Read Unforgiven for Free Online Page B

she was being rude, he couldn’t stop the smile that pulled up his lips. She did look like hell after a night of losing literally every game of quarters they played, and frankly, she deserved her pain. “She left a note. She was takin’ a walk this mornin’, and I haven’t seen her yet today.” She looked to the wall clock. “Helluva long walk.”
    Darren knew exactly what Bailey was doing. She was avoiding him. He’d been trying to find her since he’d woken up. She wasn’t in her bedroom, she wasn’t anywhere in the house, and after breakfast and waiting for Trinity to leave to go shopping for a while, he was done waiting for her to show back up on her own. He knew she was embarrassed. Hell, he knew it was completely his fault, but it didn’t mean he was interested in letting her ignore him. He’d been up for two hours now, and he was anxious. He was also nervous.
    He made his way down to the cabana that belonged to their rental house. It was a platformed deck with a pergola-style roof structure, woven with heavy waterproof fabric. There was a wide lounger the size of a king-sized bed with an adjustable head. The mattress was white linen, and it was soft. The head of the bed was raised at the moment, and it obscured his view. He didn’t know if she was on the lounger or not, but he’d been waiting for two hours for her to return, and he was out of places to search.
    He was wearing only a pair of jeans and flip-flops, and it wasn’t until he rounded the side of the lounger and saw her curled up looking out to the water that he realized perhaps he should have at least put a shirt on. Her eyes glancing to his stomach quickly before she could stop herself confirmed that fact. It wasn’t as if she’d never seen him without a shirt. Hell, they’d been on the beach in Galveston for nearly a week, of course she had. But she’d never seen him naked before, and he was guessing shirtless was just a reminder of what she’d witnessed last night.
    “How long are you going to avoid me?”
    Her forehead wrinkled as she looked to his eyes before glancing back down to his stomach. “Forever?”
    He chuckled quietly. He wasn’t at all amused; he was more terrified of what had happened than that, and he was trying to loosen himself up as much as her. “Bailey, you have to talk to me.” He sank down on the oversized lounger facing her, forcing her to look at him. But she couldn’t. Her eyes moved off to the side of them and down the beach. “Please.” Her eyes teared, and she brushed away a tear from the corner of her eye. It was painful to see what he was responsible for doing to her.
    She was wearing a black bikini top and a pair of short white shorts. He was having a hard enough time keeping his own eyes where they belonged, and as she glanced quickly to him and caught his eyes studying her small breasts, her stomach muscles clenched and her shoulders wriggled under his invasive stare. He forced his eyes back up to hers, and he caught the furious blush on her cheeks.
    “It can’t be like this with us, Bailey.” He leaned forward, rolling over to lounge next to her, shoulder to shoulder. “Game.”
    “Darren.” She was warning him, but he wasn’t about to listen.
    “How do you feel? Tell me. Close your eyes if you have to, but don’t hide from me.”
    She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She did close her eyes. “Humiliated, embarrassed, mortified.”
    “Come on, English major, you can do better than giving me three words that mean the same thing.” He turned to look at her, and she managed to open her eyes and give him a small smile.
    Another deep breath later, and her eyes closed again before she took another stab at it. “Awkward, pathetic, stupid, immature, ashamed . . . and really, really embarrassed.” He reached for her hand, squeezing gently.
    He opened his mouth, not bothering to close his eyes, and he watched her, waiting for her to look at him. “Guilty, frustrated.” She met his