“What the hell are you talking about?”
“You don’t react to anything, Connor! You don’t get mad. You don’t get frustrated. No matter what I throw at you, no matter what I say, it’s like all you’re focused on is the goal at the finish line. Secure the wife and nothing else matters. I never see anything but your unflappable calm and easy charm. You’re always so reasonable. Always with the rational approach. The perfect solution to any problem. And it’s impossible to believe, because no one is that perfect, Connor. That’s why I can’t trust you. That’s why I have to leave!”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CONNOR STARED DOWN at his wife, absorbing this final revelation.
He’d been vowing to give her everything he had, but...nothing would be enough.
He’d thought there couldn’t be anything worse than the helpless sense of failure and inadequacy that marked the first thirteen years of his life. When no good grade, lost tooth or scored goal was enough to push the heartbreak from his mother’s eyes—not when every milestone achieved was simply a reminder of the man who was missing them all. When Connor’s dependence—his very existence—hadn’t weighed heavily enough to compete with the bottle of sleeping pills she’d taken to end the pain. But now, to realize he’d simply exchanged one woman with a hurt he couldn’t touch for another with a doubt he couldn’t overcome... Damn it, what was he doing? What kind of messed-up psychosis kept him coming back to this impossible place—when he’d spent his entire adult life actively working to avoid it?
He should let her go.
Except then he thought about the desolate look in Megan’s eyes the night before. That instant when he’d been sure she would turn away...but instead she’d clung to him and cried against his chest. Took his comfort. His strength.
And woke up the next morning ready to run.
To hell with this.
“You want to see a reaction, Megan? You want something real?” He stalked slowly toward her, letting the anger pulse off him in waves. “I’m furious. Only, I sure as hell didn’t get this way because my wife took the time to cook me a dinner. In fact, it’s not any of that trivial nonsense you’ve been shoving at me. Because—truth?—on the scale of significance, that stuff doesn’t even register. What has me pushed past the boiling point...what has me really, really upset is learning the woman I thought was so incredibly strong I married her on the spot...is actually a quitter who runs from challenge, a coward too afraid to even try, a liar who makes promises she won’t keep and a cynic too bitter to believe what’s right in front of her face. Is that real enough for you?”
Megan’s lips parted on a gasp, her eyes blinking time and again, as though she couldn’t quite believe what she’d just seen. What he’d said. Then, barely a whisper, “You’re wrong.”
Connor shook his head, wishing he were.
“I don’t think so. But I’ll tell you what I am...mad as hell. At you. Right now. More angry than I’ve ever been at a woman I was in a relationship with. But—and this is the important part, baby, so listen up—I’m not the one ready to leave. I’m the one trying to get you mad enough to fight back. To throw down your gloves, get up in my face and prove me wrong. I want you to stay because what we could have is worth fighting for. And if that’s not real enough, damn it, I want you to stay for this too—” Grabbing her shoulders, he pulled her into a hard, searing kiss.
It was too brief. Didn’t satisfy more than the most base claim. And when he pulled back, ire still surging hot through his veins, he met Megan’s eyes, daring her next response.
She stared up at him through air thick with tension, her expression stunned, hands resting at his chest and abdomen.