Suddenly One Summer (FBI/US Attorney #6)(90)

Still, he kept his tone light. “So, you did it, Ms. Slade. You brought your first family together.”

“We did it,” she said.

“Right.” They had made a good team, and the proof of that was in the next room over. But that was done, and now, apparently, the only thing that he and Victoria did together was make small talk. And while he could fake his way through a short conversation as they passed each other in the hallway, or at the mailboxes, he had a feeling that if he stayed in this kitchen with her for much longer, he would say something he’d regret.

Their eyes met across the room.

Did you moan his name the way you used to moan mine?

Yep. Something like that.

“So, it seems like everything’s going well here.” He pushed off from the sink, careful to keep his expression neutral. “Since you guys don’t need me, I think I’ll head out.”

Victoria pulled back in surprise. “You’re leaving?”

He shrugged this off. “You’ve got this covered, Slade. I’m not sure why Nicole even asked me to be here in the first place.”

She took a step toward him. “But . . . I was thinking we could share a cab home together.”

Good for her, that she wasn’t fazed by all this polite small-talk. But the idea of sitting next to her in a car for twenty minutes, pretending that everything was just peachy, held zero f*cking appeal for him.

So he lied.

“Actually, I’m not going home. I have plans.”

“Plans. Oh.” For a moment it looked like Victoria was going to say more, but then she bit her lip and fell silent.

Right.

Moving past her, he walked into the living room and smiled at Peter and Melanie, both of whom seemed surprised by his unexpected appearance. “Peter. Melanie. Good to see you again. Don’t mind me, I’m just on my way out.”

“You’re going?” Nicole stood up from the couch, holding Zoe, and shot a look at Victoria, who’d just come out of the kitchen.

“I think you all can manage without me,” he said, with a light chuckle to underscore the fact that he was fine—of course he was—everything was cool, he just had places to be.

Then he opened the door and left, taking the stairs down and exhaling as soon as he got outside. He ran a hand over his mouth as he walked along the sidewalk in the direction of his parked car, and made it almost a block before he heard someone call him.

“Ford.”

He glanced over his shoulder and saw Victoria following him, walking briskly in her dress and heels and carrying a small leather purse. The sight pissed him off, because whatever this was, whatever she wanted to talk about—his semi-terse behavior, or perhaps the fact that he’d left without saying more to make Peter and Melanie feel “welcome”—he didn’t owe her any answers. “Go back inside, Victoria.”

When she kept right on following him, he shook his head and turned into the alley that led to the side street where he’d parked his car.

“Ford, hold on.”

He spun around. “What?” She stopped at his brusque tone, and stood a couple feet from him in the alley. When she hesitated, he gestured impatiently. “What, Victoria?”

She lifted her chin. “Are you dating that woman who was with you in the elevator?”

Fuck that. All his frustration boiling to the surface, he took a step closer to her. She had no right to ask him that, not anymore. She had kicked him out of her life. “Would it make any difference if I was?” he asked sharply.

Victoria held her ground, peering up at him and taking a moment before answering. “No.”

His shoulders slumped.

Well. He’d asked.

“That’s what I thought,” he said tersely. He spun around and started walking toward his car.

“Because I’d fight for you anyway.”

He stopped.

His heart pounding, he turned around to face her.

She stepped toward him, speaking determinedly. “This was not supposed to happen. My whole adult life I have avoided exactly this happening. I had things all mapped out, I knew what I wanted, and I was set. But then you came along, and you messed up all of that, with your little quips, and your jaw that twitches when you get protective, and the way you somehow manage to always be so infuriatingly unfazed no matter what I throw at you. And now I’m stuck. I can’t get back to my old life and, even crazier, I don’t want my old life anymore.” She held his gaze. “Because that life doesn’t have you in it.”

She moved closer. “These past two weeks without you have felt . . . wrong. And I miss you. So much.” Her lip began to tremble, but she swallowed and kept going. “I know I pushed you away. But not because I don’t care. It’s because I care so much that it scares me.” Her voice softened. “But losing you scares me even more. And I thought, maybe, if you felt the same way, that we could start over. Only this time . . . we’d do it for real.”

She fell quiet then, standing still as she waited.

His throat feeling tight, Ford needed a moment before he could answer.

If I ever were to go down this road, and let myself fall for someone, it can’t be halfway. I have to know that she’s in, too.

And that speech, coming from her, said everything.

He moved closer and cupped her face in his hands. “I love you.”