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Looked at her face, at the insecurity written into her eyes, her words, the way she was holding her body.
One wrong move might shatter her.
Andthatwasn’t the woman he knew.
“Work,” he blurted.
“Work?” she repeated.
Yup. Because that was safe.
He tugged lightly at her wrist, brought her to the hood of her car, and propped himself back against the bumper.
She hesitated then leaned beside him, her gaze on the dunes.
Silence.
Tension.
“Work been going good?” he asked.
A long pause. “Yeah.” A beat. “For you?”
“Yeah.”
Then more silence.
More tension.
“I heard about the case from Tuesday,” he said, extending the next olive branch, because shit, this was awkward.
She sucked in a breath, released it slowly. “It was a wild one.”
“Good you caught the link with the patient’s meds.”
She nibbled at her bottom lip. “It was lucky.”
“Not lucky,” he said, taking her hand again. “Talented. Smart. Capable.”
Her cheeks went pink, pink enough that her embarrassment was obvious even with the dim lights overhead. “You’re smart and capable too.” She glanced up at him through her lashes. “You know that, right?”
He felt his gaze slid away, stomach immediately tensing. “Right,” he muttered.
He knew what she thought of him—it was why her disdain hurt so much.
Her fingers found his, squeezed. “You are,” she said, leaning into him, her tone becoming earnest. “I…you know, I, um, said those things.” A breath. Her shoulders straightening, chin lifting, lips pressing flat and releasing.
He braced; knew she was readying to tell him something big.
“I said those that shit about your abilities because it was better for me if you hated me.”
He froze, acting like the one suspended in Carbonite this time. “What?” he whispered, something blooming in his chest that he didn’t quite understand.
Not yet, anyway.
“I—” She swallowed hard. “I took one look at you, and I knew I”—her cheeks flared—“I knew I wanted you and I had absolutely no business wanting you. Not just because of work and our families, but because of who I am deep inside and—”
He spun to face her. “Wait, what?”
