“Bullshit.”
The word leaves my mouth sharper than I intended, but I don’t bother pulling it back.
Her eyebrows lift slightly. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.”
Rae crosses her arms now, leaning one shoulder against the porch railing as she watches me.
“I’m being realistic,” she says.
“You’re pushing me away.”
Her eyes flash. “I’m not pushing anything. I’m acknowledging the obvious.”
I step closer without really thinking about it, setting my mug down on the railing beside me.
“The obvious,” I repeat, my voice dropping lower.
“Yes,” she says firmly. “The obvious.”
“That I came out here to deal with a problem,” I continue, watching her carefully. “That I stayed longer than planned. That we had some fun. And now things go back to normal.”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
Something inside my chest pulls tight.
“That’s not what this is.”
She lets out a short laugh that doesn’t sound amused.
“Cole, you don’t even live here.”
“And?”
“And you’re an Iron Reaper,” Rae says like it should be obvious. “You ride around handling problems and breaking faces for a living. I run a bar and a barn full of animals. Those two lives don’t exactly line up.”
“You don’t get to decide what lines up for me.”
Her chin lifts slightly.
“I’m not deciding anything for you,” she says. “I’m just not pretending this is something it isn’t.”
My hands flex at my sides.
“You think the last week meant nothing?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Then what the hell are you saying, Rae?”
She hesitates.
Just for a second.
But I see it.
“I’m saying I’m not stupid,” she says finally. “You’ll go deal with Voss. Then you’ll go back to Jackson and back to the club. That’s how your world works.”
