“It’s freezing in here.”
“Bitch, bitch, bitch.” He grabbed a remote off the table in front of him and clicked a button. The fireplace roared to life, heat blazing forth and providing instant warmth.
“Thanks.”
“Not like Florida here, is it?”
He just had to mention Florida, didn’t he? “Not quite. It was bad here while you were down there. Rained for weeks.”
“Yeah, I saw you were getting bad weather.”
They were talking about the weather. Is that what their relationship had been reduced to? They used to be comfortable with each other before sex had gotten in the way.
“Why did you come here, Liz?”
“Why did you follow me to my condo?”
“Just wanted to make sure you got there safely since it was late.”
She took a giant swallow of whiskey. “I’m a big girl, Gavin. I travel all over by myself without a bodyguard and make it home without an escort all the time.”
“I’m sure you do. But if you’re somewhere with me, I’m going to make sure you get back home okay.”
“I wasn’t ‘with you’ tonight.”
“Semantics. You were driving home alone, and it was on the way to my place anyway, so I just made a couple of extra turns to be sure you got home safely.”
“Why?”
He shrugged. “Don’t know. I guess it’s the nature of our relationship. I feel responsible for you.”
“We don’t have a relationship, Gavin, so you don’t need to feel responsible for me.”
He dragged his fingers through his hair. She wanted to run her fingers through the thick dark strands, remembered how soft his hair was, hated that she’d made him off-limits.
He lifted his gaze to her. “Why don’t we have a relationship, Elizabeth? What happened in Florida? Why did you leave?”
She shrugged. “Seemed time.”
“Time for what? Time for you to write me some bullshit note and run like hell?”
“You didn’t call me.”
“What?”
She’d said it so low she knew he hadn’t heard her. “Nothing.”
He came over and sat on the sofa next to her. “Tell me what you said.”
She shook her head. This had been a mistake. “Nothing.”
“Elizabeth.” He tipped her chin and forced her to look at him. “Talk to me.”
“I got scared, okay? You didn’t come home and didn’t call that night. I had no idea where you were and what you were doing. And I started thinking about being in a relationship with a guy. I’d never done that before. All the expectations. God, I hate expectations. I didn’t want to be that woman.”
She stood, went to the oversized window, and stared out at the tree limbs blowing in the wind, reaching toward the window, seemingly mocking her, laughing at her.
She heard Gavin approach. He put his hands on her, and she inhaled, breathing in his scent, so crisp, like the wild outdoors battering the window.
A storm was blowing in.
“What expectations? You didn’t want to be what woman? I don’t understand.”
She crossed her arms, hating that she was here having this conversation with him. “I know you don’t understand, Gavin. Because it doesn’t make any sense. I don’t make sense. This doesn’t make sense. I need to go.”
She turned to leave but he grasped her arms.
“Don’t go. I want to talk to you about that night. After the game I got stuck in a meeting and left my phone in my locker. And since I’m a moron and don’t know phone numbers because they’re programmed into my cell, I couldn’t call you. When I got back, you were already gone. I tried calling you after the meeting to tell you I was on my way back. You didn’t pick up.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
Because she’d been hurt and felt stupid for staying as long as she had. Because she’d given him the power to hurt her and make her vulnerable for caring about him. Because she already loved him and it devastated her. She’d spent years guarding her heart around him, and it had been working just fine. Laying her heart open around him had been dangerous. She’d had to run.
“It can’t work between us, Gavin. You know that.”
He arched a brow. “I don’t know that. I thought we were having a pretty good time together. You just got bent out of shape because I didn’t call saying I’d be late for dinner.”
Her lips twitched. Damn him. She didn’t want to cave on this. She wanted to remain firm and distant. But his impish green eyes and his hair falling across his brow were melting her, not to mention the warmth of his hands squeezing her shoulders.
She’d missed him over the past few weeks, more than she wanted to admit. Her body missed his touch. She missed looking at him and sleeping next to him. And despite her resolve to shove him back in the “client only” corner, they’d crossed the bridge into something else, and she wasn’t going to be able to shove him back into where he had been before.
Shit.
“I might have overreacted.”
“Just a little. And so did I. Admittedly, I was pissed off when I came back to the house and you were gone. I should have called you again. And again. Instead, I let the radio silence continue because I was hurt you up and left me.”
“You were?”
“Hell yeah. I liked having you in Florida with me. A warm body to share my bed at night, a sexy, independent woman who has her own career and doesn’t look to me to see to her every need? It’s every man’s dream.”
Her heart did flip-flops. “I hardly qualify as every man’s dream, Gavin. You said it yourself. I’m a pain in the ass.”
“Yeah, you are. But for some reason I like you, Lizzie. Despite your attempts to piss me off.”
He pushed her jacket off her shoulders. It was warm in the room now, and she was comfortable in her sleeveless top. He skimmed his hands down her arms, and he drew her against him.
“I missed holding you.”
“I’m sure you haven’t been lonely without me.”
He stopped and pulled her back. “There hasn’t been anyone since I was with you. Believe that. All I did after you left was play ball and brood a lot.”
She stared at him, unable to believe the bad boy of baseball would go almost a month without a woman. She wanted to believe him, but the men in her life had never been honest with her.