“Love you more.” She smiled wide then excitement hit her eyes as she glanced over her shoulder. Pulling out of my grasp, she spun her board, paddled three strong strokes and effortlessly caught the next wave.
The memory fell away but there was no punishing grief. No debilitating regret. No anger at her for leaving me and not telling me she was sick.
“Talon?”
I glanced up and found Siren watching me.
“Are you okay?”
I didn’t know what I was. “All good. You hungry?”
“I wouldn’t have minded making lunch. You have a lot of food in your refrigerator.”
I was getting used to Siren’s way of not answering questions directly. “You cook?”
“Yes.”
I pulled a chair out for her. “That somethin’ you enjoy?”
She didn’t sit. “Are you still angry with me?”
“Who says I’m angry?”
“It was something I said.”
Inhaling, I ran a hand through my hair. “Sit.”
She lowered herself, favoring her left leg, and I pushed her chair in. “Thank you,” she said properly.
I took a seat across from her so I could watch her instead of looking out at the ocean. “I was angry. Now I’m not.” I was the one who’d told her I didn’t do commitment. I couldn’t fault her for her opinion.
Opening the Chinese takeout containers, she didn’t react.
I went for broke. “You’re not what I expected.”
“What did you expect?”
I studied her. “Someone more emotional.” Someone who didn’t look beautiful because of her scars. Someone who didn’t have me bending over backward to get her attention…someone who didn’t take away the sharp edges of my past.
She set her hands in her lap and her gaze followed. “About this morning.”
“Which part?” Because there was a hell of a lot of shit that encompassed.
She paused and when she spoke, she didn’t answer my question. “You’re not what I expected either.”
I leaned back in my chair. “What you see is what you get.”
She looked up and this time, the expression on her face was one hundred percent readable. Head tilted, holding back a smile, eyebrows raised, she was going to call me on my bullshit. “I think we both know that’s not even close to true.”
Damn, she was sexy. “You think I’m lyin’?”
“I think you’re grieving the loss of your wife.”
I shut down my expression and reached for the food. Heaping shit on my plate, I kept my movements controlled. “That was a long time ago.”
“What was she like?” she asked curiously.
“Bossy,” I lied, shoveling food in my mouth.
“That surprises me.”
I choked down the food. “How so?”
“You’re bossy. It doesn’t fit.”
“You spend a lot of time thinkin’ ’bout what fits?” I didn’t want to talk about Leigh with her. I wasn’t ready for that. I might never be ready.
“Randy and I never fit,” she stated matter-of-factly.
“I thought we had a deal.” I didn’t care if she was talking shit about him, I still didn’t want to hear his name cross her lips.
She shrugged. “I think you want to hear why I was with him for so long.”
I wanted to know how this woman had gotten inside my head. “No, I really don’t,” I lied again.
She told me anyway. “He took care of me. I mistook it for love. I thought I owed him.”
“Not much of a reason to stay with someone.”
“Are you judging me or yourself?”
My muscles tensed. “Excuse me?”
“You told me your wife died but you also called her your ex-wife.”
“Your point?” I tried and failed to keep the edge out of my voice.
“There’s a difference between being a widower and your ex-wife passing away…after you were divorced.”
Fucking hell. “Eat your lunch, Nicole.”
“You don’t have to put me up for a week. I’ll find somewhere else to stay.” She took a bite like nothing she’d just said was inflammatory.
I pushed my plate away. “You ready to have a normal fuckin’ conversation?”
She set her fork down.
“Because I’m tired of this bullshit. Say what’s on your mind, all of it. At once.” I held her shocked gaze for three heartbeats. “I’ll start. I’m not discussin’ my dead wife with you. I don’t give a damn about your past with Randy fuckin’ Carter. You’re stayin’ here until you heal, find a new place and get a job. I don’t expect shit from you in return except to stay away from your ex. You wanna go back to him? Get the fuck outta my house right now.”