Silence bloomed between them and for the first time it wasn’t comfortable. She felt all that he wasn’t saying, the accusation that he was trying to tiptoe around.
“Do you think I did something to Tucker’s car?” she asked at last.
He shrugged those big shoulders of his and then leaned back on the couch as if the conversation wasn’t that important. But it was to her. She had foolishly thought she was building something with Jared.
“Not really. But I want to hear you say that you didn’t,” he said.
She pushed to her feet, standing over him. She put her hands on her hips and felt the bracelet move over her skin. Was this the price of his gift? This demand that she prove that she didn’t sabotage another driver’s car?
Carefully she removed the bracelet and held it out to him. He refused to take it from her. She pivoted on her heel and went back to the table where she’d left the box. She put the bracelet in the box and then looked back at him.
He hadn’t moved from the couch and she had the feeling he’d let her walk out the door. Annie couldn’t stop herself from walking away. She knew another type of person would have stayed there and forced him to see that she couldn’t possibly have done anything to Tucker’s car. But she wasn’t like that. She didn’t like conflict and never had.
Besides, Jared wasn’t anything other than a man she knew. They’d only had one date and it was better that she get to know the man he was now. But she still felt as if she’d been betrayed. Damn. He’d seemed so different.
“I didn’t tamper with Tucker’s car. That’s not my style.”
She crossed the suite and opened the door, looking back at him and taking a deep breath. “I don’t appreciate having to prove myself to you. Tucker, I can understand because he’s a hothead. But I thought…I thought you were different, Jared.”
She stepped out of the suite and forced herself to walk calmly down the hallway to the elevator that led to the ground floor. A part of herthe romantic part kept listening for the door to that suite to open. Kept waiting for him to suddenly come after her.
But he didn’t.
And that seemed to be the true mark of the man he was. This wasn’t a relationship worth having or worth pursuing. She felt sad deep inside, where she’d promised herself she wouldn’t let any man hurt her again. She hated that weakness in herself.
AS SOON AS THE DOOR closed Jared got up and walked to the window overlooking the track. He couldn’t believe that he’d let her walk away, but there had been little left to salvage. She’d been ticked off, and instead of fighting or yelling she’d completely shut down.
And could he blame her? What kind of man accused a woman he wanted a relationship with of tampering with a car?
An idiot, he thought. He pocketed the bracelet and left the suite, hoping he would find her before she was back in the infield.
She was waiting at the elevator. Her fingers were caressing her right wrist, where his bracelet had been a few short minutes ago.
“Annie…” But he didn’t know what to say.
“What?” she asked belligerently.
He felt a pang in his chest that he may have really hurt her with his question.
She didn’t glance up or turn toward him. And he realized he didn’t want to have things end between them right now. And certainly not like this.
“I’m sorry. You’re right…I should have asked you differently. Just flat out.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“I don’t know. I’m not used to…”
“The truth?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“That’s really sad.”
He didn’t have a response to that. It wasn’t that he thought most people lied, but Tucker had raised a few doubts in his mind about Annie. And he knew that he could never compete for her loyalty. He knew that she was a Jenner first.
“Listen, I’ll be honest with you. I don’t really care if Dave or