The Architect (Nashville Neighborhood Book 3) by Nikki Sloane (top e book reader .TXT) 📗

Had they? And what did he mean?

“New to this kind of,” I wasn’t sure how to define it, “group thing?” I found a better word. “Dynamic?”

His gaze slipped away. Even without Clay, I think we both still felt him there, and it was obvious E was hesitant about what to reveal.

“Yeah, but also, like everything.” His attention snapped back to me, as if tired of fighting it. “I’ve had girlfriends. I’ve gone to the club a few times and played before. So, I’ve done some scenes, but this?” He tangled his fingers with mine. The air in the room slowed, making dust motes suspend in place. Like the whole world crawled to a stop. “You’re the first person I’ve done this with more than once. You and Clay,” he said, gravity filling his voice, “you two are my first partners.”

“Oh, my God. Really?” Warmth rolled through me, but his statement was hard to believe. “But you’re so good at it.”

His smile was temporary. “Thanks, but if that were true, I wouldn’t have stayed. I would have had some fucking control.” He rolled onto his back and jerked up his pants, his hands doing up his fly and there was tension all through the muscles of his chest and arms. “I thought I had more self-control, but if this was a test, I failed.”

“Yeah? Well, I did too.” It was sweet, but also kind of annoying how he once again wanted to take all the blame.

He shifted back onto his side, put his arm around me, and pulled me up against his chest, where it was warm and distracting. “I’ll talk to him,” he said. “I’ll explain what happened and apologize.”

“Um, I think you mean we’ll talk to him. We made this huge mistake together, so we can apologize together.”

It was a careless word to go along with all my thoughtlessness, and when he stiffened, I felt even worse. The atmosphere in the room plummeted twenty degrees. “I didn’t mean—”

“Yeah, good point.” He did little to cover the hurt in his voice and he ignored my attempt to correct myself because the damage was done. His arm slid away, and he sat up, his unfocused gaze not meeting mine. “If we tell him it was a one-time thing and won’t happen again, maybe he can look past it, and then everything can go back to how it was.”

We both knew it was a lie, but I didn’t call him on it.

He reached for his shirt and jammed an arm inside. “I need to think about what I want to say first, so we should do it next time we’re together.”

He was slipping away, but I didn’t know how to stop it. My voice was as weak as I felt. “All right.”

I was all out of sorts as we both got dressed, and the awkwardness between us only grew more painful as the silence dragged on. Once again, all the questions I wanted to ask clogged my throat and nothing came out.

My heart hammered in my chest when the last of my clothes were back in place and there was nothing left to do but face him. He stared at me expectantly, unsure what to do, but I felt the same.

“I should probably go,” he said.

Say something, a voice in my head screamed at me.

He moved toward the front door and picked up the bag he’d left there.

“Wait.” Finally, I found my voice. “Tell me your name.”

His shoulders rose with a deep breath. “I think we broke enough rules tonight, don’t you?”

Oh, God. My hands tensed into fists, and my voice broke on the word. “Please.”

My plea visibly went through him, piercing through the hurt and reaching beneath. His throat bobbed with a hard swallow. “It’s Travis.”

And then he pulled open the door and walked out without saying another word.

SIXTEEN

The clinic had closed half an hour ago, but Dr. Johnston was still in exam room three with Morpheus and his owner. The black Labrador was going to finish his recovery at home after surgery because everything had gone smoothly, and I suspected the reason this was taking so long was because the doctor was giving Morpheus’s owner some pointed advice.

This was the dog’s third surgery to remove a foreign object from his stomach. Today, it’d been part of a belt, complete with metal grommets, and the doctor had to fish through several feet of intestine to find each one.

Morpheus was a sweet two-year-old, but he was high energy. If he didn’t start getting daily exercise and more attention from his dad, this was going to keep happening, and next time the outcome could be different.

My eyes flicked to the clock on the wall. The team from Grassmere Zoo would be here soon, and the doctor had mentioned she wanted to greet them when they arrived. Hopefully, she was wrapping up and I wouldn’t have to figure out whether to interrupt if our guests showed up early.

Cassidy stood beside me as we worked to finish cleaning up the surgical area. There was still a lot to do after we finished sterilizing tools and wiped everything down, and I was grateful she was interning again during her summer break from Vanderbilt.

“You okay?” she asked.

I slowed as I shut the door to the autoclave and pushed the button for it to start its cycle. “Yeah. Why?”

She shrugged. “I would have thought you’d be excited about tonight, but you seem kind of down.”

She was talking about the care team from the zoo coming in. I was excited, but it’d been a long, grueling day, and it wasn’t over either. Not to mention, what I’d done with E—Travis—my brain corrected, had been stealing my focus every waking minute. Guilt laced around me, making the burn from his kiss linger.

If there was an award for “Most Efficient Fuckup” I was sure I’d be declared the winner. I’d betrayed Clay’s trust, and then hurt Travis by saying that being with him