way too easy. “I can’t believe you’re healing so quickly. You’ll be back to researching at LCR before you know it.”
Instead of the spunky comeback he expected, her eyes remained dark and solemn. Jake didn’t know what to say to return the light to her eyes. He only knew that he felt responsible for being the one to make it go away in the first place.
Chapter Twenty
Paris
“This tea is too tepid,” Angela groused.
“Sorry.” Jake took back the mug of tea he’d just handed her. “Let me heat it up for you.”
She watched him disappear into the kitchen and blew out a heavy sigh. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the tea. It was Jake’s attitude that was driving her crazy.
She’d been home for over a week. Since her apartment was on the third floor, she had decided to stay in her parents’ home. A single level with no steps or stairs, the house was a breeze to maneuver through on her crutches.
Oddly enough, coming to her parents’ home had given her some kind of closure. The grief wasn’t as sharp or overwhelming as it had been before. Instead she had found comfort here, as if her family’s love had been retained within these walls. She now knew she wouldn’t be selling the house. She was going to give up her apartment and move back here. This was her home now.
Hearing the microwave ding, Angela braced herself for the confrontation. Jake had taken care of every need she might have. He’d been sweet, attentive and kind. Had done everything she asked and had attempted to anticipate her needs before she even had them. Was it any wonder he was driving her up the wall?
Where was the man who went out of his way to piss her off to get a reaction? Where was the man who joked with her, flirted with her? Where was the man who’d made such passionate love to her that just the memory of that night could bring her to arousal?
She missed that man. The fascinating, frustrating, and infinitely loveable Jake Mallory had been replaced with a guilt-ridden, too-polite stranger. She wanted the real Jake Mallory back. She wanted to fight and laugh with him, kiss and caress him until her breath became his.
He blamed himself for what happened and had apologized multiple times. And for each apology, she had insisted that what happened hadn’t been his fault. The guilt from his wife’s tragic death had colored the true facts. He was intent on taking all the blame on himself. Angela couldn’t allow that to continue.
And even if there was blame, then it should be shared. They’d been partners and had completely missed the fact that just because she had taken herself off the op, didn’t mean the killer wasn’t following her.
For the last couple of days she had become deliberately impossible, making all sorts of demands on him that any reasonable person would refuse. But Jake and his wrongly placed guilt continued to take her abuse. She wanted to cry.
Returning to stand in front of her, he handed her a steaming mug. “Here you go. See if it’s any better.”
Not lifting her hand to take the tea, she just shook her head. “It won’t be.”
“What?”
“Look Jake, I really appreciate all you’ve done but I don’t think this is going to work out.”
“Why?”
“Because nothing you do can change what happened.”
Setting the tea on the table beside the couch, Jake slumped into a chair across from her. “You’re right. God, I’m so sorry, Angela. Instead of bringing you tea, I should be asking your forgiveness. I should be—”
“No. Stop, Jake. I can’t take it anymore.”
“You want me to leave?”
“What I want you to do is acknowledge that what happened to me wasn’t your fault.”
“Of course it was. “
Frustrated, she went another direction. “What did you tell me when I first called and told you that the killer was within a few yards of me?”
He frowned. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“What did you tell me to do…what were your exact instructions?”
“I told you to hold your gun on him till I could get to you.”
“Exactly. Did I do that? No. I disobeyed your order and I let Delacourte take me.”
“But I shouldn’t have allowed—”
“Allowed? You didn’t have a choice. I made the decision on my own.”
Several long moments of silence followed. Angela’s heart was in her throat as she watched emotions play across Jake’s face. Then slowly, as realization came, the too solemn expression she’d seen the last