Page 120 of Just One Silver Fox

“But wait.” She seized his sleeve. “We haven’t caught up yet.”

“What’s there to catch up on? Didn’t you throw me back when I lost my hand? It’s still gone. We’re ancient history, Trish. I hope you got a good price for the ring.”

She blushed then and her lips tightened. “I still have it,” she confessed and held out her right hand. The ring he’d saved up to buy her was there, glinting in the light. It was a much smaller diamond than Nate remembered, but then, it had cost him pretty much everything he’d had.

“Why?” he asked and her cheeks burned even redder.

“Because it’s never like the first time. I made a mistake, Nate. I wasn’t kind when you needed me to be kind. I want to make that up to you.”

“You didn’t love me when it would have been inconvenient for you, which means you probably never loved me. Not really.”

She glared at him, tears shimmering in his eyes. He refused to be swayed. “That’s not true. I was young. We were young. I made a mistake.”

“It’s been years, Trish.”

“I didn’t know where you were.”

“You could have asked my mom.” Nate was well aware that the woman in question was watching their exchange. “But then, you never called her when I was deployed and we were engaged then. Why would you call her after you dumped me?”

“Don’t be mean, Nate. Your mom never liked me and I knew it.”

“Yet here we are, meeting again in her driveway.”

Trish flushed. “I was thinking of you and hoping you were okay. Then Diane called. It seemed like kismet.” She gestured and he realized there was no ring on her left hand. He spotted a chain around her neck and saw something glimmering in her cleavage.

“You’re single again,” he guessed and the way her eyes narrowed told him he’d gotten it exactly right. “Too bad for you that I have a rule against desperation.”

“Against desperation? What do you mean?”

Nate ticked them off on his fingers, using the Hook. “No pity sex. No sympathy fucks. No hook-ups born of desperation.” He raised his hand. “Nice try, Trish, but you’re not going to close this deal. Take care.” He took a step back, turning away. “I’ve got to visit my mom.”

“Are you seeing anyone?” Trish demanded when he’d taken three steps and Nate glanced back to see that she had one hand propped on her hip. “Do I have a chance?”

As if she had the right to ask him questions.

He did not answer to former fiancés.

“You had a chance and you threw me back.”

Trish exhaled. “I was wrong! I came today, Nate, because I miss you.”

“As I understand it, Diane called you,” Nate said. “My mom has been living right here for my whole life. It would have been pretty easy for you to find me, if that had been your plan.”

Trish folded her arms across her chest, looking sulky. “Like I said, your mom never liked me.”

“And how long has it been since we broke up?” He asked as if he didn’t know with total precision. “But today, presto, you suddenly decide you miss me. I don’t think so, Trish. You need me for something else, or you think you do, but I’m not going to play your games anymore.”

Trish’s lips tightened the way they did when she wasn’t getting her way. Nate had forgotten that stubborn expression but he recognized it right away. “Don’t be mean!” She spoke through clenched teeth.

“Mean?” Nate closed the distance between them with one step and glared down at her. “You’re the one who dumped me because I was injured in the line of duty.”

“That wasn’t why…”

“Why was it then?”

“Because I’d met Craig and it was magical.”

Nate was startled, and then he became angry. “Oh, it was because you were cheating on me. Well, that makes it so much better.” He waved his prosthesis. “You said it was because of this and I believed you, since you were, after all, my fiancée and the love of my life. My mistake.”

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