“I’d go with you if I could but I can’t. Damn, this is shitty timing.”
“Don’t worry about it,” she said, grabbing hairspray from a basket on the counter.
She was avoiding his eyes. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what was going on here.
“I know what you’re doing, Simone. You don’t have to go up to Vancouver because of what happened between us.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She slipped a hairbrush in her bag, zipped it closed.
Yes, she did. She knew exactly what he was getting at. He’d seen it eating away at her the second after they’d made love. Forget what was happening between them. She thought she’d let her client down. “Kate and Ryan are not going to be upset with you over this. You’re allowed to have a life. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
She closed her eyes, drew in a breath. Emotions played over her face, but when she opened her eyes again, they were gone. She grabbed her bag and pushed past him into the bedroom. “I’ll talk to Kate about it all when I get back.”
He caught her by the arm. “Stop and look at me.”
She turned dark eyes his way. Eyes that were haunted. Eyes that were guilt-ridden. Eyes that tightened his chest like a drum.
“Don’t throw what’s happening between us away because you’re worried what someone else is going to think,” he said.
“This was a bad idea. It never should have happened, and you know it. As for my going to Seattle, it’s not your call. I’ll be fine. Now, could you please let go of my arm so I can finish packing?”
He felt like she’d just stabbed him through the heart. As he released her, he tried to figure out what the hell was happening. When had he gotten so attached? He never worried about anyone besides family. When had Simone—a woman he barely knew—become as important, if not more, than the people he loved?
His chest stretched even tighter.
Heart thundering, he followed her back into her bedroom. She was zipping her garment bag, her chocolate hair falling across her cheeks. Rain drizzled outside the window, casting an eerie gray light through the room. In her snug skirt and fitted blouse, she couldn’t look more angelic if she tried.
Oh, man. He was so screwed here.
He ran a hand over his face, tried to settle his racing pulse. When she turned to set her bag on the floor, he grasped her arms and drew her close. “I don’t do long term. Casual. That’s as serious as I get. But you, Counselor… With you I don’t want casual.”
“What?” Fear slid into her eyes. The same damn fear he felt but was pushing down. “Are you…?” Her eyes narrowed. “Did that bat hit you in the head? I thought it got you in the stomach.”
He couldn’t help it. He smiled. “No, you hit me over the head. The first time I saw you. The other night—thank God for the other night—I realized I’ve been head over heels for you from the start. Since then I’ve been thinking about the whole deal—marriage, family, kids, a minivan.”
Simone jerked out of his arms and pressed a hand to her belly. “Oh, my God. A minivan? Are you sick? What the hell’s come over you?”
“I don’t know,” he said quietly, watching her stunned reaction. Feeling it himself. He sure the hell hadn’t expected to say that, but now that it was out there, he didn’t want to take it back. “Shocked?”
“Um, yeah. We slept together. Once.”
He dipped his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “As I recall, you enjoyed it. More than once. Many times more than once.”
“I…” she sputtered, waved her hands. “Mitch, we barely even know each other.”
“So let’s get to know each other. Stay here. Stay safe. As soon as I get back, we’ll focus on nothing but learning what irritates us most about each other.”
She dropped onto the end of the bed. “This is a joke, isn’t it? Please tell me it’s a joke.”
Not the reaction he’d hoped for. Hell, it wasn’t even the conversation he’d planned on having. “No joke. You hooked me, Simone. Basically knocked me on my ass. I’m as shocked as anyone.”
When she didn’t say anything, just stared at him with wide eyes, he scratched the back of his head, feeling like an idiot. “Okay, I can probably do without the minivan. We can negotiate that later.”
“You’re certifiable, you know that?”
He felt himself cracking, and he was a man who never cracked. “Look, I’ve avoided relationships for a long time. For a variety of reasons. And after I watched Ryan go through hell over my sister’s death, I told myself I’d been smart and that relationships weren’t worth it. But now…after everything that’s happened…I don’t know. I just realized life is precious. That you gotta go after the things you want, because they might not be there when you finally pull your head out of your ass and realize they’re important. I don’t want to miss that opportunity with you, Simone. I’m not asking you to marry me. I’m just asking you not to end what’s growing between us. And I don’t want you to go to Canada because you feel guilty over it. I couldn’t bear it if something happened to you.”
He pulled her from the bed and gripped her hands. “Take a chance on me, Counselor. You might be surprised at what you find.”
“I might end up in a padded cell.”
A smile curled one side of his mouth. “Wouldn’t be so bad if we were there together, would it?”
“Mitch—”
“Just think about it, okay? Think about you and me and what could just be the best thing in your life.”
“I have a sinking suspicion that’s all I’m going to be doing for the next few days.” She frowned, but she didn’t pull her hands from his. And he took that as a good sign. “You’re like a tornado, you know that, Mathews? Devouring everything in its path and not caring about the consequences.”
“I care about you. And Shannon, and keeping you both safe. Promise me you won’t go to Canada.”
She didn’t answer, only curled into him, then slid her arms around his waist and held on. And as her heat enveloped him, his heart took one hard roll. Because right then he knew she wasn’t going to do what he wanted. And that meant any plans he’d made for the next few days were going to take a drastic turn.
Hopefully not for the worst.
“What are you doing?”
Kate jumped from her spot on the floor in the living room and swiveled toward the stairs. Ryan stood on the bottom step, wearing nothing but faded denim low on his hips. His feet were bare, his eyes sleepy, and his blond hair had that tousled just-woke-up look.
She pressed a hand to her chest. “You scared me.”
He walked into the room. “You were expecting someone else?”
Early morning sunlight glinted off his bare chest. Her skin tingled as she remembered tracing the lines of those muscles last night with her fingers, with her lips.
“Katie?”
Tearing her gaze away from his exquisite male body, she glanced up at his amused face. “What?”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” She turned back toward the stack of journals she’d been flipping through and bit her lip as heat crept up her face. Sex was supposed to sate a person, not turn them into a randy teenager.
He slid to the floor behind her, one leg on each side of hers. Warmth radiated from his body. She shivered, itching to be touched, wanting those hands on her like they’d been last night. When his fingers slipped around her waist, she drew in a breath and smiled as his lips grazed the nape of her neck.