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“Because no one will ever love me.”
“You sure the person who might isn’t sitting right in front of you?”
“You hate me.”
“Come with me.” He stood and pulled her to her feet, dropped some money on the table, and led her out of the restaurant.
“I don’t hate you,” he said once they were outside. “Quit telling me how I feel and focus on how you do instead.”
“Are you saying you love me?”
Gunner sighed. “I’m saying that if you could pull your head out of your ass long enough to admit that you and Doc are finished for good, there might be a chance for us.”
Lena wrenched her hand from his. “You’re so fucking romantic.”
Gunner leaned in close to her. “You know me. I don’t like bullshit. In fact, I hate it. So either let the idea of the two of you getting back together go, or don’t expect me to be at your beck and call.”
“It’s your job.”
“Not anymore, it isn’t.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Find a place of your own, and leave Doc and Merrigan the hell alone.”
She crossed her arms again, but the look on her face was one of uncertainty.
“Ask me to help you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Ask me to help you find a house.”
“You’d do that?”
He led her over to the car and unlocked it. He opened the back door, reached in, and pulled out a folder. “Go through these and tell me which ones you want to look at.”
She took the folder from his hand, put it back on the seat of the car, and put her arms around his neck. “Thank you,” she said before reaching up and kissing him—and not on the cheek.
Gunner pushed her up against the car and kissed her back. The heat between them was explosive in that it had been building for years. She was right to think he hated her, for a long time he had, but feelings that strong are easy to turn into something completely opposite.
“Let’s go find you a house so the next time I kiss you we have the privacy to see where it might lead.”
In hindsight, they’d never had a chance. She hadn’t just been in denial about her relationship with her ex-husband, she was obsessed with him. That obsession ended up getting her killed, and he’d been the one to kill her.
Gunner shook his head. He often struggled with whether he regretted doing it, but always came to the same conclusion. If he hadn’t pulled the trigger, she would’ve, and his friend, partner, and mentor, would be dead, and so would she, because after she’d killed him, Gunner would’ve shot her. Same outcome, only delayed, and resulting in another death.
Was he being equally blind when it came to Raketa? He wanted her, and it wasn’t just because he hadn’t had sex with anyone since her. He hated that he couldn’t remember more from that night, and it made him feel like the asshole he tried hard not to be.
He turned around when he heard Raketa come out of the woods.
“I need to tell you something.”
She walked closer. “Go ahead.”
“That night, you know, when we were together. We shouldn’t have had sex. I was drunk. That is a piss-poor excuse, but it’s the truth. I wish I could go back and undo it, but I can’t. I’m sorry for that.”
Raketa opened her mouth and closed it again before turning away from him and stalking toward the house.
