Page 24 of Four Cards Exposed

“Because you don’t think I can do this? I’m not the one getting beaten up every other day.”

“Because I need you to be safe.”

“When did you learn how to fight like that?”

His jaw tightened, and she knew she’d struck a nerve. This wasn’t something he wanted to talk about.

“A long time ago. I grew up in a neighborhood not unlike this one. I was always big for my age, so I was fighting grown men from the time I turned thirteen. Apparently, it’s like riding a bike.”

There’s so much he’s not saying.

Why did he fight as a child?

He shrugged his wide shoulders, and for a moment, all thoughts left her mind. She’d always liked looking at his shoulders. A swimmer’s shoulders, she’d always thought.

A fighter’s shoulders.

“When will I see you again?” she asked instead. She didn’t want him to pull away.

“Are you working tonight?”

She nodded. “At the bar, behind the garage.” She looked worriedly at his eyebrow. “Do you have to fight?”

“Not tonight. We’re not allowed to fight with bandages on our face.”

“But stitches are okay?”

“Stitches are fine. I’ll be fine for my next fight.”

She looked at him doubtfully. “Not if you get hit in the same place again, you won’t.”

“Then I’ll just have to make sure I don’t get hit there. I’ll come see you tonight. We’ll get to know each other a bit better.” He paused for a second. “Try to pretend you like me, alright?”

Her mouth felt like a piece of cotton wool had gotten stuck inside.

“What makes you think I don’t like you?”

It’s hard to breathe when you’re nearby.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t like you.

If anything—

He laughed wryly, but there was pain in his penetrating blue gaze.

“Relax. You don’t need to explain anything to me. I’m just saying.”

And with that, he turned and strolled away.

The ducks complained loudly, their beady eyes locked on the bread in her hands. She’d read somewhere that only female ducks quacked. Male ducks made a different sound—she couldn’t remember what that one was called.

“There you go,” she said, breaking off a couple more bits. It felt good to make someone happy, even if it was just a duck. But James’s words resonated in her head.

Try to pretend you like me.

The truth was, she’d always found him attractive, ever since he and Lorraine first came to Sharp’s Cove, when they were hunting for a serial rapist turned killer.

She’d been attracted to him from the go and had never been able to understand why. With his polished shoes and obsessively neat appearance, he was the very picture of an uptight federal agent. A walking stereotype, come to life just to irritate her. Never a hair out of place or a wrinkle in his shirt, even as they hiked through the woods looking for a missing woman.