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“So,” he said, rocking back on his heels. “You thought I was your dog there for a second, didn’t you?”
Chapter 5
LENA LAUGHED, AND Chad knew he’d picked the right words. A smiling, amused woman placed him squarely within his comfort zone. But he couldn’t stay within the boundaries. Her ex had sought her out on his land. And she hadn’t looked overjoyed to see him.
“Your unexpected visitor must have shaken you if you reached for me,” Chad said. “Anything I need to worry about?”
Her smiled faded. “Malcolm won’t be coming back. Believe me. He gave up on me a while ago. He was probably just annoyed my parents were calling him.”
“All right then,” he said, shoving his hands in his jeans’ pockets to keeping from brushing a loose strand of hair out of her face. He’d keep an eye out for her ex and ask Brody to do the same, but beyond that, he’d take her at her word. She didn’t seem the type to bury her problems. She faced them head-on with a dog at her side.
And now him.
Last night, he’d left the studio apartment pretty damn certain she wouldn’t want to touch him again. She’d allowed it the first time because she’d popped a sleeping pill. But unless she’d been sleepwalking on her hike to the falls, she was stone-cold sober today—and still she’d reached for his hand.
“So you won a medal?” He nodded to the envelope in her hands. “And the vice president is going to give it to you?”
“If I go to the ceremony,” she said.
“Sounds like a pretty big deal. I have to agree with your friend in the fancy suit. You don’t want to miss that.”
“My family will be there.” Her fingers clutched the envelope as if the thought of her relatives might leave her with hives. “They’ve had a hard time with my adjustment to being home.”
His eyebrows shot up. Her family was having a hard time? She was the one who slept with a loaded gun at her side. Her relatives sounded like a bunch of jackasses, but he didn’t think she’d appreciate his opinion. All families faced struggles. Shit, he knew that. And outside judgment didn’t help.
“I don’t like crowds. Or people touching me. Except you, I guess.” She let out a mirthless laugh. “It must be your charm.”
“You say that like it is a bad thing.”
Her lips formed a thin line banishing every trace of her wry smile, along with the witty sense of humor he found pretty damn attractive. Not that he had any business adding to the things-I-like-about-Lena column.
“I’m the last thing you want in your life right now,” she said.
“You don’t know that.” His trademark smile slipped. He wanted to fly a helicopter for Moore Timber. That was the number one item on his list. But the drop-dead gorgeous woman standing in front of him was nowhere near the last item. A relationship with a woman looking for a ring was close to the bottom, somewhere around double root canal. But he had a feeling diamonds didn’t even make Lena’s list of wants right now. Maybe that made her the perfect woman for him—apart from the fact that she’d turned a gun on him when he’d kissed her.
“I do,” she said. “I want a lot of things I can’t have, not until I piece my life back together.”
She said the word “want” and his mind stumble-tripped back to last night. The way she’d responded to his touch . . . Yeah, he’d like to know a thing or two about her wants. But he wasn’t a horny teenager anymore. He understood that her needs extended beyond the bedroom.
“What do you want, Lena?” he asked.
She pursed her lips as if debating what to tell him.
“Try the honest answer. I think I can handle it. I’ve got charm on my side, remember?”
“I’d like to leave the house without a dog at my side.” Her voice started out soft and low as if she was worried someone—maybe the retriever chewing on his yellow duck at her feet—would overhear. But with each word, her tone grew stronger.
“I want to prove that I’ve moved on,” she continued. “To show everyone that I never gave up and I never will. A lot of people have given up on me, but I haven’t given up on myself. I want a home. A job. A normal life. I want—” She drew her lower lip between her teeth. “I want all of the things you promised last night when you thought I was someone else.”
Chad studied the too-serious expression on her beautiful face. How could anyone look at her and see someone who’d given up? But he had a feeling hearing it from him wouldn’t help.
“I’d like to help you—”
“Why?” she demanded.
He shrugged. “Because you’re pretty.”
The look in her blue eyes called bullshit.
