“I hope to have stolen yours,” he said, with a wink.

The click of the handcuffs closing on AJ’s wrist echoed through the shower stall. “No, but I’m pretty sure you broke it.”

AJ’s dark brows furrowed. “Mia, what’s wrong?”

“You lied to me,” I whispered.

“What are—”

“You just said that you never brought women here.”

“I know. It’s the truth.”

“Hmm, that’s funny because that ex of yours, the one who was all hugged up with you last night, just showed up to fuck you. Either she has your dick on GPS, or she knew to come here because you invited her.” I gave him a rueful smile. “I guess juggling all your booty calls got a little confusing, huh?”

AJ’s tanned features paled. He held up his free hand. “Mia, wait, I can explain—”

I shook my head furiously back and forth. “How could you do this to me? I let you in after swearing I wouldn’t. I let you see the hell I’d been through…” My voice choked off. Dammit, I did not want to cry in front of him. “The hell I’m still in, and then you betray me like this?”

“I swear to God, Mia, I didn’t know Kylie was coming.”

“She had a fucking key, AJ!” I screamed.

“That’s because she’s Lily’s sister. I didn’t give it to her, I swear. She must’ve talked to Lily and realized that the guys and I were up here.”

“Lily would have told her I was with you.”

AJ grunted in frustration. “Maybe she just heard that the guys were all up here and decided to come. I don’t know the fucking particulars, Mia. Go up and ask Lily yourself. What I do know is I sure as hell didn’t invite her.”

“So what, she just happened to waltz into Jake’s house and steal a key?”

“She wouldn’t have to. She’s been up here with Lily and the kids before. She’d know where he hid it.”

“You’re a fucking liar!” I hissed, before clamping down the other cuff onto the shower head.

AJ’s eyes widened before he jerked his hand back and forth. “Mia, what the fuck are you doing?” When I didn’t respond, he cried, “You can’t leave me like this!”

“Oh, I’m sure you won’t have to wait long. If it’s not Kylie, then some other scheduled piece of ass will show up soon, and you’ll be out in a jiffy.”

“Please don’t do this. I’m telling you the truth.”

Grabbing my makeup bag, I swept all my stuff off the counter and into the bag. Ignoring his constant pleading to uncuff him, my eyes swept around the bathroom to make sure I wasn’t leaving anything. When I started out the door, his words froze me. “Mia, I…I love you. Please don’t do this.”

Tears blurred my eyes, causing my vision to cloud. Glancing over my shoulder at him, I gave him a sad smile. “Yeah, well, sometimes love just isn’t enough.”

And with that, I slammed the bathroom door.

16

I jumped with the harsh slamming of the bathroom door. Closing my eyes, I banged my head back against the tile. How the fuck had everything gone so wrong? As pissed as I was with Mia for leaving me in the situation I was in, my chest constricted at the thought that she had left me, especially over some stupid misunderstanding. With her being so erratic and quick to react, I didn’t know how in the hell I could make this right. Part of me wondered if I should even bother trying. I didn’t know if I could deal with having a trigger, or handcuff, happy girlfriend. But my mind kept going back to yesterday and last night and how things had changed between us. Mia had made me feel more than any woman had in the past. Could I really just walk away from that?

I grudgingly eyed my cell-phone perched on the edge of the sink before I jerked my wrist as hard as I could against the shower head. “FUCK!” I shouted, as slicing pain ricocheted through my hand. Pinching my eyes shut, I huffed several breaths in and out. There was no way in hell I was getting out of these handcuffs without help.