“What else were you passionate about?”
“I got my degree in psychology. At one time, I wanted to be a counselor or a psychologist,” she admitted, her voice wistful.
“So do it. Stay here and finish school. Hell, maybe you could fix me.” Lord knew everybody told him he was crazy.
She smiled at him. “There’s not a thing I would want to change. Okay, maybe the cooking thing. But you’re rich. You don’t need to cook.” She picked up her fork again and twirled the pasta around the utensil. “I was hoping to work with abused women to get them out of the cycle of abuse.”
“Why?” Tate was fascinated now.
“I told you that I went to live with my aunt after my parents died. My uncle was abusive,” she answered in a sad voice.
“Did he hurt you?” Tate clenched his fist around the beer he held.
Lara shook her head. “No. But he hurt my aunt. I begged her to leave him, but he always came back and told her he was sorry, that he’d never do it again. Unfortunately, she couldn’t get out of the cycle. I only had to stay there for a little over a year to finish high school before I left for college, and he never touched me. But I wanted to get her out. I couldn’t.”
The regret and sadness in Lara’s eyes made Tate’s chest ache. “Where is she now?”
“She passed away a few years ago of cancer.”
“I’m sorry, baby.” She was damn alone in the world. All Tate wanted to do was hold her, be her confidante when she needed someone. “What’s your life like in Washington?”
“Mostly work.” She shrugged. “You know what it’s like to live for your job. I have a small apartment, my friends at the department. I’m content for now. I want to build up my savings and go back to school eventually. The shelf life of an agent isn’t all that long.”#p#分页标题#e#
Tate knew that between burnout and age, being a field agent could be a relatively short career. Agents had to be in top physical condition, and it was a demanding job. “Leave now. Stay with me and go back to school. You won’t have to work, Lara.”
She chewed and swallowed before she answered. “Not happening. I’m not sponging off a friend, even if he is a billionaire.”
“I’m more than your friend,” he rumbled irritably. “I’m one of the founders of a new charitable organization to help abused women. You could work there. Do what you really want to do.”
Her face registered surprise. “You mean the new one being started up by those billionaire brothers in Florida?”
Tate nodded. “Lots of billionaires, and not just in Florida. The Hudsons and the Harrisons are founding members, and so am I. My brothers are getting involved now, too. And Grady Sinclair in Maine.”
“Wow. That’s a lot of firepower.”
Tate smirked, amused by the way Lara measured everything by guns and law enforcement. “You could be part of it. Kade Harrison’s wife was abused, and she’s determined to do everything she can to help battered women get out of their situations. She’d be happy to have somebody trained to work with.”
He saw a flash of longing in Lara’s eyes before she slowly shook her head. “I’d still need more schooling, and I’m not ready to leave my job right now. But I might take you up on your offer in the future.”
Dammit. She was stubborn. Tate didn’t think it was a situation where she didn’t want to leave her job at the FBI, but pure dogged independence. He admired that and hated it at the same time. “When were you thinking about going back?” It ate at him to even think about her leaving.
“Tuesday.”
It was Friday. Dammit. He only had three more days to convince her to stay. He got up to take his dishes to the kitchen, racking his brain for any way to entice her to stay with him. Any other solution was unacceptable. “I’ll fly you back. I’d like to see Blake. I talked to him yesterday, but he isn’t exactly very forthcoming with information. I think it would be better if I talked to him in person.”
Lara picked up her own dishes and brought them into the kitchen; she nodded in response.
Honestly, he didn’t plan to take her anywhere at all except to bed, but he’d deal with the travel situation when and if it happened. Right now, he had to find a way to keep her with him.
I’m a goddamn Colter, and Colters never quit, never give up.
He came from a stubborn lineage, men who never stopped trying. It was the reason they were all so wealthy today. Every Colter ancestor had been tenacious—some of them downright cantankerous. But they had never stopped trying to start new businesses, to keep progressing.