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“That’s hyperbole, but I understand the sentiment. First of all, you didn’t upset my relationship with Hale. If he’d stayed in bed, I would have shrugged your leaving off and happily spent the day with him. My own insecurities got in the way, but I think I’m over that. He says he didn’t mean it, and I believe him. I assume you didn’t run away because the thought of seeing me in daylight was far too much to bear.”
“I told you why I left.” He wasn’t sure why he wasn’t walking out the door right now. He didn’t want to argue with her. She was everything he wanted and absolutely nothing he could have.
“Because you’re going to have to move to Dallas as some sacrificial offering to your brother.”
Although she could poke him in the worst way. How could she not understand? She had a sister. “I owe him.”
“Have you told him you want to stay?” Elisa asked as though she knew the answer. “You should because this feels like a simple conversation.”
“We had a deal.” He couldn’t let Jake down. The family always let Jake down. He couldn’t be one more sibling who walked away. “He paid for school, and I come to work for him.”
“Is he a selfish jerk?”
He found himself frowning at the thought. His brother was practically a saint. “Did you forget the part where he paid for everything? I’m here because my brother moved heaven and earth to get me here. I would be rotting in a jail if it wasn’t for him.”
“What if he did that because he loves you and wants you to be happy, but you wouldn’t take the money if you thought he wasn’t getting something out of it? Sometimes it’s hard to accept a gift that feels like charity, even from our loved ones. If my sister was in your position, I would tell her to be happy.”
Nice words, but she was forgetting their current situation. Even if he was willing to disappoint his brother, there were other things to consider. “It doesn’t matter because if I hang around here, I’m going to get us all in trouble. Have you thought about the fact that you could have been shot today, too? There’s more than one person in the world with reason to come after me.”
“I wasn’t shot.” She looked so pretty in the glow from the fire. It made every inch of her skin look warm and inviting. Like just touching her would ease the chill he felt in his soul. “And Hale’s okay. So what I am hearing is you’re not simply going to Trio. You’re walking away because you think it’s dangerous for us to be around you.”
“Well, I wasn’t aware there was an us at all,” Van pointed out. “Not anymore. Hale’s made it plain he’s staying here, and you don’t want a relationship.”
She shrugged. “Maybe I changed my mind. Maybe I’ve decided that I want time with the two of you more than I want to ensure that I don’t end up with a broken heart. Maybe I just want sex. Maybe I hope that I can change your mind. You can’t know what’s truly in my heart. I could tell you, but you can’t be sure. If I take you at your word and it’s not all bullshit to get yourself out of an awkward situation, then I’m going to ask you to reconsider. I like Hale. A lot. I like you. You’re here until the end of May, and I’m now living across the street from you. Hale is very honest when he’s on meds. He’s planning on chopping a lot of firewood in the hopes that I will see his lumberjack side and give him another chance. I don’t need to see his lumberjack side. I’m half in love with his authentic self. It’s inevitable that I’m going to fall into bed with him at some point, so why fight it?”
She was already giving Hale another chance. That was good. It was excellent since the right move at this point would be to walk away, and at least Hale wouldn’t be alone. “I’m glad.”
“So what do you say? Want to join us until you have to submit to your brother’s will?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You are very dramatic,” she said with a sweet twist of her lips. “You’re two halves of a whole. That’s what I’ve figured out. You’re all emotion and he’s logic and reason, but you’re not in balance because you need someone who can see both sides. I think that might be me.”
“Have you listened to a word I’ve said?”
“Listened to and dismissed,” she admitted with a wave of her hand. “You’re jumping to conclusions. We don’t know this thing was about you. It’s a puzzle, and we can’t be sure how the pieces fit together yet. We can’t know the pieces fit together at all. According to Pilar, the woman who came in asked about both of you. Not only you.”
