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Oliver pulled away from her.He glanced down at his phone.The phone had been gripped in his right hand while they talked.His left had been the one to lightly stroke the bruise on her throat.As he looked at his phone, he nodded, once.“I need to respond to this text.”
Right.Yes.Respond.Because of the case.The nightmare.The hell that wouldn’t end.
My brother.
“Why don’t you get changed, Lark?Get comfortable?You might not be tired, but you still need to rest.”
They were in the guest room.The room he’d given to her, not his bedroom.
I want to be in his bed.I want him.
“I can help, if you like,” he added.
But she shook her head.“Respond to your text.I can manage to put on pajamas by myself.”Were there any pajamas in the suitcase in the closet?If not, she’d just use one of Oliver’s shirts.
His stare lingered on her.
Such a hot, deep stare.So intense.Swirling with emotions that she couldn’t name.
But Oliver turned away from her and walked for the bedroom door.
“There’s one thing!”Lark called before she could stop herself.Or maybe…maybe she didn’t want to stop herself.Why?Why hold back?
Life can be over too fast.Her temple throbbed.She controlled a wince.
Oliver looked over his shoulder.
Tell him.“I’ve been saying I hate you.”
The faint lines near his mouth deepened.“Yeah, I heard that.More than once.”
“I think I’ve been lying.”
His eyes widened.
“To myself.To you.I think I hurt so much that I wanted it to be hate, but it wasn’t.Not really.Or maybe hate and love can just get all tangled together, and it’s hard to tell them apart when the feelings are so strong.”She didn’t know.And she was probably doing a crap job of explaining but… “I fell in love with you before.”Before.Before the world had crashed and burned and she’d broken down in the middle of the street as she watched her brother disappear in a patrol car.
“Lark…”
“You said you were pretending back then.Showing me a guy who would be perfect for me.”A shake of her head.“I think that was a lie.Your lie.Because youareperfect for me.You fight for me.You help me.You’re there for me when everything else is chaos.”There in the midst of her hell.“You told me that you were trying not to be a monster.That you weren’t really the good FBI guy.That was another lie.”More certainty entered her voice.“You saved Nate when I think you wanted to kill him.When your feelings for me made you want to destroy him, yet you let him live.”
“I havequestionsfor him,” Oliver growled.
“Maybe you do.But there’s a whole lot more to it than just that.You don’t want to be a killer.And you try hard not to be.You fight to be good.That means so much, don’t you see that?It means so much that youchooseto keep doing the right thing.”
“I’m not.I’m not right.I’m not good.I took you out earlier to catch your brother.I paraded you around the city to draw him out.I was afraid you’d run with him, and I couldn’t let that happen, so I didn’t let you out of my sight.I needed you with me—not to hunt him.I needed you with me soI could stop you from running with him.I led you right into danger because I thought if I let you out of my sight, I’d lose you.I should have left you someplace safe.Should have surrounded you with guards and not taken you straight into danger.”
Lark shook her head.“You aren’t losing me.I love you.”
Agony flashed on his face.He bounded back toward her.Reached out, but his hands stopped in mid-air and clenched into fists.He kept hesitating to touch her.Why?Didn’t he know how much she needed his touch?
“Lark.”Pain gleamed in his eyes.“You know why we left the hospital through the back exit.”
A weak smile curved her lips.“You and Colby weren’t exactly whispering.I could hear you through the door.”A door that had been left partially open.At first, she’d thought he hadn’t shut the door completely so that he could hear what the doctor said.So he could hear Lark easily if she needed him.
Then I realized Oliver wanted me to hear him.
He swallowed.“I know you could hear.That’s why I wasn’t whispering.I was talking as loudly as I could without alerting Colby.”
