Conflicting Interests by Elizabeth Finn Page A

to do it if he wasn’t half toasted.
    When he opened the door for her, she smiled her seductive
smile that matched her overly contrived seductive voice. “Well aren’t ya gonna
invite me in?” He stood back, holding the door for her. His heart was pounding
even though he was halfway through his second beer.
    She sauntered past him and he followed her into his kitchen
as she opened his fridge and grabbed her own beer. He watched her and he
replayed the last time they were together in his mind. He’d enjoyed it—he
always did with her and he was hoping desperately for something right now but
the memories did nothing for him. He could see her body in his mind. She was
incredible to see naked, tanned, tight and lanky as fuck. But even that
couldn’t erase what he really wanted.
    Every time he tried to focus on the visions of Mindy’s body,
which usually excited him instantly, all he could see was Katrina. He’d not
even seen her naked, but he’d take whatever was under her clothes in a
heartbeat over every last inch of what he’d seen of Mindy’s body any day of the
week. When her hand touched his waist, he wriggled away from it. This was going
to be torturous if he couldn’t get in the mood. Her eyes followed him curiously
as he moved to the fridge, grabbing yet another beer as he drained his last one.
    She looked confused if nothing else and he was just
frustrated. He wanted to will his body to cooperate with him but when he looked
at her expectant face, his breath left him in a rush. He had no right to expect
Katrina to stay away from her pompous ex-dickhead of a boyfriend but he’d made
that right his whether he should or shouldn’t, against policy or not. And if he
could go through with this then the right he decided belonged to him to make
that judgment for her wasn’t a right he deserved. And he wanted that right.
    He was suddenly plagued with images of Jason fucking her. He
saw himself standing outside her bedroom like the fucking psychopath likely
had, watching them. He could hear the sound of her groaning as he pushed into
her body. He could hear her moaning the man’s name and when he let his mind
wander painfully to the sight of them in her bed, he had to turn from Mindy to
face his kitchen sink as the pain of it hit him square in the gut.
    She was waiting patiently for him and he stared at the stupid
unopened beer he held in his hand before finally setting it on the counter and
ignoring it. Mindy’s hands reached for his waist, wrapping around him from
behind and his breath caught in his throat at her touch. He could feel her
breasts against his back as she pushed her body against his but it was too
late. He was in hell, fighting the images of Katrina with Jason, and he grabbed
Mindy’s hands, unpeeling them from his body and turning to her.
    “What the hell has gotten into you?” She was starting to sound
defensive.
    “I’m sorry, Mindy. I need you to leave. I can’t do this.”
His throat was tight as he said the words.
    She looked stunned for a moment but then she turned on the
seductive again and reached for his body. “I don’t believe you.”
    Her hand started at his waist and he turned his head from
her but he didn’t stop her. Her hand slipped down to cup the bulge in his pants
that was betraying his mind. But his arousal wasn’t for her. It was an arousal
that only existed from the tormenting images of Katrina in bed with Jason and
it was an arousal that he hated because it came from painful yet enticing
images.
    He stepped away from her reach and walked toward the front
door as her eyes trailed after him. He shouldn’t have agreed to let her come
over and it was his fault this was happening but she was going to piss him off
fast if she didn’t get the hint. He needed her gone. When he reached the front
door he held the door open and waited.
    She took her time following him and she eyed him with a cold
glare as she approached.
    “Why are you doing this? I know you want this.