Amid Scott’s protests, Harlow dropped her rag on the floor and at last abandoned the sinking ship. “Thank you,” she told Dottie when they were alone in the hall.

The girl hmphed and flounced away. No name-calling? Well, if that wasn’t progress, Harlow didn’t know what was.

As she made her way to room twelve, Carol came around the far corner and joined her. “Oh, Miss Glass! Isn’t this amazing? At this rate, I’ll have Holly’s orthodontic work paid for without having to mortgage my home or freelance contract killing. Someone once asked me to do that, you know.”

“How wonderful for you.”

“Isn’t it? Carry on, carry on.” Carol patted her shoulder before skipping off.

“Glad my humiliation could help.”

“Yes, yes, keep up the good work.” Carol nodded enthusiastically before disappearing around the corner.

Harlow reached her destination and raised her hand to knock, but the door was already open. Another eager customer. Yippee. Who was it this time?

She stepped inside with a resigned, “Hello?”

A bag rested on the bed, small, black and masculine. A minute after the water shut off in the bathroom, hinges creaked—and out stepped Beck, wearing nothing but a thin cotton towel.

Heart hammering, she stepped back and bumped into the door, shutting it and sealing herself inside. Curses! He looked good. Too good. His hair was darker when it was wet, the strands stuck to his brow and cheeks, dripping droplets of water onto his shoulders and the hard ridges of his chest.

His gaze narrowed on her. “I heard my hag had changed careers, and decided to come see for myself.”

Her body began to ache for a reason that had nothing to do with work, readying for this man, as always. Tremors rocked her, and she did her best to hide them. At least the fatigue that had plagued her for the past few hours vanished in a blink, replaced by sizzling energy.

Run to him...

No! Never again. “I’m not cleaning your room while you watch,” she announced.

“Good. The room isn’t dirty.” His smile was dark, humorless. “I’m afraid you’ll be cleaning something else.”

He’d come to sleep with her? After everything that had happened between them? Bastard! “If you say your body, I will smack you.”

“As you can see, my body isn’t dirty, either.”

Disappointment poked at her, and it only made her angrier. “Then what?”

“What else?” He tapped his temple. “My mind is absolutely filthy. If you knew half the things I’m thinking right now...the things I want to do to you...”

“Of course you want sex. You’re incapable of meeting anyone’s emotional needs.”

Pain ravaged his features. He reached for her. “Harlow.”

“No. I’m leaving,” she said, nails cutting into her palms, drawing blood. “We broke up, and you started seeing other girls.”

“I’m not seeing other girls.”

“Too bad for you. Maybe I’m seeing other guys.” She turned, grabbed the knob.

He was behind her in a blink, planting his hands flat on the door, keeping her sealed inside with him. “You’re not going anywhere, baby. Apparently we have ourselves a bit of a communication problem, and we’re going to work through it here and now.”

Too close! His body heat enveloped her. His scent invaded her nose, her every cell. “You’re wrong. There’s nothing to work through.”

“If that were true, baby, I’d have no reason to go on.”

She went still. He put his mouth at her ear, whispered, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I let you go. Sorry I didn’t come after you. I was stupid, and I was wrong.”

Tears in her eyes. “It’s too little, too late, Beck.”

“I refuse to believe that.”

“Your women—”

“Nothing happened with them. I escorted them around town to make you jealous, and then I took them home. I hated every second, and I promise you, it will never happen again.”

“I don’t care.”

“Are you seeing other men?”

“No. I’m no longer in high school.”

His relieved breath tickled her nape. “I’m in uncharted territory here. I was bound to mess up.”

Stay strong! “You don’t see happiness in your future.”

“Baby, I meant I have only ever expected doom and gloom. I was afraid to hope for anything else, but with you, I am happy.”

“I... I don’t care.”

But he wasn’t done. “When I told you I felt trapped, that I felt like I was in a cage, well, I meant it.”

“I don’t—” Oh! She reached back, grabbed a hank of his hair and tugged.

“Ow!” He pried her fingers loose, then picked her up and tossed her on the bed. He pounced on her a second later, pinning her down, clasping her wrists over her head and spreading her legs by hooking his feet against her ankles and pushing.

She tried to bite his chin. “Let me go.”

He dodged, the action shaking his body against hers—she had to press her lips together to stop a whimper of sudden need.

“The cage refers to my feelings for you, baby, not you as a person,” he said, and she once again went still, not daring to hope. “I don’t want to care about you this intensely, but I do. I don’t want to crave you this strongly, but I do. I don’t want to depend on someone else for my happiness, but I do. And I think... I think you don’t want to crave me this strongly or depend on me, either, but you do. We’re both scared, baby, and we’re looking for ways to protect ourselves. But I’d rather look with you.”