He’d forgotten how quick she was, and how good she was at pinning someone down. She would have made akiller lawyer. What were those questions when you assumed part of the answer? She was awesome at those.
But he was just as adept at sidestepping and avoiding being cornered—especially by women. “Go home, Brit. Forget you saw me. Put aside your story, and I swear I will tell you everything as soon as I can.”
She still had her arms crossed in front of her chest as she stared at him. A body language expert might suggest it was meant to be a barrier, but if that was the intention, she’d neglected to factor in how perfectly they framed in and lifted her breasts, making the already spectacular fucking incredible.
Ah, hell.He shifted his gaze back to her face at the same time as she dropped her arms. The faint pink on her cheeks suggested the timing might not have been a coincidence, that she’d caught the direction of his stare.
She stiffened, straightening her spine and lifting her chin to meet his gaze. It might have been more intimidating if she weren’t a good foot shorter than him.
“No. I’m not going to do any of that. You owe me an explanation.”
“I don’t owe you a damned thing.”
There was a sharp silence. John didn’t understand it. He was never harsh. Never abrupt. He never said the first thing that popped in his head.
Correction. Never except with Brittany.
She looked at him, and he didn’t understand how a look could say so much. How a look could say everything.
He’d known her, what... three weeks? Five years ago? And he knew her well enough to read her looks?
Apparently so, because her next words confirmed that they’d both been thinking about what had happened in San Diego. He’d pushed her away without an explanation then, too.
“You’re right,” she said. “You made that clear the last time I saw you, didn’t you? My mistake for thinking that you might feel bad about lying to me. That you might think I deserved an explanation after traveling halfway around the world to see my brother only to find out that he is dead and his former best friend was pretending to be him to stop me from finding out what happened to him. He’s gone, John.” Her eyes pinned him, pleading for understanding. “My brother is dead. I need to know why.”
Those eyes left him nowhere to hide, and maybe for the first time in his life, that was what he felt like doing.
He wasn’t going to let her do this to him. He shook off the guilt. He’d done it for her own good. “I was trying to protect you. I lied because I knew you would be like this. I knew you wouldn’t be able to listen to reason but would keep digging and digging until you had whatever answer you were looking for no matter who was hurt in the process. If anyone finds out I’m alive, I could be targeted. This is dangerous stuff, Brit. You need to steer clear.”
She turned away. “You’re just trying to scare me to put me off.”
He took her by the arm and hauled her around to look at him. He swore he could feel the flutter of her heart against his. He knew it wasn’t fear. Anger maybe? Awareness? Whatever the hell it was, it was magnetic, drawing him in. Taking him somewhere he didn’t want to go. He was about ten seconds away from putting his mouth on hers again. Maybe that would make her listen. If he thought he had a chance in hell, he just might try it.
“I’m not,” he said tightly. “You don’t know what kind of hornet’s nest you are stirring up with this ‘Lost Platoon’ crap, Brit, and I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
For a moment he wondered if he was getting throughto her. But then she shrugged out of his hold, dismissing him—and the warning. “Thanks for the concern, but it’s part of the job. I’ve been stung before.”
“What about me?” Her eyes lifted to his. “If you don’t put this aside, I could end up dead.”
“You’re a big boy, Johnny.” She coldly looked him up and down, but somehow it made him hot anyway. “I’m sure you’ll manage to land on your feet. You always do. Everything is always so easy for you.”
She was right. “It pays to be a winner” had been the story of his life. Things came easy to him. School. Sports. Friends. Girls. Until he’d decided to become a SEAL. For the first time in his life he’d been tested. He’d had to work for something he wanted. Maybe that was why being a SEAL was so important to him. It was the constant challenge.
But he didn’t like what she was insinuating. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re here, aren’t you?”
With that one remark she managed to prick low beneath the surface, beneath layer upon layer of skin, to tap into the one harsh truth that he didn’t want to acknowledge. Didn’t want to think about. That he’d survived and his friends—and his best friend—had not.
He held her stare, not giving any indication of the raw nerve she’d just struck. “Yeah, you aren’t the only one disappointed about that.”
Her eyes widened. “I didn’t mean it like that. Of course I’m glad that you aren’t dead, too.”
He’d never seen her twisting her hands before, but she was obviously agitated. He knew the feeling. Everything about her made him agitated.
She uttered a sound of frustration. “I’m not going to let you do this to me. I’m not going to let you confuse me again. You’re good at that. But I’m not twenty-twoanymore and susceptible to a good-looking face and a killer set of abs. You aren’t going to make me feel bad for you and stop me from finding out what happened. If you won’t tell me, I’ll find out another way.”
Good-looking face and killer set of abs? Was that what she’d reduced him to in her mind?
