“Not at all.” He shook his head. “No. Don’t think that. I was bummed when you said you had Sunday dinner with your parents and I had a bunch of stuff to do here today. You can come and see me anytime you want. I really hope you’ll take me up on it as often as possible.”
She nodded, relief replacing the apprehension in her eyes. “I’d like that.”
He hugged her close. “Me too, Liz.” He brushed his fingers down the side of her beautiful face. “If I didn’t have to help Trinity, I’d stay here and show you how much I mean it.”
Liz placed her hand on his jaw and stared up at him. “I know you mean it, Tate. I’ll see you soon.”
He lingered over the see-you-later kiss they shared. Letting her go was harder than he thought. Driving away and not following her to her place turned out to be a test of his will, because all he wanted to do was be with her and take her to bed and love on her for the rest of the night. Maybe longer.
It might take him a while to get his fill now that he discovered his need for her ran so deep.
He never expected it to happen so fast, but she lived in his mind and heart now. Maybe she always had and he’d been too stubborn to acknowledge it. Now that he had, he didn’t want to wait for them to have . . . everything. Days doing things together. Nights making love. Mornings that started with her smile.
Friends. Lovers. Partners.
A life together.
That sounded pretty damn good.
All he had to do was figure out how to make it happen.
Where would they live? How could he give her everything she needed and wanted? How could he hold on to her?
What happened if he screwed it all up?
He didn’t have the answer to some of those questions and others he didn’t want to think about. But he needed to because his future not only included Liz—his future was Liz.
Chapter Thirteen
Liz pulled into the lot at the spa, but didn’t get out of her car right away. Instead, she took a second to search her surroundings, to be sure Clint wasn’t there waiting for her before she rushed inside for her shift.
He’d become the specter in her relationship with Tate. There, but not there.
When she left the ranch on Sunday, she’d made herself so anxious about whether or not Clint would confront her again that she’d been sick to her stomach. When she arrived home, she rushed in her front door and locked it.
She hated being too afraid to go out and do what she wanted.
And she had reason to be scared and hyperaware of her surroundings.
Tate picked her up after work on Monday as promised. They enjoyed a lovely dinner out at the local steakhouse. She loved sitting with him in the intimate booth. They shared their day over drinks and turned dessert into a sport when they each tried to keep the other from eating the triple chocolate cake with a fork sword fight that left them both laughing.
All the fun and joy faded when they walked out of the restaurant and she spotted Clint across the street watching them. He didn’t do anything but make sure she saw him before he turned and walked away.
She found that creepier than him confronting them.
Tate noticed her distraction, but she didn’t tell him about seeing Clint. She didn’t want to spoil her evening with Tate with another talk about Clint’s odd behavior and unwillingness to let their breakup go.
She spent Tuesday and Wednesday evenings out to dinner with Tate trying to focus on him but on constant guard for Clint. She didn’t see him, but she felt him. Whether it was real or not it made it hard for her to simply be in the moment with Tate and enjoy herself.
Tate picked up on her strange vibe and asked her if everything was okay several times. She always said yes, but Tate didn’t quite believe her, and she couldn’t blame him.
Clint was coming between them.
After the smokin’ hot moments they shared at the ranch over the weekend, things had cooled down. Her fault. She didn’t blame Tate for thinking that her distraction meant she wanted to slow things down.
She spent the last three days eating lunch in her office, afraid to go out and give Clint a chance to confront her again.