of your days off, you should check it out. And it’s a nice flight out. Definitely some pretty country.”
“Great idea.” She nodded politely. “I’ll have to do that before I go back.”
Lars tilted his head to one side and eyed her as if he knew she was freaking out inside. “How about your day? How was it?”
“Busy. It’s hard to believe there are that many people in this area, much less that they all need medical attention. Of course I’d say a third of them were there to see me, a third to bid Nelson farewell and only the last third were actually sick.”
“It’s going to be a week for you.” He patted the bed. “Take a load off, Blondie, and I’ll give you a back rub.”
Distance. Walls. Boundaries. “I appreciate the offer but I’m going to blow the cobwebs out with a bike ride.”
He nodded slowly. “I see.”
Dammit, he did see. “Lars, I...”
“Let’s talk about it, Delphi.”
“You do like to talk, Lars.” It wasn’t a compliment. Not the way she felt now.
“Don’t. And yeah, I tend to think that most things can be resolved with a decent conversation.” He sat up against the headboard and she noted just how impossibly wide his shoulders were. And she remembered how they’d felt and tasted when she’d kissed him on that very bed yesterday. “Of course there are cases like my mother where it doesn’t make a damn bit of difference, but then you’re not my mother.”
“No. I’m not.” She wanted to push him away. It was all too much, too fast. “I don’t even like your mother.” While it was true enough, she’d never been so rude in her life.
“You are spoiling for a fight, aren’t you, Blondie?” God, she hated it that he knew. “News flash—no one likes my mother. Mainly because she doesn’t like herself. It’s sad, but that’s the way it is. Now what’s got your nose so out of joint?”
“Nothing.” She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. This was all his fault. She’d been minding her business on the plane. Why couldn’t he have just minded his? “Everything.”
“I’d say that about covers it and then some.”
“Skye’s pregnant.”
“That’s cool.” He looked at her face. “Isn’t it?”
“Of course. When a deliriously happy married couple are expecting, why wouldn’t they be excited?”
He just sat on the bed, waiting.
“She’s having twins.”
It started out as a smile and morphed into a full-blown grin.
“There’s no need for you to grin like a jackass.”
“That’s what has you so tweaked, isn’t it? And I bet you thought about me all day.”
He was unbearable. “You know, just because I told you how good you looked naked yesterday, there’s no reason for you to arrogantly assume far too much today.”
“Yep. You’re in love with me and it’s got you tweaked.”
“I am not in love with you. I love having sex with you. There’s a huge difference.”
“Yeah, you got that right. There is a huge difference, but lucky for us we’ve got both going.”
“Lars, I swear, you are not going to talk me to death on this.”
He stood up, standing next to the bed, his hands on his lean hips. “Didn’t you hear what I just indirectly said, woman? I love you. I’m in love with you.”
And he’d better just damn stay over there by the bed. She took a step back, feeling the press of the wall against her spine. “What happened to the rational man I made a deal with a couple of days ago?” She did her best to imitate him. “‘I’m temporary, Blondie. Five days and nothing more.’ Now you want to drag out love like it’s some prize. This is so not what we agreed to.”
“You’re right. We did not cut a deal up front to fall in love. I don’t think most people do.”
“We are not in love.”
“Speak for yourself.”
“Okay. I am not in love with you, Marine.”
“Bullshit.”
“What? Do you think you’re so irresistible that every woman who stumbles over you has to fall at your feet?”
“Nope. Just you.”
She felt desperate. He literally had her back against the wall.
“Don’t tell me how I do or don’t feel.”
“You know what your problem is, Blondie?”
“I have no interest in hearing your summation of my problems, Marine.”
“TDB—”
“I’m not versed in your military acronyms, Sergeant.”
“TDB. Too damn bad.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, oh is right. You’re going to hear it because I’m in charge of this particular operation.” She opened her mouth and he arrogantly shushed her. Shushed her. “I’m not through.”
“I don’t care.” The jackass