I nodded. "Agreed, but either it's not minerals or it's something private, and he doesn't have to share that info, right?"
"Exactly."
"I need to speak with Carrie and the other biologists," I said.
"Tomorrow," he said.
"Why not tonight?"
"You said it outside: arcane werewolf shit."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.
"It means that we're four nights from the full moon, and you're my lupa."
"I heard you've been taking applicants for the job," I said.
He smiled, and it wasn't nearly embarrassed enough. "You may find it strange, but a lot of women find me attractive."
"You know I don't find that strange," I said.
"But you're still with Jean-Claude," he said.
I shook my head. "I'm out of here, Richard. I'll stay around and try to keep you from being killed or getting any of our pack killed, but let's drop the personal stuff."
He closed the distance between us, and I put my hands up to keep him from touching me. My hands ended up pressed to his bare chest. His heart thudded against my hands like a trapped animal.
"Don't do this, Richard."
"I tried hating you, and I can't." He put his hands over mine, holding them against the hard smoothness of his chest.
"Try harder." But it was a whisper.
He leaned over me, and I drew back. "If you don't dry your hair, you're going to have to wet it down again."
"I'll risk it." He kept moving towards me, lips half parted.
I stepped back, pulling my hands out of his, and he let me. He was strong enough that he didn't have to let me, and that still bothered me.
I backed towards the door. "Stop trying to love me, Richard."
"I have tried."
"Then stop trying and just do it." The door was pressed against my back. I grabbed the doorknob without turning around.
"You ran from me that night. You ran from me to Jean-Claude. You pulled his body around you like a shield to keep me away."
I opened the door, but he was just suddenly there, holding it half-closed. I started tugging on the door, and it was like pulling against a wall, immobile. His one hand pressed flat on the door, against the pull of my entire body, and I couldn't budge him. I hated that a lot.
"Damn it, Richard, let me go."
"I think you're more afraid of how much you love me than you are of Jean-Claude. At least with him you know you're not in love."
That was it. I wedged my body in the door enough so he couldn't close it on me, but I stopped tugging on it. I looked up at him, at every gorgeous inch of him. "I may not love Jean-Claude in the same way I love you."
He smiled.
"Don't get cocky," I said. "I do love Jean-Claude. But love isn't enough, Richard. If love were enough, I wouldn't be with Jean-Claude now. I'd be with you." I looked into his big, brown eyes and said, "But I'm not with you, and love isn't enough. Now, get away from this damned door."