Page 120 of Falling for the Enemy

“Yes. No. I don’t know.” She couldn’t think. Her stomach was under a steady assault of butterflies. At the same time, her nerves repeatedly stabbed her in the heart with doubts.

What if he got tired of her?

What if she did or said something so disappointing, he couldn’t get past it?

What if she embarrassed him? What if the sky fell? What if? What if?

“Is this your…sensitive time? Do you need medicine or a heating pad?” Damn him for being so fucking patient and caring.

She pulled at her collar, feeling suddenly claustrophobic. “No, I just…want to sit here and think—in silence.”

His expression blanked, then he said, “I’m taking King for a walk.”

“Fine.” Maybe they needed a little space.

As he leashed up the dog, Cordelia grew extremely jealous, so Soren took both dogs. When she was finally alone, her brow furrowed.

Maybe she should just tell him.

But telling him that she loved him felt an awful lot like willfully walking into a fire.

When Soren and the dogs returned, she apologized, mostly because she had no right to snap at him and this was her own damn fault for being a basket case of her own making. She needed to get a hold of herself. Her head was a mess, her characters were fighting, and she promised her editor the first twelve chapters yesterday, which she hadn’t delivered because only eight were written.

Dating was clearly starting to negatively impact her life.

“Feeling better?” he asked, coming to sit beside her on the sofa.

“A little. Soren…” He looked at her in that expectant way he sometimes did. “I have to tell you something.”

He shifted to fully face her. “Okay.”

“I…” She chickened out and ran for her fictional world like a shelter she desperately needed at the moment. “I need to work.”

“Now? It’s Friday night.”

“What difference does that make? When I need to write, I need to write.” Distance truly felt like the safest call right now. “I just need a little space.”

The second the words left her mouth, she wished she could call them back.

“Do you need space or do you need to work, Jocelyn? Which is it?”

She shrugged, unsure. “Both?”

His nostrils flared as he scowled at her. “What’s going on? This can’t just be about the newspaper.”

“Nothing.”

“Bullshit. You’re pushing me out on purpose, and I deserve to know why.” Knowing Soren, he wouldn’t leave without an explanation. “What happened?”

“Nothing happened. I just want some time to myself.”

“Okay, fine. How long?”

Her shoulders lifted to her ears as tension wound tighter and tighter through her back. “As long as it takes.”

“As long as what takes? What aren’t you telling me?”

“Nothing. I just—why are you making this so difficult?”