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She caught it but couldn’t take her eyes off him.
He braced his hands on the sink behind him, looking at her with an unreadable expression. “Need something else?”
Her lips parted. Shut. She forced words out that had nothing to do with the meds. “What did Suri say?”
His gaze shifted away to some spot on the wall. “I’m suspended until she can do a full investigation. She’ll want to talk with you tomorrow, but as long as you tell her I made the first move, your job will be safe.”
Marin’s heart sunk. “I’m not going to tell her that.”
His jaw flexed. “You should. It’s the truth.”
“I kissed you that first time. I wanted this as much as you did. You didn’t take advantage of me, Donovan. You know that.”
“Do I? You were my responsibility to train, to get you set up for success at work. But I wanted you in my bed from the moment you walked back into my life, and I made sure that happened.”
“And it sure as hell wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t wanted it to. You think you have some kind of magical seduction powers that tricked me into your bed? Come on. Be serious.”
He raked a hand through his hair, anger bubbling to the surface. “You were nearly a virgin, Marin. Getting you keyed up and wanting me was like shooting fish in a fucking barrel.”
The words landed like acid on her. “What? Did you just call me easy?”
His eyes met hers, hardness there. “It is what it is. So tomorrow, tell her the truth. Keep your job.”
She stared at him, refusing to look away despite what a fucking cold bastard he was being. He was trying to hurt her. She just couldn’t figure out why. But she could feel the bite of it, the intent to harm. “What were you going to say before they walked in on us?”
His gaze flickered with something else for a moment but then the blank wall snapped back in place. “What?”
“You said you wanted to tell me something. What were you going to say?”
His fingers were white against the sink. “I was going to remind you that the time limit was almost done, that it was time to start wrapping this up.”
She stepped forward and poked a hard finger to his chest at that. “Bullshit. That is bullshit, West.” Her words fired like bullets, her finger punctuating them. “You don’t look at a woman like that because you’re about to break it off. Why are you being such a fucking coward right now?”
She could feel the tightness in her throat, the angry tears that wanted to spring forth, but he barely flinched. That goddamned therapist mask. She wanted to rip it off him.
His Adam’s apple bobbed, the only indication that she’d gotten something through, that somewhere in there, he heard her. “You need to go, Marin. It’s not going to look good for us to be seen together.”
She stared at him, so furious and hurt she could barely string words together. “So just like that? This is done, we’re done?”
“I’ll be fired within the week. This job, this house won’t be mine anymore. Those were the only things holding me here.” He took her wrist, moving her hand away from his chest and eased her back. “I told you what I was good at, Rush. Here’s me doing it.”
Her hands balled into fists. “That is such a shit thing to say. A shit thing. Don’t be that guy. You are not that guy. I told Lawrence he was paying a high price to keep himself safe. Well, his fucking bill is nominal compared to the costs you’re racking up.” She pressed her hand to her chest. “This. This is the price, West. Look at me. Look at this woman who was falling in love with you and keep telling her to go to hell. Ruin something that could be great. Put that bill on top of the stack.”
He finally reacted, flinching like she’d slapped him hard. Good. She was not going to let him push her away this easily. He may not love her. But she’d be damned if he was going to stand here and act like he felt nothing. Fuck him for that. Fuck. Him.
He stepped forward and grabbed her arm. “Come here.”
She stiffened at the touch and the rough hold but couldn’t do anything but go with his momentum. For the first time in her life, she wanted to throw down and fight, to shake some sense into him. To wrestle him to the ground and freaking hit him. But when he ground to a halt, he spun them both to face the beautiful cityscape of San Francisco.
“Look at that picture, Marin.”
She blinked, thrown off her angry tirade for a second by the non sequitur. “What? Why?”
“You know where I took that from?”
The bay was stretched out in front of the city, the hilly streets dotted with colorful buildings. “From a bridge.”
“Yes. From the Golden Gate.” His grip on her arm tightened. “After I caught Selena cheating, I left L.A. and just drove, not knowing where I was going, not having anywhere to go. I ended up in San Francisco. And when I took that photo, with that bay rolling beneath me, I had one glaring thought running through my head. That if I jumped, no one would care. That I wouldn’t care.”
