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She pointed at her boat, still gunning him with her gaze. “My guns inthere,not inthere,” she said, thumbing the store again.
He realized she was whispering, glancing over her shoulder. “So, hedoeslike you and you know this and that has you in a panic.” He angled his head at her. “Why not just tell me that?”
He would’ve been relieved except for those claws that came out.
“Once upon a time he did, and…” She crossed her arms over her chest again, eyes sparking. “I broke his heart, okay?” She snapped both hands up, her cute face getting all severe. “I may be more a fighter than a lover, but I ain’t a bully. He’s a very nice guy and yes, I think he does have feelings still, but I gooutof my way not to feed them.” She’d demonstrated howfarout of her way with a huge sweep of her arm.
“Your kindness isallit takes.” And her looks. She wasn’t Miss Bayou, but she was very easy to look at. No, stare at. To figure what it was that had you needing to look in the first place. Her beauty made flash appearances before hiding, requiring you to watch and see if you were hallucinating it.
“I cannot be cruel to him in this Ethan. It’ll be bad enough he learns there’s no hope.”
Damn. She was back to his shining, perfect gem. He watched those vibrant layers that were absent in her photos.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” she whispered, worry rising to the surface of the distracting display, creating another angle of that unique beauty.
“Processing.”
Her worry dissolved but only a little. “What, exactly?”
The curiosity added cute to the pallet but didn’t change the result. Her rare kindness was turning into the killer combo. No wonder Daniel was hanging on to hope for dear life. “I won’t say anything,” he decided, watching her sag in relief. “Tonight,” he added. “You might want to break it to him, though. Not something to learn through the grapevine. If he hasn’t already,” he said.
Her eyes went wide then closed. “Lord, I hope not. I really did try to like him, Ethan,” she implored, like he gave a fuck. He didnotgive a fuck. He’d protect the dude’s life, but his heart business was all his. Except now she was his which made it his business, like it or not. And he did not like it. He also didn’t like her having to deal with it alone, especially seeing how much turmoil it caused her.
“I think maybe I should tell him,” he decided, getting her immediate head shake and worried eyes.
“That will crush his manhood?” she half asked.
“Then we tell him together.”
The wince on her face made him shake his head with a sigh.
“That’s like a double crush, I think,” she whispered then closed her eyes. “I don’t even want to go in there now. He may suspect.”
“How?”
Her eyes popped open. “Why are you even here, for one?”
“I need supplies too? I was in the area?”
“Can’t you just…go and I’ll feel him out while getting things? And then let you know? That way we can come up with the best way to handle it.”
Definitely too sweet for her own good or his. And yet, he couldn’t find a reason why not to. He remembered he needed to listen to that recording. “Fine.”
“Oh, thank you!” she whispered. “I’d hug you, but…”
She grimaced and the rogue need to mark his territory hit his bloodstream and made it boil. They weren’t getting married in a conventional way and yet the instinctual need to seal the deal with something felt critical.
“Now what?” she wondered, reading him with an ease he might like. Or not.
“We need to make this official is what I was thinking.”
“What official?”
“Our marriage,” he said, looking at her. Testing.
“Like…signing something?”
“That and…” He looked around. “And something.”
