Page 21 of Receiving His Mercy
Now she turned to him, undoing her belt. “What? You do?”
He ran his hand over his face. “Shouldn’t still be holding onto feelings I had toward you years ago. You were just a kid. I was just . . . annoyed that you upset Lacey when you left without a word.”
Caren let out a deep breath. How much to tell him? “I apologized to Lacey about that. It’s really between her and me. But I did send her a letter and try to call, but I never managed to get hold of her.”
“What?” He frowned. “My fucking uncle?”
“I’m not sure but that’s what we suspect.”
“Fucking bastard.”
“Total douchebag,” she said with a nod. “I should have tried again, but Grammy thought it would be better to cut ties. I got very upset when I spoke about Lacey.”
“Grammy?” he asked.
She forced herself to stay relaxed. “My grandma. I went to England to live with her after I left Albany. Thanks for the ride home.” She reached for the door handle.
“Freeze,” he barked.
To her shock, she did as ordered. Then she sighed. He was out of control. He couldn’t just bark orders at her and expect her obedience.
“What is it now?” she asked as patiently as she could.
“Guessing from the way things ended with you paying the bill tonight that you’re not used to being treated properly by a man, but I am a man.”
This was confusing. “Yes, I know.”
“That means that when you’re with me, you don’t pay the bill, you don’t carry shit, you don’t drive, and you don’t open doors.”
“Are you sure you’re all right, Travis?”
“Why? Because I have rules for you to follow?”
“One, I don’t need anyone to give me rules. Two, you do remember that you don’t like me, right?”
“That was before. I was stupid. I apologized.”
He had?
“We’re moving on,” he told her.
They were? Why did she feel like a hamster on a wheel? Getting dizzier by the moment, but unwilling to get off.
“Although I do need to make reparations.”
Reparations? Huh? Oh, for disliking her when she was a kid? He really didn’t.
“You really don’t. That was a long time ago. You were a kid too.” Mostly.
“Not exactly. I had to have been in my twenties when you left.”
“Twenty-one and seventeen days. I mean, I think . . .”
Wow. Way to pretend you aren’t a loon, Caren. And that you didn’t have a wildly inappropriate crush on an older man.
To her surprise, he didn’t call her out for knowing exactly how old he was when she left. Instead, his face actually seemed to soften slightly.
“I didn’t treat you nicely when I saw you again. Not even politely. I haven’t ever been that kind or patient with you. I owe you an apology and I always pay my debts.”
