Close Cover (Masters and Mercenaries #16)(56)

A hundred grand? They must be terrified. Although Bridget was used to throwing Scrooge McDuck sized wads of cash at all her problems these days.

There was a brief knock and then there he was. Remy stepped in, his big body filling the space, and despite the fact that she knew about his lies now, she couldn’t help but sigh. He was the single most beautiful man she’d ever seen.

If only he could have loved her…

“Remy, this might not be the best time,” Laurel said, a hitch in her voice.

“I need to talk to Lisa,” he said, not looking at Laurel. His eyes were steady on her. “Could we have a moment alone?”

Lila stepped in front of him. “No, you may not. My sister has asked that you not be allowed into her room. We take our patients’ needs seriously at this hospital. Now you can leave or I’ll call security.”

Lila sounded so damn sure of herself. It was funny. She was angry with Remy, but she really wanted to kill that tone in her sister’s voice, too. “He can come in. Shut the door on your way out, Lila, and you don’t have to come back tonight.”

Her eldest sister turned, frowning her way. “Of course I do. We need to talk about what we’re going to do now. You’re going to have to stop being such a brat and move in to my guestroom.”

“Where your boyfriend can hit on me on a daily basis? I think not.” She sat back at the sound of Lila’s gasp. “Well, I thought we were being all kinds of honest today. Your boyfriend is a skank and I’m not putting myself in a position where he can harass me. Now leave because I need to talk to my ex.”

“Lisa,” Lila began. Her skin had paled.

Laurel stepped forward. “No, you’ve done enough damage. We’re leaving.”

As she turned, Lisa saw tears in Lila’s eyes. “I wasn’t trying to cause damage. I was trying to save my sister from making a bad choice.”

“You’re being a bitch and we’re going to talk about that right now,” Laurel promised.

The door brushed closed and she was left alone with Remy.

“I take it I’m the bad choice she’s trying to save you from?” Remy asked, his eyes on the door.

“She doesn’t have to save me from you.” How was it that a mere few hours before she’d been looking forward to nothing more than going home with him? She’d even started calling it their home because Remy didn’t spend any time in his own apartment. He’d kind of moved in after that first night. All the better to do his job. “We broke up.”

“We had a misunderstanding,” he corrected.

Oh, she’d misunderstood plenty. She wondered how far he would go with the deception. “What did I misunderstand?”

“I misunderstood myself,” he said. He strode over to her. “Damn it, Lisa. I was wrong. You were right. Look, we started this on the wrong foot. I said I was being open and honest with you and it was all bullshit because I wasn’t honest with myself. I pushed you away all those months ago because I had this vision of who I thought you were.”

“I know that. You thought I was some kind of rich, entitled person who never struggled once in her life. You kind of do that with a lot of people. You’re like the opposite of my sister Lila, who assumes everyone without a college degree is a vagrant.”

“I’ll work on it. Maybe there is something there. I can be close minded. I was called trash my whole life by anyone who didn’t understand where I came from. I expect it from women. All my life I was the guy you screwed, not the one you married. Hell, the one I did marry divorced me because she said she could do better.”

She knew he was divorced, but this was the first time he’d talked about it. “So you thought it would be fun to get into the rich chick’s panties and turn it all around on her?”

“What? No. That’s why I was afraid of you,” he said. “I now know that there’s something I’m way more afraid of and that’s losing you. Come home with me, ma crevette. I don’t think it will be home if you’re not there. I know it’s soon, but I swear I’ll do everything I can to make you happy and comfortable down there. I’ll have to work…”

“Is my brother paying you more to take me with you?” Will must be desperate after tonight.

Remy stopped for a moment, his whole body going still. “Lisa, that is an entirely different discussion.”

“Yeah, one we probably should have had. It could have started with you knocking on my door and introducing yourself as my bodyguard, bought and paid for.”

“Your brother didn’t want you to know,” he replied carefully, as though thinking through his every word. “He thought you would be upset.”

“He was right. I’m upset. I’m upset that you lied to me.”

He leaned in, his voice going soft. “I did not lie to you and the relationship between the two of us had nothing to do with the job. Absolutely nothing.”

“That’s ridiculous. First of all, why would my brother not tell me?” She frowned because she knew exactly why. She’d told him to stay out of her business. She’d kind of yelled it at him.

“Because he knows how reckless you can be,” Remy replied. “Because he knows how scared you can be when someone else is in control of you. Someone you don’t trust.”