Bachelor Unclaimed by Brenda Jackson Page A

brow. “Why do you want to know?”
    “Curious.”
    “Curious or nosy?” he asked as they went down some steps. He touched her elbow to assist her and desire flared to life within her again.
    “A little of both, I guess. After all, I am a reporter.”
    He didn’t say anything for a minute and then announced, “Charley’s here, too.”
    “Charley?”
    “Yes.”
    “What does he do?”
    “Security. He runs the command center. Any time someone shows up on this property uninvited, Charley lets us know.”
    This time she nodded. “I’m looking forward to meeting both Charley and Dr. Chambers.” He didn’t say anything as he opened the car door for her but she made no move to get inside just yet. He had an unreadable expression on his face and Ainsley didn’t know if she could depend on him being an ally or not.
    “If you really want to meet Chambers, then maybe you need to think about what I’ll want out of this,” he said, breaking into her thoughts.
    His words spurred a tightness in the pit of her stomach. “What do you mean?”
    “I think you know what I mean.”
    She had a sinking feeling that she did, but in situations like this it behooved a person to play dumb. “I don’t really so please clarify.”
    “No problem.” He moved in close, brought his face down to hers. “You want something from me and I want something from you.”
    He was so close that it wouldn’t take much for him to kiss her if he had the mind to do so. The thought of him doing such a thing—planting a hard and powerful kiss to her lips—had her heart pounding in her chest. “And what exactly do you want from me?” she asked, hoping he was gentleman enough not to say what she was thinking.
    “That morning you skipped out on me...I wasn’t happy about it, especially when you agreed that we would spend a day and another night together.”
    His reminder sent a gush of heat flooding her cheeks. “You and I both know we probably said a lot of stuff that night we didn’t mean,” she said, suddenly feeling ill at ease with the memories.
    “Aah...probably, but not about that,” he said, his mouth quirking in dry humor. “You gave me your word and I was looking forward to more time with you.”
    She hadn’t given her word...not exactly. She just hadn’t done what she’d said she would do. “It was time for me to leave, Winston,” she said, hoping he would see reason.
    “No it wasn’t and not like that. Not without the courtesy of letting me know you’d changed your mind. Not without even a goodbye.”
    Seriously, dude? Had you expected to come out of the shower to find me on the bed waiting for you, spread-eagle? She studied his features, saw the hard flint in the eyes staring her down and figured he probably had. Her mind began struggling for something to say since he was intent on being difficult, and a difficult bodyguard to Dr. R. J. Chambers was something she didn’t need right now. To be quite honest, she’d rather not discuss this, but since he brought it up... “We didn’t need a goodbye. You got what you wanted and I got what I wanted.”
    He shrugged. “Then call me greedy because I wanted more. And if I remember correctly, so did you at the time.”
    She could only stare at him thinking he was remembering correctly. She had wanted more. But that was before she’d come to her senses and realized more with him would only be asking for trouble. “I changed my mind. Get over it,” she snapped.
    “Easier said than done, Ainsley.” He took a step back and let his eyes roam over her. She felt the heat of his gaze in places she wished she didn’t.
    Just when she thought she would combust from a simple look, he cocked his head to one side and said, “To get what you want, you’ll need to give me what I want. What you owe me. I want a day and a night with you...with no interruptions.”
    “It won’t happen.”
    “Is that your decision?” he asked.
    “Yes.”
    “Your final decision? If you need more