Confidence Ivy didn’t share. So many things could go wrong. The terror from last night slithered through her chest. This must be why Gil had been acting different this week. After two solid days of what she thought was intense flirting, he’d backed off. Sort of. He drove her to work. He brought her lunch. He picked her up. He slept in her guest room. He made her breakfast and supper.
But he was different. If anyone had questioned her on Monday morning about their relationship status, she would have said she thought Gil would ask her out on a date at any time, or that he might kiss her first, then see if she would go out with him.
Now? He was still with her, still focused on keeping her safe. But less focused on, well, whatever he’d been focused on before.
She was confused, and scared. “Gil, we need to talk.”
“About what?” Could he be that clueless? She’d heard the snap in her statement. There was no way Gil could have missed it.
“Maybe about how you’ve set me up with a protective detail but failed to inform me you were doing it? I’m not eight years old anymore, and even if I was, I would still expect you to involve me in the conversation. What if I don’t want a protective detail? Did you ever think of that?”
“We’ve been protecting you for several days without any complaint. How is this different?”
“You’ve been at my house. At night. And you’ve shown up to my office a few times. This isn’t the same thing. You’re talking about shadowing me all day, in public.”
She did want protection, but he should have asked and not assumed. She pulled in a slow breath and forced herself to speak slowly, and what was probably a full octave lower. “I’m not stupid, Gil. I know I’m up to my neck in something that has ‘nightmare’ written all over it. I’ve already been tortured for my computerpassword, and I’m not interested in meeting the mastermind behind that experience.”
She couldn’t stop the shudder that started at her neck and trembled all the way over her back and down her legs. “I’m thankful, beyond thankful, that you were the one who came to my rescue. But saving my life didn’t give you the right to make decisionsforme. And knowing me for our whole lives doesn’t mean you have tacit permission to orchestrate every hour of my day without clueing me in to the plan.”
Gil’s tanned skin had a definite rosy undertone now. She didn’t know him well enough, not anymore, to know if he was embarrassed or angry, but if she had to guess, she’d say it was a bit of both.
“For today, I’ll go with your plan, whatever it is, because, as previously noted, I’m not an idiot and I prefer to survive the day unscathed. Also because I do trust you, despite the fact that you’re infuriating, and I do appreciate the effort you’ve gone to in the past few days to keep me safe and happy. But after today, we sit down and discuss the rest of the week. This will involve you asking me whatIthink and whatIwant before you set any grand plans into motion that affectme. Are we clear?”
Gil stared at her a long moment. He swallowed hard, nodded twice. Then he leaned toward her. “We’re clear. You’re right. I’m sorry. You have no idea how sorry. We’ll talk tonight.” Gil’s soft, repentant words came with another brush of his fingers on her hand. “Now eat. Your eggs will get cold.”
He left the kitchen, and when the snick of the bathroom door closing reached her, she picked up her fork and tried to slow her racing heart. She could have handled that better. Why had she yelled at Gil? Sure, he’d overstepped by a light-year, and she wasn’t sorry for what she said. But it would have been better if they’d hada conversation instead of her delivering a rant and him standing there and taking it.
Rants felt good in the moment, but the second they were over, the guilt and recriminations flooded in. Gil didn’t deserve her anger. His motives were honorable. And he undoubtedly thought he was making her life easier by planning everything on her behalf.
He was probably in the bathroom texting Emily about how Ivy was a loose cannon and asking if she remembered Ivy having such a bad temper.
She didn’t, normally. But she’d had no practice with how to cope with being held captive, tortured, forced to shoot a man, rescued by her lifelong crush, reunited with said crush, nearly snatched out of a Mexican restaurant, and thrown into a world of uber protective special agents. Not to mention all the weirdness with Ab. Oh, and how could she forget that her own mother and attorney were now being investigated for their possible involvement in this situation or that someone had passed counterfeit bills and her company had deposited them?
Sheesh. She’d been overdue an explosion, but regret crept through every thought. She should apologize for yelling and for losing her temper. If Gil had done that to her, she would have been livid. He should be furious, but he seemed more upset with himself than with her.
She took a bite of her eggs and then stared at her hand where he’d brushed against it. Would he have done that if he was angry? Gah! It was too early to solve the mysteries of Gil Dixon. She took a bite of the muffin and tried to get her mind focused on something else. Given that the last thing she wanted to think about was her impending kidnapping that included potential dismemberment, she chose to focus on her pitch.
Hedera had an excellent chance of winning this grant. But Ab’s team also had a solid proposal. They’d talked about it on Thursday at dinner. He’d shared. She hadn’t. Despite what Gil thought, it wasn’t that she didn’t trust Ab, but when it came to business, she was all business. The only people who knew the details of her pitch were her researchers and her assistant. Once the pitch was over, she’d be happy to share with Ab what she’d proposed. But not before.
Those thoughts carried her through finishing breakfast, putting her dishes in the dishwasher, returning to her room, and completing her morning routine.
When she stepped into her living room, Gil was standing by the door. “Ready?” He delivered the question without any apparent malice, but she could almost feel the wall, a wall she built, that now stood between them.
They drove to her office in silence. As he had all week, Gil walked her into her office, did a walk-through of her building, then returned to tell her goodbye.
“Gil—”
He held up a hand. “We’ll talk tonight.” Ivy could almost see the wall between them grow another three feet. “Tessa will be here in a little while. It would be helpful if you could do whatever she asks. She’s an excellent agent, and her only mission today is to make sure you’re back here tonight in one piece.”
“Gil, I—”
“You probably won’t see me, but I’ll be around. Good luck with the pitch.”
Then he was gone. Ivy sat behind her desk and dropped her head against the high back of her seat.Lord, I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do.It took her several minutes before she managed to whisper, “But my eyes are on you.”
22
SIX HOURS AFTER LEAVING Ivy at her office, Gil stood with his back to a column at the far end of a long hotel corridor. He could hear what was going on in the ballroom, but he couldn’t see Ivy. There was comfort in knowing Tessa was in there, but he still wished he had eyes in that room.
