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As he grinned and drew a halo around his head with his hand, I smiled. I loved it when he mentioned his girlfriend. Men who openly adored their partners were the cream of the crop.
He only ever called her Bea when he was talking about her, but I figured that was probably just the first letter of her name—since he talked about everyone in his family and friends’ group as well as anyone I mentioned in code to preserve privacy. But I kind of always like to spell it in my head as B-E-A, just to make her feel more like a real person to me.
“Smart thinking,” I told him with a smile and a salute before I turned away and started off.
But a second later, he called, “Hey, El.”
Pausing, I glanced back.
“I know our session is up,” he told me, looking concerned, “but I don’t want you to stress about any of the reactions you had last night, okay? You are making progress. Concentrate on that. Think about all the things you can do now that you couldn’t do a month ago. Don’t let one little setback get you down. You’re doing great.”
And he wondered why I didn’t want to go to anyone else with my problems.
It was because I already had the best help, right here.
“Okay,” I said with a nod. “Thanks, Parker.”
Chapter Six
Fox
FIVE DAYS LATER, WITH HIS HAT BACK WHERE IT BELONGED
After working late with a client, I drove home, changed out of the suit and tie I usually wore to the office, and I started to browse my cupboards for food, only to pause and decide, screw it, I’d just see what there was to eat at Bella’s.
So I grabbed my phone, keys, and wallet, and I headed out the door again within five minutes of walking through it. I knew she didn’t have other plans, so I didn’t even bother to call.
After the first time Bella and I had hooked up, exactly what I feared would happen had happened.
Shit got awkward.
She avoided me.
I might’ve avoided her too because I was freaked out and worried as hell that she’d regret it. So I stepped back a minute and gave her a chance to make the next move.
Except she never did, and then five weeks passed—yes, I counted them. Exactly thirty-eight days rolled by with nothing from either of us. But then a big group in the family got together, and she didn’t show. Gracen even made an appearance. And if he came to an event, she pretty much did too.
When I asked her brother where she was, he just kind of shrugged it off, saying she’d felt like staying in that night.
Right, uh-huh. Staying in, my ass. I knew better. She was avoiding me.
I left the party early and stormed my way to her house. After pounding on her door unnecessarily loud until she ripped it open with a scowl and a “what the hell?” I found her standing there in a T-shirt, pajama pants, and that same damn jelly-stained bathrobe I’d peeled off her the first night we’d been together.
It made me hard as hell.
Which pissed me off more. Pointing, I growled, “You…” and I stepped into her house, slamming the door behind me. “Liar.”
Eyebrows lifting, she set her hands on her hips and glared back. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me,” I charged. “I called you a liar.”
“I –”
“You said you wouldn’t freak out and start avoiding me. Well, where the fuck were you tonight?”
“I didn’t feel like—”
“Bullshit!”
