Page 25 of Passion in Bloom

She had yet to lose her frown.

“I heard you. You want your privacy.” I watched her lower her gaze. It wasn’t a shy gesture, but she did seem pensive. Some of that hostility faded, but she remained tense.

“Marty must just be doing his job,” I explained. “He’s a good man. A good cop. He’s bound to follow up however he can if he feels there is a concern with someone in Burton.”

A branch snapped and cracked outside, not standing up to the force of the breeze.

She jumped. I flinched a bit too, but I stepped to the side, silently encouraging her to come in.

To my surprise, she did.

“I thought that might be the case,” she said as she stepped inside. “But that doesn’t make it right. I don’t like the feeling of anyone watching me.”

“Marty? Or David?”

“Both. Neither.” She hugged herself, looking around my space.

“I understand that. No one wants to feel watched or stalked.”

When she didn’t correct me, insisting that David wasn’t stalking her, I worried even more.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked, as carefully and neutrally as possible.

She shook her head.

Again. With her and my niece, I was constantly talking to a wall.

Both of them. They were the only two women in my life. They had different significances and connections to me, but it felt like a cruel twist of fate that they both had to be so damn secretive and not communicating about important things. If Nevaeh was being cagey and confrontational while she expecting things from me, Heather was being aloof and giving me no sign of wanting anything to do with me again.

That simmering attraction hadn’t fizzled out. I felt it, and I knew she had to as well. Especially with how much she seemed to struggle in not looking at me shirtless.

But nothing else was happening. No trust. Hell, not even a morsel of friendship.

What the hell can I do, though?

I knew what my options were.

I had none.

I couldn’t do a damn thing but try my best to be patient. To let them know I was here and I was willing to help them and keep them safe. Getting mad wouldn’t accomplish much. Coercing them to answer wasn’t my style.

I couldn’t do anything to get them to trust me with some answers.

“I don’t want to talk,” Heather said.

I watched her strain to swallow, as if her throat was dry or she was struggling with too many emotions.

Fuck me, if she cried, I wouldn’t be able to handle it. I didn’t want her to be upset at all, let alone to the point of tears. It would only make this situation seem that much more ridiculously hopeless.

“Okay.” I shrugged, staying calm and nonthreatening. “No talking.”

She nodded, meeting my gaze.

“Should I assume you just came here to yell at me?”

Her tongue peeked out to trace her lower lip. “Sort of.”

I chuckled dryly, not amused but not surprised either. “Hmm.”