This was it. It was now or never.
Pausing outside her tent, Taylor swallowed the lump in her throat and turned toward the man who’d become so important in such a short amount of time.
“I don’t want tonight to end,” she whispered. “Not yet.”
She wasn’t sure what she expected, but something more than Jack standing still, staring at her, then closing his eyes.
“I want you, Jack.”
His lashes lifted, revealing tormented blue eyes.
Uncertainty hit her.
“I...” She paused, not sure what to say. Not sure why he looked torn.
He rested his forehead against hers. “Yo
u have no idea how much it means to hear you say that.”
She could hear in his whisper that what he said was true. Her words had affected him.
“But I’m not going in your tent with you.”
Her heart pounded. Was she so terrible at seduction? Should she have started kissing him rather than telling him what she wanted? Should she have just held his hand, unzipped her tent, and led him inside?
“Not because I don’t want to,” he continued. His voice was so low she could barely make out his words. “But because I want to so much.”
Taylor wanted to flip on her phone’s flashlight and put him in the spotlight so she could better see his face. “That doesn’t make sense.”
Yeah, her frustration was audible. Good. Let him know she wasn’t happy about what he was saying.
“Perhaps not,” he admitted, “but it’s true all the same.” Lifting his head from hers, he planted a kiss where his head had just rested. “Goodnight, Taylor. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Jaw a bit slack, she watched him go to his tent. Without looking back and giving her the wink she’d come to expect, he disappeared into his tent.
What?
He was just going to sleep now?
With no more explanation than that?
Forget shining her phone light in his face. She wanted to throw the device at him.
Part of her wanted to let herself into his tent and go for what she wanted.
Wasn’t that what the past few days had been about? That he wanted to have sex with her?
If not tonight, then when? They’d work from four p.m. to four a.m. tomorrow night—technically, that night. Had he forgotten?
Or maybe as he’d gotten to know her he’d decided they were better as friends than lovers.
No. She’d seen how he’d looked at her. She’d felt how he’d touched her, how he’d kissed and held her.
Jack wanted her.
So why had he just gone into his tent alone? Was he trying to be noble? Save her from herself?
Her hands went to her hips and she glared at his tent.