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“I think it will with the old lady sitting across from us.” He shrugged. “And I think the rest don’t matter.”
“I think,” she said and then stopped, sighing, head dropping forward, her fingers rubbing her temples. “I think that I’m embarrassed.” Her hands dropped, head popping up. “I’m sorry,” she said again. “That reallywasterrible of me. I-I don’t know what came over me.”
And fuck, her eyes glimmered with tears.
And he felt like even more of an asshole than he already had before.
Because he was responsible for them.
“This is on me,” he said. “I’ll fix it.”
He’d started to turn back, intent on doingsomething, when she caught his arm, yanked him back to face her. Now her eyes were dry, so dry they were sparking with fury. “Seriously?” she snapped.
“Look,” he snapped back. “I apologized. I realize I was trying to goad you and that was an asshole thing to do. Let me fix it. Let me make it right—”
“Stop.”
He blinked but stopped.
“This is just it,” she said. “This is exactly why we could never ever be together, why I could never date a guy likeyou.”
No lie, that stung.
She saw it, too. He knew it by how her voice softened.
“Look, Jer,” she said. “I know you think you feel something for me, but this isn’t going to work. I’m not trying to be a dick, but truthfully, I can’t do this. Not because you aren’t a great guy. You are.” She sucked in a breath, released it. “But you’re not the great guy for me. We’re just…not compatible, okay? And trying to push this, trying to force us into something, some perfect fantasy relationship because you think that you like me—”
“Idolike you, T,” he said quickly.
“You don’t know me,” she replied. “Not really.”
That prickled something in his mind, something he couldn’t put his finger on, something—
“Is this about Rafe?” he asked. “You know I’d never get in between you two.”
“It’s not about Rafe. Well, it is, and it isn’t,” she said. “It’s not a good idea to get between my boss and his best friend, and it’s stupid to mix my family—and you and your brothers, Cora, your mom, our friends, we’re all family in my book. But it’s not that, Jer, and you know it.”
“Then what is it?” he asked. “We’d be good together.”
“We’d be a mess,” she countered. “We don’t even want the same things.”
“Life is messy, baby. But when you find something good, you have to work for it.”
Her eyes flashed. “Except, I don’t wantyou.”
“T—”
“Andyoudon’t wantme. You don’t evenknowme.”
He moved a little closer. “So, tell me about you, T. Let me in.”
A quick, jerky shake of her head, and maybe he was seeing something, maybe he was imagining things, but he could have sworn there was fear on her face.
“Baby,” he breathed.
“Here’s the thing,” she whispered, her gaze coming up, locking with his. “I don’t want to, and I don’thaveto.”
The words were a sharp, sharp slice.
