Page 23 of Training Rain
“Can I ask you something?”
Absently he stroked his fingers over her soft shoulder. Even though he dreaded the question, he could deny her nothing. “Anything.”
“Why did you get so angry with me earlier?”
Shit.“I wasn’t really angry with you.”
“No?”
He shook his head. It was dark so she couldn’t see him, but she must have felt the movement.
“You seemed pretty angry to me.”
“I was angry with myself for putting you in danger and then not being able to protect you. That’s the second time you’ve save my life. I don’t like being in debt.” It wasn’t pretty. It didn’t make him out to be a terrific guy, but it was the truth.
“Why should you have to protect me?”
“I’m the man.” He sounded as if he was a complete Neanderthal.
“What? Really?” She leaned up on her elbow and he immediately missed the warmth of her body against his.
He shrugged.
“But I thought you worked with Tessa Clark.”
“That’s different. You’ve seen Tessa in action. She’s extraordinary, hand-to-hand combat, paramilitary training and she can push a bullet from its trajectory by slowing time.”
She moved to the very edge of the mattress, as far away from him as she could get without actually getting out of bed. “I see. Maybe it would be better if I just went back.”
Even in the dark, he could still see her body dimly outlined. He gripped her shoulders. “You are taking this all wrong. I think you’re going to be a competent and valuable agent. You have skills that are unique and from my perspective, life-saving. I just can’t think of you the same way as I think of Tessa. I think of Tessa as a colleague. You are a woman, a woman I want.”
“Tessa told me you and she nearly had an affair years ago, so I know you think of her as a woman.” He had limited mind reading skills, but her words dripped with disdain.
She’d made the final bet, time to lay out his cards and face the consequences. “I won’t lie to you. I wanted to have sex with Tessa. She and I were partners. We worked under stressful situations and I liked her. I thought we could have had something together and sex would have been a great stress reliever.” If Rain retreated any further, she’d fall on the floor.
“But she kept saying no and eventually I saw the wisdom of her choice. We became great friends and our working relationship was successful for a long time. In fact it still is.”
“Thank you for explaining. You should go back to the couch now.”
“You don’t understand.”
She sat up and threw her legs over the end of the bed. “Sure I do. I agreed to fuck you, Tessa didn’t. Got it. If you’re not going to go, I will.”
She was almost too fast for him, but he headed her off before she reached the door. Yas sat up and whined his confusion at all the late-night activity.
Jess had to really work hard to keep his temper from rising. He grabbed her arms and hoped she didn’t tell Yas to attack him before he had the chance to explain. She didn’t fight him but she also didn’t look him in the eyes. He wanted to shake her. “First of all, we did not fuck. When I fuck you, Rain, you’ll know it and I will fuck you.”
She tried to pull away, but he held firm. Yas growled, she looked at the dog and he settled back down. At least she wasn’t going to have him mauled. When she turned from the animal, her gaze met Jess’. He saw anger, but he also saw arousal. He would store that information away for later.
“I don’t just want you for sex. With Tessa that was all it would have been. I wantyou,Rain. I want all of you. I have since the first time I saw you and if we hadn’t had to stop Banta and you hadn’t saved my life that day, I would have pursued you.”
“It doesn’t matter.” She jerked out of his grip. “You’re leaving tomorrow and I’ll get another instructor.”
His gut tightened. “It matters to me. It matters that you know my feelings for you go beyond one night in bed.”
“What makes you think I want more than one night? Relationships are not really my thing.”
Damn, she knew right where to hit him. His stomach roiled. “You think I wanted this to happen? Do you think it’s convenient for me to have feelings for a woman, let alone one whom I’ll have to work with and watch walk into danger?”
