“Bad breakup, your parents went through a nasty divorce, something else of that nature? What happened that made you so closed off to dating?”
“I’m not closed off.”
That wasn’t the answer he wanted. He lifted his brows. “Ah, so the aversion is me?”
“No,” she said quickly, swiveling on her stool, her cheeks filling with color. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Then how did you mean it?”
A chair scraped on the floor behind their table as she replied, “I’m just not looking for a relationship right now.”
“Why not?”
“Why not?” she repeated.
“Yeah,” he said, pushing a little harder, needing this answer. “Why wouldn’t you want to find someone to spend your life with, if you could? Isn’t everyone looking for that?”
“I suspect most people are,” she said. After a long sigh, she added, “But I think most people are chasing something that isn’t real either.”
If that wasn’t a hint that things hadn’t been so good in her past, he didn’t know what was. Sometimes, he wondered if she had been abused by an ex and that’s why she didn’t let anyone close. Lottie acted like a survivor. And he couldn’t help but wonder what exactly she had survived. “Because you’ve had experience where a relationship failed?”
She glanced down at her plate a moment. When she lifted her head, he saw a rare moment when her guard was down. “Love is hard. Real love is rare. And life is often very complicated. Right now, in my life, I’m focusing on the things that make me happy. Phoenix, saving for my future, my close friendship with Nessa, and walking dogs. I don’t need anything beyond that.”
“So, you’re fulfilled?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said, her eyes blinking.
Lie.
He let it go, knowing if he pressed any further, she’d shut down. Taking her cue to make a joke when things got too tense, he said, “Well, I’m glad your aversion isn’t me, it’s relationships themselves.”
She laughed softly. “It’s not you. Trust me, you’re the whole package. I’m just not looking for that right now.”
Lie.
Oh, how easy lies fell from her gorgeous lips.
He just smiled, letting it go. Inch by inch, he’d get closer. He’d never been a patient man. Yet for years, he’d pursued this one woman. He didn’t know what made him hold on, but his instincts had never failed him, not in life, not on the job.
He’d keep holding on until his gut told him to walk away.
By the time he swallowed the last sip of his beer, his stomach happily full of his dinner, he felt like he finally got to know the one woman who’d been so hard to reach.
As he set his empty beer glass down, dripping in condensation, his cell phone rang. He slipped it from his pocket and looked at the screen and answered it quickly, “Archer, what’s up?”
“Elise has got a file for you.” Tension radiated in Archer’s voice. “What we need to discuss can’t be said over the phone. Where are you?”
“Bryant Park,” he said. “I’m with Lottie.”
The long, deep sigh that followed couldn’t have been a good sign. “Let’s meet at Lottie’s. We’ll be there in a half hour.”
“All right,” Hunt said, his chest tightening at the swell of worry swirling down to his gut. “Is everything all right?”
A pause. One that felt more daunting than any other pause in Hunt’s life.
Then Archer stopped Hunt’s heart as he said, “You’re right. Lottie’s got some secrets, some big ones.”
“How bad?” Hunt asked, schooling his face to neutral as Lottie’s worried gaze held his.
