Page 52 of Hearts at War

“Just stopping by to say hi.”

She arched one brow as I grabbed a second weathered chair and turned it around. Before it stopped moving, I stepped closer then lowered to straddle it. I faced her, but I ensured I wasn’t crowding her in. A couple of yards lay between us on this front-porch like area.

I didn’t know much about her, but I was aware that she could be skittish. Guarded. And maybe nervous or scared for reasons I didn’t know. Her trouble was her business, but I was a glutton to want to learn more.

“I didn’t invite you,” she said carefully.

“Then I suppose I’ve invited myself.”

She rolled her eyes. “Nothing’s gonna happen here.” Flicking her finger between us, she cleared her throat. “Don’t think something’s going to happen between us.”

“Again?” I asked, clarifying that something already had happened between us. Something I couldn’t stop revisiting when I was idle. We’d shared a bed. We’d fucking snuggled, something I hated. And we’d kissed.

My fingers itched with a tingle, induced by a phantom longing to have her ass in my grip again.

“Nothing’s going to happen,” she repeated dryly.

“Jeez. Where’s your manners?” I taunted playfully. “I said I was stopping by just to say hi and you’re acting like a hissing cat whose tail I stepped on.”

“Maybe that means I don’t want to say hi to you.”

I tilted my head to the side. If she was putting so much effort in to getting rid of me, it really mattered to her that she had her privacy and solitude back again. “Damn.”

She dropped her chair forward, forsaking that lazy, leisurely rocking of her chair. “Damn what?”

“Someone sure did a number on you to make you that rough with me from the get-go.”

Licking her lips, she hesitated to answer. When a long moment stretched into a second, silent and tense, I realized she wasn’t hesitant. Just stubborn.

All right. I’ll tread lightly.

“So. Hi.”

She huffed, seeming to fight a smile. “Hi.”

More silence reigned. This time, though, it didn’t feel as hostile. It was more like two enemies sizing the other up, not to necessarily fight against each other but to combat for a different outcome. Maybe in the name of seeing who’d snap first and surrender.

“Correct my memory, but I recall you telling me you were done with women. No more ‘drama’ in your life.”

I nodded, aware that she was correct with that claim. I had said that. And I’d repeat it again. The only issue now was that I wondered if she could be an exception. The woman who didn’t want me, luring me in.

“It seems to me that someone must have done a number on you to act like such a jerk around me.”

“Was I a jerk when I let you stay at my cabin when you were locked out?”

The faintest hint of a blush colored her cheeks.

I got you there. But I didn’t want to rub it in.

“Someone did do a number on me,” I admitted, surprising myself that I was volunteering this information to her. Gavin knew my past. As did several others. These details weren’t ones I told just anyone though, and that made me recognize that my trust in Heather was growing.

“Yeah?” She crossed her arms, but it didn’t strike me as a defensive posture. Just a way to lay her arms over her.

This was the trick to get her to cool down, though. I recalled how she’d practically interrogated me that night at my place, peppering me with one question after another. I didn’t have to be a genius to see that she didn’t want to talk about herself. I got it. I understood. So in the same light, I opened up, hopefully to show her that I wasn’t a threat. That I wasn’t something to be so guarded about.

“Veronica Gedding. That’s her name.”

“Oh?” She watched me carefully. It wasn’t an appreciative gaze, not like when inches parted us and we lay face to face in my bed. But that hardly mattered. I was reaching her. I was...making a connection. I couldn’t convince myself that it was wise to make one with her. This was the opposite of avoiding involvement, but I wasn’t stopping.