really is my fault. There are a few other things I didn’t mention, and it probably made the situation worse.”
“Like what?”
“Well, for starters, I broke into Jason’s office looking for proof he’d stolen the formula, the orders, and he caught me. I think it—”
Jodie jerked her head up so quickly that she nearly hit his chin with her head, and she stared at him in surprise.
“You did what?”
He shrugged, worried he had admitted something that was going to make it worse, but the cat was out of the bag now.
“He was in a meeting, and I thought that I could break into his office and see what I could find, maybe I could grab the information, at the very least, he’d no longer have it, or I could call the police and show that he’d stolen it,” he explained quickly, wincing. “Though that didn’t really make much sense, I guess, as he could have said I planted it. I wasn’t thinking of that at the time.”
Jodie nodded, watching him closely with a curious look in her eyes. “Yeah, but it doesn’t matter.”
“It does. He caught me, and that ratcheted things up. That’s when he made demands for me to approve his research. I don’t know that he was actually thinking of it until then. So once he knew he had me over a barrel, he decided to up his game, see what he could get.”
“Dan, that’s not important.”
“Oh…no?”
“No.” She smiled a little for the first time since he’d walked in the door.
“You risked a lot—doing something like that in your workplace and then getting caught. Your reputation could have been seriously called into question, right?”
“Probably not that serious, but it would have raised some eyebrows.”
She shook her head in wonder and then leaned in to press a soft kiss, salty from tears, to his mouth. “Dan, you thought with your heart, not your head. Logic didn’t matter. You weren’t worried about the consequences—you were just trying to help me. You were thinking of me before everything,” she said, leaning in to kiss him again, and his blood warmed.
“I—I hadn’t thought of it like that,” he said against her mouth. “But I guess that’s true. I love you, Jodie, and I might as well say so. You have to know that’s how I feel, and how I’ve felt for a while,” he said, knowing he was taking a huge risk. “I want so much more than sex from you. I want everything. All of it. With you,” he said, staring into her eyes.
She didn’t pull away.
“I know, Dan. I know that now. I just…I’m afraid. I can see, in my head, how we’re different from my parents, but my emotions, at the gut level they still make me react…stupidly.”
“No, not stupid. You really need to stop using that word. You’re being honest, and you’ve had pain. I know that. I don’t ever want to cause you more.”
“You don’t. I mean, we should have been keeping each other in the loop on this, figuring it out together, but I know I don’t always make things easier. I shouldn’t have let Jason get to me.” She shook her head. “I never want to hurt you.”
“You couldn’t.” He knew that was a lie, but he wasn’t going to have her carrying this worry around.
Her smile slanted slightly. “Not what Donna thinks.”
“Donna?” He frowned. “What does she have to do with anything?”
“I bumped into her. It was fine, a little awkward, but she made it clear she doesn’t think I’m right for you.”
Dan’s mouth flattened. “I’ll talk to her.”
“No. It’s fine, really. She was just concerned for you, and she just doesn’t want you hurt.”
“I’m not a child. Donna was always overprotective, and she needs to know when to butt out.”
“Well, it’s nice that she cares that much for you. You have a great family,” Jodie said a little wistfully.
“I know. I just wish they knew when to back off. Granted, they had a lot of challenges helping me deal socially with being so advanced, but right now what’s between you and me, well, it’s only between you and me.”
Jodie smiled. “Yeah, that’s true.”
She kissed him again, a little more heatedly, and though his desire leaped, he couldn’t deny disappointment that she hadn’t reacted to his declaration the way he’d hoped. But maybe it was baby steps.
She’d admitted they had more than sex going on, and that she’d felt even more than friendship for a long while. Still, as her hands started exploring him, he