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“Yeah.”
“Who made coffee for you after I left?”
“My new assistant.”
Dove tucked in the corner of her mouth. “So I was easily replaced.”
“You know HR. They always have someone ready to move up.”
She jutted her jaw forward. “Please tell me it wasn’t that brunette in Stansky’s office. She was always vying for my job.”
“Jordan? Yeah, she got the position. She wasn’t half bad. Learned how to make coffee the way I like it in only two days.”
Dove folded her arms tighter. “Do you have any idea how that makes me feel, Quaide?”
“Do you have a damn clue how I felt getting a fucking email that you resigned?” he shot back.
She nudged him aside to get at the coffeemaker. “It’s not like I had any choice.” Her eyes flashed with sparks of anger.
His lungs seared with it. “There’s always a choice, Dove,” he said in a low, even tone. He watched her take out several mugs and empty the pot of coffee into them. “What are you doing?”
“I’m making coffee to prove that I can do it better than Jordan. Also, do you even hear yourself? Whenever you go into FBI agent mode, you are so cold. Sosoulless.”
“Well, maybe you ripped it out of me when you left without fucking warning me what was coming, Dove.”
“Did it matter if you had hours or a week’s notice? I had to leave—fast. As soon as I learned what Rain was up to—You know what? Why am I trying to explain any of this to you? I’m not even going to see you again. Tomorrow we’ll go to the ranch, and you’ll—”
He let out a humorless laugh. “That’s right. I’ll just be here, cold and soulless. Doing my job while the woman I fuckingloveis doing anything she can to escape me.”
Her jaw dropped.
“That’s right, Dove. Love. I love you. I have since the day you walked through my damn office door in that skirt that hugged your ass and wearing those studious, sexy glasses. Where are your glasses, by the way? I haven’t seen you wear them here,” he sidetracked before veering back on course. “Then I found out you were funny and smart. And damn good in bed.”
Her jaw fell lower. “You…”
“Dare to bring up your glasses? Yeah, I demanded that you wore them to bed. It’s my kink, all right? I don’t fucking care who knows it either.”
“We can hear you!” came one of the Abels’ voices.
“Jesus Christ,” he muttered. This was a terrible idea, bringing the Sentry team into his personal space.
Dove stared at him for a long moment. Neither of them spoke. What was there to say? He’d tossed theLword at her—and she had no response whatsoever. Probably because no matter what their feelings were, their relationship was far from being settled. None of their issues were resolved.
She sliced her fingers through her hair. He saw her as she was now—with limp hair and hollows under her eyes. The blue sweater he loved on her hung off her thin shoulders. But what his heart saw wasmuchdifferent.
Without a word, she pushed off the counter, abandoning her coffee grounds, and turned toward the door.
“I didn’t even know where you lived. I had to do some digging.” His words stopped her in her tracks.
She swung her head but didn’t meet his eyes. Her voice was quiet. “I didn’t know where your place was either. We don’t know anything about each other, Quaide.”
“Let’s remedy that.”
Her eyes ticked up to his. “You’re a rule follower. If I’d come to you with this mess, you would have been forced to make arrests.”
“You don’t know that for sure. You never gave me the chance to figure it out.”
“Because even if our odd relationship is a mess, I still know the man you are.”
