Charmed: A Masters and Mercenar - Lexi Blake Page 0,70
able to think about was her, but then that was pretty much his whole life right now. Nina twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
He wasn’t sure how he would get through the next few days without making a complete fool of himself since everyone could tell how crazy he was about her.
And everyone could easily see she wasn’t that into him.
“I think dinner went well,” Nina said, emerging from the smaller of the bathrooms. She’d taken it over before he could convince her to stay in the master bedroom.
“Did it?” He hadn’t gotten ready for bed. He’d walked in, wanting to talk to her only to have her disappear, but that was what she’d been doing since the moment she’d found out about his lie.
She hadn’t walked away because he’d acted like an ass about her job. She’d walked because he’d lied to her.
She’d brushed out her hair and taken off her makeup. She was gorgeous with makeup, and she was gorgeous without it. He was rapidly discovering he liked every single version of the woman in front of him. He wanted her whether she was wearing a sexy cocktail dress or the cotton pajama bottoms and tank top she had on now.
“I learned a little more about our suspects, though I don’t think at this point it matters,” Nina said, keeping a careful distance. “Hutch is staying up and he’ll be monitoring the security feed. Sandra is monitoring Drake since they’re worried the tech might disappear if we let him roam.”
“Can’t have free-range operatives,” he murmured. He’d thought about this all day, thought about how to reach her. “I hated today.”
She flushed, her skin going a sweet pink that let him know she wasn’t cold even under her chilly exterior. “I’m sorry. It should be over soon. The North Korean operative is on the island. I’m fairly certain this won’t take the whole week. Then we can be done.”
That was what he wanted to avoid. “I didn’t hate working with you. I hated not being close to you. I hated the fact that you’re frowning and it’s my fault.”
“It’s certainly not your fault.”
“Nina, I lied to you. I thought it didn’t mean anything at the time, and I’m going to be honest. I still don’t fully understand why it hurt you so much, but I want to. I want to understand everything about you so I don’t ever hurt you again.”
She seemed to suddenly find the floor endlessly interesting. “You won’t hurt me again.”
“Because you won’t give me another chance?” There seemed to only be silence between them. “I didn’t say this before but I’m sorry. Whether or not you’re willing to give me a chance, I am so sorry I hurt you. You’re important to me. Your happiness is important to me and the fact that I was the cause of your unhappiness is killing me.”
Her eyes came up, searching his. “Why?”
He would give her nothing but honesty from here on out. No matter how vulnerable it made him. “Because I’m pretty damn sure I’m falling in love with you. I think you’re the one for me and I think I’ll be lonely for the rest of my life if I’m not with you. It’s funny. I was lonely for a long time after Mike went into the Navy. I was used to him being close. He was always there. Since the moment we were conceived, my brother was next to me. I hate the fact that I didn’t see he needed so much more. I’m worried I’m making the same mistake with you.”
“I wouldn’t say I need more. I merely believe…I don’t think this can work between us.”
“Why?” he asked, desperate for the answer. “If you don’t want me, I will back off. It will kill me, but I don’t want to be that guy who tries to force his way into a woman’s life. But if it’s something else, I think we should talk about it.”
She hesitated for a moment. “It’s too much, too fast.”
“What should it be? How much time do you need because I’ll give it to you.”
“I don’t know. I don’t know that we can go back,” she admitted.
He couldn’t let her go. Not without one last try. “But sometimes things happen fast. We can’t shove them to the side because they didn’t happen on some timetable.”
“I’m going home to England when this job is done. I can’t…I can’t give up my career and let you pay for everything. It’s funny