“It wasn’t the right choice for me,” she answered, her voice firm and clear.

She was good, he thought. She sounded so grounded and smart and reasonable, which just provoked him even more.

He gripped the counter’s edge tightly. It was that or grab her by the shoulder and drag her into his arms. His kiss wouldn’t be kind.

He was not feeling kind.

It was difficult to feel kind when his cock throbbed in his trousers and his body felt hard and hungry.

He remembered the smell of her and the taste of her and how soft and warm and wet she’d been as he’d kissed her there, between her legs, and made her body tighten and break with pleasure. And then he’d thrust in, burying himself hard, and she’d groaned and stiffened and he’d thought that had been pleasure, too.

Now he knew he’d taken her virginity ruthlessly. Not knowing...

Not knowing the first damn thing about her.

A Copeland. A virgin. A society princess dethroned.

“Don’t fire Joe,” she said, breaking the tense silence. Her voice was husky. He heard the pleading note, and it made him even angrier. Why did it bother him that she was pleading for Joe? Was it because he worried that she cared for him? Or was it because he wanted her to plead for him...

She’d begged him three years ago, begged for his hands and his mouth, begged to be touched and taken, and he’d obliged.

Now look at them. Parents of a tiny girl.

He wouldn’t ignore his responsibilities. He wouldn’t punish the girl the way he’d been punished when his father knocked his mother up.

His father who drank too much and let his fists fly. His mother who drank too much and forgot to come home.

Not that he blamed her. Home was not a nice place to be.

“Please,” Logan started again. “Please don’t—”

“Joe doesn’t need you begging for his job,” Rowan said curtly, unable to bear hearing her plead any longer. It was far too reminiscent of a childhood he hated. It was far too reminiscent of a person he didn’t want to be. “He knew what he was doing. He made his own choices—”

“For Jax.”

“For you,” he corrected. “I know he cared for you. I know he developed...feelings...for you. I know when his attachment became more than just a strong sense of duty.”

“And yet you left him on the job.”

Rowan really wanted another drink, craving the burn and the heat in his veins because maybe then he wouldn’t want to push her up against the galley wall and put his hands into her hair and take her soft mouth and make her whimper for him.

He felt like an animal.

He didn’t want to be an animal.

His work usually kept him focused but right now he had none. Just her and her wide, searching blue eyes and that dark pink mouth that demanded to be kissed.

“No,” he ground out, knuckles tight as he gripped the stainless counter harder. “I didn’t leave him on the job. I relieved him months ago. Back before the Christmas holidays. He refused to step down. He refused to abandon you.”

Her lips curved, tremulous. “Unlike you?”

If she’d been icy and mocking he could have ignored the jab.