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But now she was talking about leaving. Why couldn’t he ever figure out what she was thinking?
Trey took a sip of the wine, watching her, trying to read her thoughts. He’d been looking forward to their good-night kiss ritual, which promised to be the highlight of an already satisfying day spent working on his tennis clinic. He wanted her to spend the night in his bed again.
This was certainly a new dilemma for him. A woman wanting to leave wasn’t something he’d dealt with before. Usually he couldn’t get rid of them.
She’d enjoyed their lovemaking. No question she had. Why was she running away when things were just getting started between them? Good things, in his opinion. Feelings that had been missing from his life for a long time.
“Have you forgotten about the car bomb?” he asked, trying not to sound angry. He had no right to be angry.
“I haven’t forgotten,” she said, not meeting his gaze.
“You won’t be safe at your apartment.”
“I’m a cop, Trey. I’ll be fine.”
“If this is about last night—”
“It’s not,” she interrupted. She gulped wine, and then finally raised her brilliant blue eyes to meet his gaze. “Yeah, of course it is. Partly.”
He leaned across the bar and smoothed his index finger down her arm. She closed those beautiful eyes and shivered.
“I enjoyed last night,” he said. “And so did you. Admit it.”
She sighed. “Obviously.”
He smiled, relieved she could admit the truth. “So you’re running away.”
“Maybe. But it’s time.”
“Time for what?”
“For someone to face reality.”
Trey straightened up. “What reality are you talking about?”
“Stop glaring at me.”
“Sorry. But you’re making no sense, Kelly. I want you to stay. Yeah, the reasons are complicated, but we need time to figure it out.”
Her eyes widened, but she didn’t say anything.
“Obviously Jason wants you to stay, too,” Trey added.
“He’s a confused kid who doesn’t know what’s good for him.”
“Do you know what’s good for you?”
“This isn’t about me.”
“It’s about all three of us.”
She shook her head. “You told me Carico thought I should go home.”
“And Dr. Carico had an agenda separate from my son’s mental health. That’s why I fired her.”
“But maybe she was right. Think about it, Trey. It can’t be healthy for Jason to pretend I’m his mother forever. And now he’s seen us in bed together.” Kelly threw up her arms in obvious disgust. “I can’t even imagine what the shrinks would say about that.”
“We’ll lock the door from now on.”
A faint flush crept into her cheeks. Kelly didn’t blush often, but when she did, the effect was stunning.
“We can’t,” she whispered.
“Why not?”
“The longer I stay here, the harder—”
“The harder what?”
She looked away again, biting her bottom lip, and now Trey could read her. She’d grown to care deeply about Jason, yes. That much was obvious. But his father’s gambit had worked. She wasn’t ready to admit it, maybe not even to herself, but Kelly was worried about her feelings for him, about getting hurt.
The last thing in this world he wanted was to hurt this courageous woman who had been through so much, but he couldn’t give up. Not when she was starting to care about him.
“It’s only been a week,” Trey said softly. “Give it some time.”
“How is Jason supposed to get better? He isn’t even seeing a head doctor right now.”
Trey nodded. She’d given him the perfect opening for his last good argument. “He’s got a new therapist, Dr. Edward Barth.”
“Yeah? When did that happen?”
“Yesterday, and that’s another reason you need to stay.”
“Why?”
“Dr. Barth wants to observe the interaction between you and Jason before arriving at an opinion about his future treatment.”
Trey watched Kelly nibble on her bottom lip as she processed that information.
