Page 67 of Ace of Spades
She shrugged. “We will.”
“I know this case upsets you, and I understand why.”
“It does, but that’s not what I’m thinking about right now.”
“And?” he said when she went quiet again.
“Before we slipped into friends with benefits, I felt like I could talk to you about anything.”
“Now you can’t?”
“I don’t know.” She shifted in her seat to face him. “I want to think I can.”
His internal warning system dinged. He wasn’t sure where she was going with this, but he had a feeling he wasn’t going to like it. “You can still talk to me about anything,” he said, mostly meaning it.
“Okay.” She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth.
“Taylor, just spit it out.”And stop sucking on your lip.
“Yeah, okay. I don’t want you to think I’m trying to put a claim on you or anything like that.”
Ding. Ding. Ding. Warning!“But?”
“Because I’m not. I spoke true when I told you I’m not husband hunting. It’s just that, while we have this thing going on between us, I don’t want to think about you in some other woman’s bed. If that’s a problem, then we should end it right now.”
His first reaction was that by demanding an exclusive, she was putting a claim on him. Friends with benefits were free to pursue other interests. Wasn’t that the way it worked? But when was the last time he’d even been interested in another woman? Months. And no way in hell was he ready to call a halt to whatever this thing between them was.
Truthfully, she already had an exclusive from him, it just hadn’t been acknowledged. But if he did verbally agree, then he was enteringunchartered territory. He’d rarely seen the same woman twice for no other reason than to avoid entanglements. Hang around too long, and women developed expectations. Not that he blamed them, but if they thought he’d ever put a ring on their finger, they were barking up the wrong tree. Any woman who thought he could make her happy was just wrong. He didn’t have it in him.
“I see,” Taylor said, then turned her attention back to the passing scenery.
No, she didn’t see. An internal debate raged.Tell her she’s better off without you.The words wouldn’t come, though, because a stray thought that came out of nowhere said,Maybe for her, you might have it in you.
“No, you don’t see,” he said. “I’ve never done exclusive before, but I’m willing to give it a go.” Wrong thing to say. He knew it as soon as the words left his mouth, and Taylor’s frown confirmed it. How did they get from what had happened between them in his foyer to this?
She turned her face toward his. “Seriously, Nate? Give it a go? What kind of bullshit is that? That gives you an out card. All you have to do is come to me and say, ‘I gave it a go, but then I screwed some other woman last night.’ Well, that doesn’t work for me.”
“Is this a lovers’ quarrel? I’ve never had one before, so just checking.” Yeah, he was digging the hole deeper, but avoiding relationships was ingrained in him. Why couldn’t she enjoy the ride for as long as it lasted without putting a name to it? He had no intention of seeing other women at the moment. Truthfully, he couldn’t imagine being with anyone but her for a long time. So why hadn’t he said all that instead of what he had?
“You’re an ass.”
An undeniable fact. “We’re here.” He shut off the engine. “We’ll talk about all this when we get back to my place.” Maybe he could get his act together by then.
She got out without answering.
“You really are an ass, Gentry,” he muttered, then followed her into the hospital.
“Did Rothmire tell you what room?” Taylor said after stabbing her finger on the elevator button.
“Two thirty-one. The boss talked to her doctor. They’re only going to keep her overnight. She got lucky.” He put his hand on her arm. “Taylor—”
She pulled away. “Not now. We have a job to do.”
Fine. But they were going to talk later, even if he had to handcuff her to a chair so she’d listen. The short ride in the elevator was done in silence.
They both showed their badges to the cop at the entrance to the woman’s room. “Her name is Delaney Gains,” he said as they entered, having gotten that information from Rothmire. Taylor nodded, and when she walked up to the bed, Nate took a position next to the wall.
He studied the blonde-haired woman in the hospital bed. She was asleep, but he didn’t doubt she had blue eyes. There were bruises on her neck but no other visible injuries, unless the blanket covering her hid them.
