“Despite what the world, and my family, think about me, I’m not a hit it and quit it kinda guy.”
“I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”
“You didn’t hurtmyfeelings,” he said, snagging his undershirt off the floor and pulling it over his head. “You hurt your own, but you don’t seem to want to talk about it, so we’re gonna go ahead and let you process that for a bit.”
I pressed my lips together then blew air out through them. “Sex helps me process.”
“Bullshit answer,” he lobbed back, but he was gentle about it.
He smiled again, his T-shirt now fully covering his beautiful chest, and cocked his head. “You sure you’re not hungry?”
I shook my head, and he walked out the door.
Cameron
IHEADED TO Tess’s kitchen and found her limited cooking implements. She had just about as much food, but I could cook, so I knew I could come up with something despite my paltry options.
By the time the water had come to a boil, and I’d put oil in the pan, Tess padded into the room. “Hi,” she said.
“Hey. I’m making pasta, you hungry yet?”
“You’re cooking?”
I nodded. “You don’t have much, but I found chicken and pasta, so I figured garlic and butter sauce would work. Sound good?”
“Sure.” She studied me. “Are you mad?”
“Why would I be mad?”
“Cameron,” she bit out. “You sound mad.”
“Do I?” I smiled. “I’m really not.”
I tried to keep my expression gentle because the truth of the matter was, I wanted to know what had broken her earlier. In fact, I wanted to know everything about her.
“Areyoumad?” I asked in return.
“Me mad? Why would I be mad?” she shot back.
“I don’t know. We seemed to be having a good time, and now you’re clearly upset about something. You started cry—sorry, leaking,” I corrected myself. “And now it kind of feels like you want me to be angry with you.”
Tess exhaled. “I think I want you to be mad at me soIcan be mad at you instead of being mad at myself.”
I chuckled. “That was quite the statement.”
“See, that. That right there. I need that to stop,” she said.
“I don’t understand. What have I done wrong?”
“Nothing. You’ve done absolutely nothing wrong. In fact, I’m the one who keeps cocking things up, and all you ‘Dirk Squarejaw’ types have to do is swoop in and bail me out every time.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” I frowned. “You’ve lost me. What are you talking about?”
“Operation Junebug,” she replied.
“What about it?”
“An eight-man extraction team sent to Ecuador to locate and apprehend Ramondo Chavez,” Tess said, flatly.
