The Forever Girl (Wildstone, #6)(31)

A very small hint of a smile curved his mouth. “Other than that. And the fact that you’re committing adultery with Josh.”

She let out a reluctant laugh, but other than that ignored the “Josh” thing. “Are you going to tell me that in the past six months you haven’t gotten busy with anyone?”

The hint of a smile turned into the real thing. “I take my vows seriously.”

She rolled her eyes. “So . . . we’re really married.”

“Yep.”

“Who knows?”

“Just you and me, and Elvis apparently—if he remembers.”

“You haven’t told Heather or Caitlin?” she asked, unable to keep the slight bitterness from her voice. “I mean, you did keep in touch with both of them.”

He studied her for a long beat, during which she did her best to hold eye contact and keep her chin up. Not easy when she felt so off-balance. But one thing she knew about Walker: he expected her to go toe-to-toe with him. He wasn’t attracted to wallflowers.

And why she was worried about that, she had zero idea . . .

“I don’t care if anyone finds out,” he finally said. “But I felt you should know first.”

“And you couldn’t tell me six months ago because you were on a job.”

He nodded.

“You went back in the field after you got shot.”

He shrugged. “Turns out I’m not suited for a desk job.”

“Why do you keep tempting fate?” she asked, boggled. “Do you want to die on the job?”

“You asked me that three years ago and the answer is still the same. Why do you care?”

The question pissed her off enough to not answer him. “We’ve been here for three days. Three days, Walker. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“And when should I have done that?” A note of irritation came into his voice. “On the hike with your boyfriend that you’ve been dating a year? Or is it a week?”

She told herself to bite her tongue, to not get drawn in by those eyes, that body, or the way he made her skin hum with anticipation. But she’d never been any good at holding her tongue. “Is it that hard for you to believe that someone might want me in his life?”

“Actually, that someone would want you in his life is easy to believe,” he said. “What’s harder to believe is that you’d let it happen.”

She stared at him, her chest suddenly too tight to talk. She rose to her feet, pushed past him, and headed back to the house, quite certain if there’d been any light at all, she could’ve seen the steam coming out of her own ears. “He drives me insane,” she snapped as she entered her bedroom.

Jace jerked upright from the floor. He’d clearly been sleeping, as he stared at her befuddled for a beat. “What?”

“He drives me insane!”

“Ah.” He nodded and drew a deep breath, awareness coming fully into his heavy-lidded, sleepy eyes. “Warren.”

“Walker! And what is that between you two anyway?”

Jace snorted. “If you don’t know, I can’t help you.”

“You’re not jealous of him,” she said slowly. “Because you and me have never been a thing. Probably because you’re my boss and you don’t like hanky-panky going on between your employees.”

“That’s true,” he agreed. “But that’s not why we’re not a thing. It took me six months to even get you to talk to me. You’ve got trust issues.”

“Hey.”

“Plus you friend-zoned me before I could blink,” he said, looking amused but also serious.

He was trying to make a point, she realized. “Jace, we’re not attracted to each other like that.”

“Okay, first, any straight man with blood flowing through his veins would be attracted to you, but you’re right,” he said, “we’re not a thing, and before you freak out, I don’t want to be a thing.” He smiled. “Mayhem Maze.”

She blew out a breath. “She’s way in my past.”

“If that’s true, it’s a shame. And second,” he went on, “protectiveness and possessiveness are two traits that don’t really have a lot of logic attached to them. I see the way he looks at you, Maze.”

“Like he wants to strangle me?”

“Like you’re lunch. And,” he went on when she opened her mouth, “I don’t want you hurt.”

“I’m not going to get hurt. I’m fire retardant.” She stepped over him and climbed into the bed. “Thanks for giving me the bed for a second night in a row. You can have it tomorrow—”

The knock at the door stopped her cold. It was immediately accompanied by a low, unbearably familiar voice. “Maze.”

“Oh my God, it’s him.” She jumped up to shove the blanket and pillow Jace had been using under the bed, then hopped back in between the sheets. “Come on,” she hissed at Jace.

But instead of getting into the bed with her, he moved to the door.

“Wait—where are you going? No, don’t answer it!” she whisper-yelled just as he opened the damn door.

Jace looked at Walker for a long beat. “I’m going to take a shower,” he finally said. “A long one. After, I’m going to go down to the dock to stargaze.”