a pleasant sound. “Scratch that, I guess I have. You’d get along great with my father and brothers. They’re ex-cons too.”
After dropping that bombshell, she left, her boots clicking against the wood floor.
“Fuck.” T.S. balled his hands into fists and thought about driving them through the wall. Thankfully he’d passed that kind of stupid years ago. It would hurt like hell and only mean more work for him in the long run.
He took a step toward the door and stopped. He wouldn’t go after her. He couldn’t. He knew it was pride keeping him from calling out to her, from begging her to stay, to talk this out. But sometimes that was all a man had.
He’d made a stupid fucking mistake as a kid. One step off the straight and narrow and it had messed up his life forever. His only true crime was in trusting his older brother and a girl he’d been smitten with. For that he’d paid. Big-time. He didn’t owe Missy or anyone else any explanations. He’d built a life for himself out of the ruins of his childhood. And he was happy with it.
He absently rubbed at his chest. It felt as though someone had reached into it and yanked his heart out. No, not just someone. Missy.
“Damn it.” He tossed pride away and stalked out of the apartment, hurrying down the stairs. But it was too late. By the time he burst through the door, Missy was long gone. He looked up and down the sidewalk but she was nowhere to be seen.
It was just as well. He wasn’t about to beg the woman to listen to him. She’d judged him without even asking to hear his side of the story. And he’d spent half his life being judged. Those days were over. He’d worked hard to gain the self-respect he had today.
He didn’t need such a closed-minded person in his life. She had such high standards and expected everyone else to live up to them. No one was that perfect.
An inner voice told him that wasn’t fair. Considering what she’d told him about her family, it was a wonder she hadn’t ended up like them. She’d made her code and lived by it, dragging herself out of the cycle of despair, much as he had.
They had more in common than she realized. Both of them, it appeared, were trying to forget a past that just wouldn’t stay buried.
Chapter Ten
“He should have told me.” Missy was curled up on one end of her sofa with Candy sitting on the other. She had a glass of wine in one hand and a tissue in the other. Thank God for good friends. Candy had come as soon as Missy had called her.
“Maybe he would have in time.”
Missy didn’t want to listen to reason. She wanted her friend to agree with her. “Why did he wait?”
“Maybe because he thought you might react like this. Or maybe because he considers it his past.” Candy set her wineglass on the coffee table, leaned forward and rested her hand on Missy’s leg, squeezing gently.
Missy resisted the childish urge to pull her leg away. “Whose side are you on?”
Candy sighed and sat back, her eyes troubled. “I’m on both your sides.” She tucked a lock of her curly brown hair behind her ear. “Maybe you should have asked him what happened instead of just cutting him out of your life.”
The accusation stung. “I don’t want an ex-con in my life.” Even as she said it she felt a pain in her chest at the thought of never seeing T.S. again. It was almost too much to bear.
It had only been a couple of hours but she felt as though she was in mourning. She fluctuated between righteous anger and profound hurt. It was enough to make a girl dizzy.
Damn the man for making her fall in love with him. And damn her for letting it happen.