“Where’s your mom?”
“She left.” Erin pointed to the phone, indicating she expected an answer.
“That was Mike.” He explained everything he’d learned up to that point.
“So basically all we have now is confirmation.”
He nodded.
“That and a buck fifty will get me a bus ticket.” She began pacing back and forth on the plush cream carpet.
“But now we have a face. Your brothers know who to look out for. It’s a small town and if they show her photograph often enough, someone’s bound to have seen her.”
Erin paused. “Okay, I’ll think positive,” she said, correctly interpreting his unspoken message.
“Good.”
“Cole?”
“Yes?” he asked.
She stepped to the bed, settling next to him. His T-shirt was huge on her leaner frame, but he liked her in his clothing. It was a damn fine view, especially since he wouldn’t be seeing her undressed anymore.
“My mother told me about the clothes you had her buy.”
“They’re hanging in your closet. I brought a few shopping bags of things in too.” He hadn’t wanted to go through the more personal items.
“I’m . . . well, thank you. It was beyond sweet of you to have her replace everything and—”
“You lost everything. It was the least I could do.” He really didn’t want her making him out to be some sort of nice-guy hero. Just because he replaced her clothes didn’t mean he could give her what she expressly said she wanted.
His head pounding, he rose to his feet.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
This was it. “Moving my stuff into another room.”
Erin reared back as if he’d slapped her. Exactly how he’d felt on hearing her words, knowing that each time he indulged in her sweetness, he was hurting her more and more. Yet he wasn’t doing this for payback. He really was trying to be a decent guy. Sleeping with her when she wanted more? That would be more cruel than pulling back now.
She folded her arms across her chest. “That night at Joe’s, you agreed. Whatever it is, for as long as it lasts. Isn’t that what we said?” Her voice quivered, but she kept it together.
“That was before I realized how much I’m hurting you. I’m in, we sleep together, you hope for more, I pull away . . . it’s a vicious cycle. You deserve better. At least now we both agree on that.”
She looked down, ran her tongue over her lips, clearly collecting her thoughts before speaking. Finally she raised her head and looked at him head-on. “You know I said that out of frustration. I’m pregnant and hormonal. This whole enforced confinement thing is getting to me and it hasn’t even started yet. Don’t use my stupid words, said in the heat of the moment, as any kind of agreement. I told you all along, you’re not the man Jed says you are.”
“But I told you all along, I’m not the man for you. As soon as this stalker situation ends and you’re safe, I’m expected back in Manhattan. They’ll brief me and send me back undercover for who knows how long. I can’t call. Text. Check in at all. It’s not any kind of life you’d want.”
“Says you.” Anger shimmered in her eyes, which narrowed.
“Someone has to be rational.”
“And you telling me what I can or can’t handle, or better yet, what I do or don’t want in my life, that’s rational?”
“Yes.”
She blew out a long, clearly pissed-off breath. He waited for the explosion he felt sure was coming. Instead she turned and in silence started for the door.
“Where are you going?”