“I’m not sure you would have been up to it. You know I got shot in the shoulder once and found it hard to drive for a few days.”
She unlocked the door and then pushed it open. Stepping back, she took his arm to help him into the house. Like he was an invalid of some sort.
Once they were inside, she closed the door and locked it.
“Micah and Evan made sure to get your prescriptions taken care of.”
“I don’t need painkillers.”
She said nothing, so he turned to see her giving him a wry look. “Yeah, you’re a big, bad He-Man. But one of them is for infection. You want to make sure you take it.”
He nodded and headed toward the couch. Damn, he was tired. Just coming home from the hospital had him feeling like a ninety-year-old man.
She was staring at him and biting on her bottom lip. Then she winced.
“Damn, I keep forgetting about that.”
Rome frowned. Dammit, he thought he was over the anger, but it whipped through his blood. He held it back the best he could. He was still pissed at himself for leaving her in that position, for not picking up on Jack’s issues. He was his partner, and he should have known.
Her spine stiffened, and he knew she misinterpreted it. Her boss had told him that she blamed herself for not checking Jack out, but the problem had been he wasn’t officially part of the HPD anymore. They’d already started his paperwork for the resignation before Maria hit the island. He hadn’t been on their list. That was Rome’s fault.
“Are you sure you’re alright?”
He nodded. “I’ll be fine in a day or two. You heard the doctor.”
She gave him an overly bright smile. “Well that’s good because my flight leaves at ten tonight.”
“What?” he asked, but she was already walking back to the bedroom.
“My flight. I’m going back with Agent Smith.”
She didn’t even slow down. She yelled it out from the room.
Anger and panic swamped him. She was leaving, just like that. He had fucked up big time, and now he was losing her.
The hell he was.
He stood and walked as fast as he could to the bedroom. By the time he got there, he was out of breath and had to lean against the doorjamb.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
She looked up from zipping her bag with wide, innocent eyes. “What do you mean? I have to get back to DC.”
“What about us?”
She blinked. “Us?”
“Yeah, we have a relationship here.”
She chuckled, and it grated on his nerves. “The job is done. I figured you were already moving on a few days ago. You pretty much told me through your actions that you didn’t want any kind of relationship with me.”
“I did not.”
“You did.” She shrugged. “I understand. It’s hard doing what we were doing and keeping the sexual feelings out of it. We both had to let off some steam.”
“Steam?”
She picked up her bag and set it on the floor to roll it out. She walked to the doorway and waited for him to move.
“Maria.”
“You have to move for me to get through.”
He stepped aside, desperately trying to come up with something to stall her. He needed to think. When he told Micah and Evan they would be married, Rome had thought he would have time to ease himself into it.
“I didn’t give you permission to leave.”
She was in the kitchen. She tossed a smile over her shoulder at him. “I didn’t really ask. And that part of our relationship is over, Rome. I enjoyed it, believe me. But you know how serious I am about my career.”
His eyes narrowed as he studied her. “You told me you wanted to write fiction.”
“I do, but I’m not about to give up a big FBI career. Smith says I’ll probably get a promotion out of this.”
He watched her, and he would have never guessed what was going on in her head if he hadn’t seen her fingers shake when she was putting things in her laptop case.
“Really? So you can just walk away from me, what we had?”
She nodded. “It was all part of the job.”
She didn’t look at him, didn’t even glance in his direction. He walked up behind her. She stilled.
“Aren’t you going to give me a going away kiss?”
She said nothing for a second or two. With his free hand, he brushed her hair over her shoulder, exposing her neck. He bent his head, drawing in the sweet scent of her and then placed his mouth on her pulse point. It beat wildly under his lips.
“You never struck me as a sentimental person, Rome.”
She was trying to be a hardass, but her voice wavered on his name, and he knew he had her.
“I am, though. Especially when it comes to you.”