The two of them stared at each other in silence.Swallowing her fear, she did her best to read his hard expression.Was it fury?Disappointment?Confusion.What was going on behind those beautiful hazel eyes?
Stepping back, he crouched and scooped the book off the floor.
Oh shit.“I’m sorry,” she apologized yet again.“I think I lost your place.”
Dammit.Couldn’t she do anything right?
As he rose, he turned the book over, studying it as though he’d never seen it before.Wasn’t it his?Hadn’t he read a portion of it?Who else would?
“I’ve never heard of him,” she offered as she rocked from the balls of her feet to her heels and back again.“Though he seems very intriguing.”
Fink nodded.“Why this room?”
What an odd question.She didn’t really have the answer.Glancing around, she tried to explain how she ended up here of all places in the house.
“I love books,” she said honestly and met his intense stare.
He furrowed his brow.
She shrugged.“Though, I’m into fiction.Romance, specifically.”
His expression remained blank.
“I just couldn’t sleep.I can’t cook.”She sighed and lowered her gaze in resignation.
“Why not the office?”
Peering up at him, she cocked her head to the side.“There are no books in there.Why would I stay there?”
He quirked a brow.“There’s a computer.”
“It’s not like I know how to log into it.”What was he getting at?“It’s essentially a giant paperweight to me.”
Again, he stared as though perplexed by her.
“What are those?”she asked, pointing to the little trinkets at the tops of the shelves.
He glanced toward where she gestured.“Stuff I’ve collected.”
Classic vague answer.She shouldn’t have expected anything different.
With defeat beating down on her, she slumped her shoulders.This was where he threw her out.He’d had enough of her bullshit.Fink wasn’t the type to yell and scream.He was a man of action.
Her gaze found the gun in his hand.His finger was near the trigger but not on it.“Are you going to shoot me?”
“No,” he said quickly.
“Wereyou going to kill me?”
He hesitated.His jaw twitched before he finally whispered, “No.”
His admission bothered him.She could see it in his eyes and the wrinkles forming at their corners.
She’d venture a guess she wasn’t the only one in uncharted waters here.This entire arrangement was new and strange for him too.Where she found their experience exhilarating, he was more reserved.She wouldn’t call him reluctant.It was something different.She couldn’t put her finger on what.
Reaching for him, she let her fingertips graze the hand holding his gun.“I promise to do nothing intentionally that would cause you to use this.”
39
