Last night was something she’d never done before. Regardless, a piece of Teal had now shaken loose and Trent was to credit for it. She hadn’t held back, and learned there was a true difference between sex and making love. She’d thought there was little enjoyment in mindless sex versus sex with someone you loved. However, Teal had spent her life looking for the man who’d make her fall apart in bed. How ironic was it that she’d finally found him and he wanted nothing to do with her.

Trent wandered over. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Nothing, I need some space. Your big ass presence takes up everything, from space to breathing air.” Teal was about to move away when he reached for her and pulled her back.

“I don’t get you. If I said I don’t want to talk about something, you get a pissy ass attitude. What if I told you I wanted to talk about the way you were too scared to fuck me with the lights on last night?” He released her when she yanked away. Undeterred, Trent continued. “Let’s talk about that.”

Teal moved her hands and turned to Trent. “No, I’ve never had a one night stand. So excuse the fuck out of me for not knowing the rules.” Fuck it, if there is an open invitation at Dana and Lee’s, I’ll accept. When she found her coat, she shoved her arms in the sleeves and hobbled to the door as she zipped up. Yanking the door open, she started to take a step forward when Trent’s arms wrapped around her. “Get your damned hands off me!” she screeched.

Trent let her go and pushed her against the wall. “Stop fucking overreacting. I know it’s a sore spot for you, that’s why I brought it up—tit for tat.”

“This might be hard to believe, but the fact I’m not a slut is not a sore spot.” Teal removed her coat. Still, she eyed the door, wishing she could leave.

“Okay,” he said disbelievingly.

Uncomfortable under his probing gaze, Teal placed a hand on her hip. “What?”

“You think you’re fat. You have issues with your body, and that’s why you turned off the lights.”

Teal fought the urge to knee Trent in the sac. She felt a sickening wave of acid creep up her throat at the clarity in his eyes. He truly believed his words. Already she could tell that she wouldn’t be able to convince him otherwise. Of course, he’d hit the nail on the head.

“You might be considered slightly overweight by society’s standards, but I don’t know why women seem to want to be skinny. Not every man wants that shit.”

“That’s what you all say until a beautiful, thin woman bats her lashes at you,” Teal knew all too well how men said they wanted a woman with a thick ass and then left for a slimmer, sexier woman. “And then you are chasing skinny mini’s ass while women like me are left to pick our self-esteem up off the ground.”

Trent looked nonplussed. “If you can’t believe the truth, I can’t help you.” He shook his head and went back to his damn bag.

Maybe he was telling the truth, and she was the one who needed to adjust her beliefs. “Fine.” He stopped moving. His head turned but his eyes didn’t meet hers. “I do have issues with my weight and the fact that my skin is darker than most. I don’t like parts of me and I—I can’t change them.” He faced her. “I mean I can change my weight, but I feel like if I do that then I am admitting that something is wrong with me and that I’m not good enough.” She swallowed hard and shook her head. “You wouldn’t get it.” How could he? He looked like a blond God. Hell, he could play Thor in a movie and get away with it.

“I wouldn’t?” he asked. There was an odd edge to his voice that she caught but didn’t understand. “From what I understand,” he ran his hand threw his shoulder length blond hair, “after you graduated college, you thought that would be enough to make you forget you weren’t like everyone else.”

She shifted, feeling uncomfortable.

“Then your boss didn’t acknowledge your hard work, so everything you’d done to be a better person was for nothing—you still felt like nothing.” His face was soft and his voice was full of care.

This wasn’t the Trent she was used to seeing, but she liked it. Even as he dissected her fears—she really liked him. Then she realized something.

“How do you know?” She moved to the bed and sat down. She wanted him to come to her and talk, but she wasn’t even sure he was going to open up to her.

His eyes fluttered closed and his throat worked as if he was going to speak.

“Come sit next to me.” When he did, she leaned back and rested on the pillow. She waited without speaking. He hadn’t rushed her, so she’d give him the same courtesy.

A sharp breath left his lips before he started to speak. “Her name is Harper and she had an issue with the flag because she’s black.”

Teal bolted upright in surprise. “I wouldn’t have guessed that, but it makes sense that she left now.” She sat back thinking of each time she’d caught him looking at her appraisingly.

“Why?”

His voice was hard and she could feel him pulling away. But she wasn’t deterred. “Okay, I don’t know about the situation when she left the first time, but if you think about the second time, she was right to do so.” He started to speak, but she cut him off. “Imagine what she saw. Imagine she brings her baby to see his daddy and she has to worry about you hurting him—”

He sat up so fast, the bed jostled. “I’d never fucking hurt my kid!” She reached for him but he pulled away and stood. “When she first left me she didn’t even give a fuck that her father told her I was beneath her. She said she didn’t want to end up with the life I had.” Trent’s face was so red that she thought he was about to explode, punch a wall, or both.

“Trent—”

“And then when she came back, she acted as if she was still better than me. I worked hard my whole fucking life,” he paced back and forth his hands flexing and then tightening into fists. “Fucking bitch! He is my kid, too. I created him. I-I still remember that night.” His emotions were all over the place. He’d gone from angry to nostalgic to furious. Teal sat up and stood.

“Trent,” she tried again and this time he turned to face her and it wasn’t anger she’d saw on his face, it was pain. “I—” She was at a loss for words. She’d never expected to see such raw emotion from him.

He shoved his hands through his hair again and cursed. “Fuck it. You don’t need to hear this shit.” His eyes flew back to her and now she saw passion.

So, he is the type who uses sex to hide from his emotions . . . great.

He took strong, deliberate steps until he was in front of her. When his lips crashed into hers, he pushed his tongue inside. If his mission was to distract her from the conversation, he was on the right track.