Page 41 of The Rescuer

He cocked his eyebrow. “No? How does that work? I thought you two were an item.”

She barked a laugh. “Obviously, it doesn’t work very well. We never got the chance. He’s busy, I’m busy.”

Now his bumping heart sank. “So what you’re saying is that, given the chance, youwouldhave slept with him.”

“I don’t know. I mean, what does that tell you about someone if you can’t carve out time to have sex?”

“Uh …”

“Exactly.” A lung-deflating sigh left her body. “I’m not sure the sparks have enough combustion.”

Giddiness swelled inside him—and immediately died when she added, “You heard my confession. Now it’s your turn to tell me about Chelsea, who’s not dead but does exist in your life.” She tipped back the bottle and took a long drink.

“She exists, but she’s notinmy life.” He met Neve’s piercing gaze and steeled himself. “She was my incident commander.” When Neve’s eyebrows crinkled in that way that told him she was puzzled, he continued. “In theory, she was my boss. We had a … a …”

“You slept together.”

“Thanks for not mincing words.” Though his sarcasm came out with a bite, Neve didn’t flinch.

“What’s the point in mincing? You have something going on with this woman, and—”

“Had. Ihadsomething going on with her. For the record, it wasn’t much of something, and it only lasted a few months.”

“When did it end?”

“Early summer.”

Recognition sparkled in Neve’s slate blues. “That was right around the time you took a break from search and rescue. Were the two tied together?”

“Yep.”They were tied so tight I couldn’t work the knot free.

Neve made a “gimme” motion with her hands. “Can you give me a little more here? I don’t need the dirty details, but I’d appreciate you filling in some of the bigger gaps. Why did you break up?”

“Apart from it being a really bad idea to get involved personally with my incident commander, I had no idea I was her backdoor man.”

“And that bothered you.” A statement, not a question, and it twanged that taut bowstring of guilt inside him.

“You’ve known me your whole life. You think I would intentionally get involved with a married woman?” God, they might be close friends, but it was downright weird talking about this with Neve.

“So youwereinvolved?”

She wasn’t going to let him skate away, was she? Time to deflect. “Anytime a man and woman sleep together, they’re involved. It might be purely physical. It might last an hour or a day or a lifetime, but theyareinvolved for whatever amount of time they share that … that connection.” How could they not be tangled up, both in an emotional sense and a very real sense? “I know this is a shocker,” he drawled, “but I prefer my relationships straightforward. Backdoor isn’t for me.”

“Do you evenknowwhat backdoor means? And I’m not talking about sneaking in and out of someone’s house.” Her denim blues twinkled with a challenge, and his pulse gathered speed.

“Of course I know what it is,” he scoffed. “The question is how doyouknow?”

“Are you serious right now? I’m not fifteen, in case you haven’t noticed.” She grumbled something that sounded a lot like, “You’venevernoticed.”

He pretended not to hear. He probably wasn’tsupposedto hear anyway, so he was showing her a courtesy. Right? As for him not paying attention, that might have been true when she was a sassy preteen who loved to race him down the mountain on her snowboard, but he sure as hell was noticing hernow. The lush landscape of her body with curves a man could sink his fingers into. That rosebud mouth that stirred up all kinds of inappropriate thoughts when it formed a perfect little O of surprise. Those wide eyes that shifted from faded-blue-jean-blue to the gray of a summer thundercloud, depending on her mood. The fact that he observed these tiny details about her was alarming, and those details were all rushing at him at once.

And damn if grown-up Neve wasn’t even sassier—and way sexier.

Not so long ago, he’d believed she was into his brother Charlie. In fact, Reece had been convinced—like the rest of the town—that they were friends with benefits, and that put Neve so far off-limits she might as well have been in Australia’s Outback. Charlie had always insisted they weren’t, but Reece had never bought it because they were too affectionate for a platonic thing. But maybe, just maybe, Charlie had been telling the truth all along. If that turned out to be true, a fissure was forming in one of Reece’s most robust defensive walls. And that was mighty inconvenient.

Neve canted her head. “From the look on your face, I can only assume I’ve blown your mind. Now that we both understand the nuances in the term ‘backdoor,’ let’s move on. How did you not know Chelsea was married?”

“She lied. By omission, but still a big fat fucking lie.” Anger began to build inside him. “She didn’t wear a ring, and she never mentioned any relationships or a significant other. Nothing in her apartment led me to believe a guy lived there. No men’s clothing, no razors, no aftershave. And there were no pictures of them anywhere. I was blindsided.”

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