Phoenix Burning(40)

“It’s silly.”

“But you’ve never taken them off,” she pointed out.

It was time to change the subject. They were both feeling a little uncomfortable.

“Where do you live?” She realized she’d never heard him talk about home. So much of herself was wrapped up in her shop and her apartment. What was his home like?

“I still own my parents’ old place.” He dropped a kiss on top of her head. “It’s a few blocks over. Pretty unimpressive if you ask me. My mother could walk inside tomorrow and not notice any changes. I was gone when they passed, and I’m not one to redecorate.”

There was something in his tone that struck her as hollow. The man was utterly shiftless. He didn’t even have a real home to tie him down. Why not? “Do you have any plants?”

He moved her hair aside and kissed her neck. “What kind of question is that? I’m not home enough to have plants. There might be some growing in the garden out back. I don’t know.”

“You have a garden?” She was intrigued.

“I’m kissing your neck and you want to talk about my yard?”

He was right, really, she had no right to pry into his life. “I’m sorry. I’m just trying to get to know you.”

For the first time since they’d met, he seemed irritated. He pulled back and stepped away. Holding his arms out to his sides, he gave her a frown. “This is me, Emory. This is what you get. It’s all I have.”

She thought of what her brother had said, about balance in relationships. All this time she’d been thinking about what Alex could do for her. Now she was starting to think there was something she could do for him as well.

Standing, she swallowed back her shyness and moved boldly toward him. “It isn’t all you have, Alex.” She laid her hand flat against his chest. “You have something special in here that you’ve never even tapped into before. I know you do.”

On anyone else, she would have called the expression fear. On Alex it was a magnificent taste of the sensitivity that called to her from deep inside his soul. She knew it. She could feel it. The beauty of the man who hid inside the player he’d been masquerading as for so long.

“Come by the bar later today when you get a chance.” He buttoned and zipped his jeans, heading for the shop door without even bothering to find his shoes. “We still need to discuss what you know about MacIntyre’s petition.”

Emory let him go. She’d pushed him and discovered something in return. Alex was the one person she needed to free her from the past. But he needed her too, whether he knew it or not.



* * *





“Do you have any bloody idea what time it is?” Gabriel gave a huge yawn and slumped onto a barstool. He glanced over Alex’s bare chest and feet. “You realize you’re missing some clothes, mate? You get thrown out of some dame’s bedroom by her husband?”

Emory’s words were nagging at Alex’s brain. “Do you have any plants?”

“Actually, I do.” Gabriel rubbed a hand down his face. “Jessa left one when she and Connor moved out. I think it’s some kind of palm plant.”

“Seriously? You have a plant?” Alex didn’t know why he was getting worked up over something so stupid. “Did you hang paintings and buy throw pillows, too? Are you the British Martha Stewart or something?”

Gabriel looked suddenly cautious. “I have some pictures and things that I brought with me. I think that’s pretty normal. I kept personal items in my barracks room, too. Didn’t you?”

“No!” Alex leaped up and began pacing. “What the hell kind of personal items would I have?”

“Alex, mate, calm down.” Gabriel waved at the barstool. “Sit down. You’re giving me a bloody headache. What the hell happened? You’re acting like a loon.”

Alex looked up at his friend, realizing how superficial their discussions always were. “Why are you here?”

“I live here.”

“I don’t mean the bar, Gabriel. I mean here as in the States. Why did you leave Britain? Didn’t you want to go to Huntington? I thought you were all set to marry some woman you’d met there.”

Gabriel froze, and Alex realized he had just torn into a topic his friend had no desire to discuss.

“I’m sorry,” Alex said quietly. “I had no right to badger you just because my head is spinning.”

“She left me at the altar.” Gabriel’s voice was gravelly. “I couldn’t stand being there, watching her be with someone else. It was pretty simple. She looked at us both and she picked him. So I came here because I wanted to be as far away as possible, and I thought putting an entire ocean between us might be enough.”