“Thank you.” He accepted the cup with his good hand and raised it to his lips. After his first sip, he nodded to the passenger seat. “Care to join me?”
She climbed into the car, her own mug gripped between her hands. “You can’t live in your car, Dominic. The neighbors will call the cops eventually.”
“My dad is eager to see me, but I doubt he’ll arrest me,” he said mildly. Having her here, so close, after a long night of watching her sleep and wanting her no matter how much he tried to deny it sent mixed signals to his tired body. And yeah, most of those instructions headed below the belt. He shifted again.
“Your father’s missed you.” She raised her mug and sipped her coffee. “I’m wondering, what did Ryan have to do to drag you back here? Hog-tie you?”
He said your name.
But now, after she’d welcomed him by hurling things at him, probably wasn’t the best time to tell her he still had feelings for her. She’d probably toss her hot coffee at him if he sat here and explained that he planned to channel his emotions into playing bodyguard.
“I’d never let that happen,” he said.
She cocked her head and looked right at him. “That’s what was missing from our relationship. You never let me tie you up.”
He drank in her sarcastic tone. Then he let out a laugh and shook his head. “That’s going to stay in your wildest fantasies, honey. But I’m sure as . . . sure happy you’re still joking around after everything.”
“No, not really,” she murmured, her voice flat and humorless now. “Not anymore.”
“Lil, you can’t let that bastard take that away from you. You can’t move on, shake the memories if—”
“Your dad thinks I’m safe,” she said. “The guy from the park—he’s not after me. And he never was.”
“But you don’t agree.”
“You ruined everything.”
Well shit, that pretty much summed it up, didn’t it?
And he knew it wasn’t because he’d never let her bind him to the bedposts and have her way with him.
“That’s what he said,” she continued. “When he attacked me. And those words, his voice . . . it felt personal.”
“You shared this with my dad?” He worked to keep his tone neutral and not jump to conclusions based on things he shouldn’t feel for her after all this time.
She nodded. “But all the evidence suggests that he was crazy. That this was a random attack. He didn’t even take my phone.” She lifted her gaze and looked through the front windshield. “I know it was personal.”
“I believe you.” And hell, he meant it. The Lily he’d known in high school, the girl he’d fallen in love with, the woman who’d cared for her mother when her dad couldn’t handle his wife’s illness—she was strong. She wouldn’t give in to fear without a reason.
“I’ll talk to my dad,” he continued. “And until we find him, I don’t mind watching the stars from my car. Though I’m kicking myself for not driving my truck up here. Ryan was so damn determined to get me on that plane.”
“You’re really staying this time.” Her lips pressed to the rim of her cup.
“Until we find the guy.” And until you feel like you can fall asleep without checking every corner of your house.
“Then you’re leaving again. To do what?”
“I’ll figure something out,” he said. Or he’d spend the rest of his days with his feet resting on a damn box, drinking coffee and staring at his TV. Worthless. Useless. A failure. And sure as hell not worthy of the woman sitting beside him.
“You want to lick your wounds someplace else, away from your family.”
He turned and looked into her blue eyes. “I’m not getting any better. The damage is done. And no, I don’t know where to go from here. Hell, if I drank something stronger than coffee, I’d probably lose myself in a drunken haze—”
“No, you wouldn’t,” she said. “I’ve never met a man more determined to act, who refused to settle. Life is too short, remember? You said it all the time.”
“Looks like ‘life’ had the last laugh,” he muttered. “Because it sure as shit broke me.”
“Not all of you, I hope,” she said.
“Lily.” And yeah, his tone held a shitload of warning. If she glanced below the belt and teased him with her words . . .
“You can tell me. Because I get it. Life broke me too,” she said. “But I’m fighting back. I accepted Noah’s job offer because I knew I needed to get out of the house. I can’t hide forever. School starts again at the end of August. I need to be able to face a roomful of five-year-olds. Lead them. Teach them. And not rush off to the bathroom and hide because I can’t overcome the panic.”