She said only, “Goodbye, Sergeant Rollins.”
He didn’t like the finality of those words. And found himself blurting, “Odds are this isn’t the last time we’ll be seeing each other.”
She made a face that looked slightly…mischievous?“Never tell me the odds.”
He blinked, momentarily taken aback. Then it hit him. “Right. Han Solo. I got it this time.” He tapped his temple.
“There’s hope for you yet.” She sent him an infectious grin before making her way around the vehicle.
He watched as she and her partner pulled down the road and told himself it was silly to be disappointed at her departure.
Manus poked his head out of the guardhouse window and, like a gunfighter, fired at him quick and from the hip. “Youlikeher.” The man’s words found their mark.
Britt made sure to wipe the silly grin off his face as he turned back. “’Course I do.” He shrugged with a nonchalance he didn’t quite feel. “What’s not to like? You saw her.”
Manus shook his head. “To borrow one of your favorite phrases, don’t piss on my boots and tell me it’s raining. Youlikeher like her. And not just because she’s got a sweet face and a heart-shaped ass.”
“Well, she’s also smart and funny and trying to rid the world of criminals, so…yeah. I reckon she’s pretty likable.”
“Careful, brother,” Manus warned. “Just becausesomefeds are willing to keep their mouths shut when they find out what it is we really do here doesn’t mean thatallfeds are.”
The words crawled over Britt’s skin like a line of ants. He wasn’t offended by them. But neither were they welcome sounds in his ears.
Mostly because they were true.
16
Fisher crossed his arms and leaned against the doorjamb of Eliza’s bedroom as she disappeared into the bathroom. When she came back out, wearing nothing but those flimsy silk pajamas, his dick instantly went from six PM to midnight.
That’s all it took now, apparently. Now that he knew what it was to hold her, to kiss her, to taste her skin on his lips and feel her heart thundering against the sweep of his tongue.
She crawled into bed and pulled the heavy covers up to her chin. He didn’t know whether he wanted to sigh with relief or cry in disappointment that all that lovely, pale skin was now covered up.
Her dark eyes were captivating in the low glow of her bedside lamp as she studied him.
“What?” he asked when she’d been quiet for too long.
“Has anyone ever told you that you have a way of looking at a woman that’s intoxicating? You make me feel like my face is the most fascinating thing you’ve ever seen.” He opened his mouth to respond and tell her that herfacewasthe most fascinating thing he’d ever seen. But she beat him to the punch. “And I might be fool enough to believe that except I’ve known you long enough to know that look—” she pointed at him “—isn’t just for me.”
He frowned. “Ya make it sound like I find women interchangeable.”
“Don’t you?” she quickly parried.
“No.” He staunchly shook his head. “I know given my rather extensive datin’ history that that might seem the case. But just ’cause I don’t havelongrelationships that doesn’t mean the ones I do have are meaningless or transposable.” He frowned. “And surely ya don’t count yourself amongst even those, right? What you and I have is…”
He stopped as he searched for the word.
Whatwasit that they had? Chemistry, certainly. Admiration and respect and comradery and all the shared experiences of having lived and worked together for four long years. But none of that was quite what he was looking for.
He finally settled on, “Different.We’re not two people who met at a bar. We live together. We work together. We’re friends and colleagues and…” He grew more animated as he tried to adequately explain why she shouldnevercompare herself to the other women in his life. “And we’re justdifferent,” he insisted with a determined jerk of his chin.
She made a face. “I guess that’s something. Better than nothing.”
He pushed away from the doorjamb so he could place his hands on his hips. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
It kept feeling like she was trying to tell him something. But either she was being vague, or he was dumber than a stump, because no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t wrap his head around what she was alluding to.
“Nothing.” She waved him off with a shooing motion.
