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“Daire, if all you came out here to do was tell me what I can’t do or be, you’re wasting your time. That’s not your call.”She peeked out one eye for a brief second. “You owe me an apology.”
“For what?”
“For telling me I shouldn’t be running my mouth when you’re the one with the loose tongue.”
His arrogant laugh came out in a scoff. “No chance in hell I slip up with intelligence.”
“I didn’t say it was a slip up. It was a deliberate act,” she said, taking a deep breath and arching in a slight stretch. “It’s a dangerous game. I get that risk doesn’t scare you, but the more you talk about our former sex life, the more chance Harry will hear about it… I don’t know why you’d want my father to know sordid details of the things we’ve done to each other.”
“Quick question: were you spiked, or did you take the drugs voluntarily?”
“I am not high. If I was, it would be because you drove me to it. You can be a real asshole.”
“I love you,” he murmured.
That was a tease. Playing was his attempt to soften her up; she wouldn’t be that easy.
Her shield stayed up. “If that was true, you wouldn’t be exchanging stupid code faces with your buddy or boasting about the intimate little secrets you know about me.”
“I’ve never boasted about your intimate secrets. And there was no code face.”
“You know…” she said, raising a hand to shield her eyes when they opened. “I stood in the Beast and asked if there was anything you wanted to know.”
“You were sitting,” he said, earning himself only an unimpressed blink. “Which doesn’t really matter right now.”
She rose to her elbows. “I asked if there was anything you wanted to know, and you told me I wasn’t your gal on the inside. I don’t like feeling manipulated, Daire. I’ve been straight with you. Straight about how I feel, about where we are. We can’t be a couple and nothing will change that, fine, but I don’t like feeling as though you’re two different men. When it’s just us, when we’re alone, I believe you. I trust you. But when you and Harry sit there making faces at each other—”
“We’re worried about you,” he said. “No one’s trying to cultivate you. You’re our Tess, you’re not some insignificant asset.”
“We’re alone,” she said. “So I believe you… It’s just very convenient. Harry has a sudden change of heart just seconds after coming out of your trailer.”
“You think we were whispering about you? Making plans?”
The thought had occurred to her. His questions weren’t accusations; it didn’t feel like he was mad. He wasn’t apologetic either. The house in the desert heat was a pressure cooker. Tensions simmered under the surface for so many reasons.
She sighed. “Maybe I’m not as over Danny as I thought.”
“Babe…” he said, shifting closer and sliding his hand from his lap so the edge grazed her thigh. The contact was subtle. Always subtle, because no one could know. “Harry trusts me to protect you. He wouldn’t put me in charge of your safety if it wasn’t important to him. He wouldn’t do it if he thought my loyalties were split either.”
Being reassured was difficult when so much was up in the air. “For two weeks, I barely saw you.”
“And that changed the way you feel?”
“No,” she said, unlocking her elbows to lie down and allow her fingertips to meet his. “I guess it’s easier for me to believe you’re planning to use me again than to…”
“Accept we could be in love and apart?”
Just the words made her stomach flip. Being in love was exciting. Finding someone dedicated to her was beyond any reality she could’ve ever dreamed of existing in.
Tess wanted so much more than subtle. “I never said I loved you,” she mumbled, pushing her fingers an inch under his.
“You don’t have to,” he said. “I know my Little Red… my Heart.”
Focusing on the sky, she tried not to make their connection obvious to anyone who might be paying attention. “You asked if I wanted him to kiss me.”
“Hooking up with Three would make it easier for you to walk away.”
Walking away, putting some distance between them, would be the smartest thing to do. Forgetting wouldn’t be so easy, but at least they wouldn’t have to see each other all the time.
