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She jammed the Down button with more force than necessary, then crossed her arms. “Are you ditching me?”
“What? No!”
“Then why did you say I could walk, back at the condo? Why do we need privacy now?”
“Because I’d rather not have my personal feelings laid out in front of the team like a frigging greeting card, all right?”
“Oh.”
“That’s right.” The elevator dinged. He held the doors for her, then boarded. “Pardon me for wanting this moment to be just betweenus.”
She huffed out a breath. “You’re pardoned.” TheI guesswas strongly implied.
“Good.”
“Fine.”
Yeah, things were going swimmingly. He dug the toe of his boot into the carpet and leaned against the metal wall of the elevator.
They reached the level where the cafeteria was, and he let her off, along with a few other people they’d picked up on the way down, then followed her toward the sounds of chatter and the smell of fried food.
“You hungry?” he asked as he caught up.
“No, I’m fine, thanks.” She walked in ahead of him. “Let’s just get to the point.”
“Grab us a table,” he called after her. “I’ll get our coffees.”
Hayley continued on her way with only a little wave over her shoulder to acknowledge she’d heard him.
She wasn’t going to make this easy on him, and that was fine. He just wished he weren’t so damned out of his element. He’d been in some devastating firefights—outmanned and outgunned on all sides— and never felt as helpless as he did right now. What if she didn’t want to be with him anymore? What if she turned him down?
He’d always been the playboy, the guy all the men wanted to be and the stud all the women wanted to be with. But that was because he’d never felt brave enough to settle down. He’d always, frankly, been in awe of Nick for the way he loved Natalie so freely, the way he trusted so deeply in their relationship. Scotty had never expected to find that for himself, but now that he had, he was going to do whatever he could to hold on to it.
After filling two mugs and paying at the register, he stopped by the condiment bar for fixings, then headed to the corner booth where Hayley sat staring into space. She was so damned beautiful it hurt to look at her. His heart thumped hard.
“Uh, here you go.” He slid a cup of coffee across the table to her, then took his seat on the opposite side, tongue-tied in the worst way. He sighed, frowning down into his mug. “So.”
“So,” she said. “About this thing between us.”
“Yeah?”
“I think we need to make some changes.”
He flinched. Oh, God. There it was. She wanted out, and he loved her enough to let her go. Even if it would break his heart, even if he’d never get over it. Even if it would damn near kill him to watch her walk away.
Scotty didn’t speak. Just nodded.
“I think we should start dating exclusively.”
He frowned, confused. “I’m sorry?”
“Yeah.” She sat back, looking tense, as if she expected him to start arguing with her. “It makes sense. We obviously like each other, and—”
“But I thought you wanted out.”
She blinked, looking baffled. “Why would I want that?”
“I don’t know.” He shook his head. “Maybe because you could do so much better than me.”
