Butterface

“Okay.” He pushed his chair back and stood. “I’ll drive, and we can swing back by and pick up your car in the morning.”

“No.” Dammit, her chin started trembling. She needed to get out of here. “I need to go by myself. I’ll talk to you later.”

She rushed out of Marino’s, the warm late-spring air hitting her as soon as she walked out onto the sidewalk. Of course, it meant her hair was going to frizz immediately, but that didn’t matter. Not anymore.

The bar door swung open behind her and Ford marched out, heading straight for her.

“What happened? Did I do something to piss you off?”

“It doesn’t matter.” She took in a shaky breath. “I just need to go home.”

“Gina.” He took her hand in his much bigger one. “Please talk to me.”

Looking up at him, she saw everything she’d ever thought she wanted in a guy. He was kind, smart, funny, and he made her feel like she was someone special, someone who was wanted just for who she was. God, what an idiot she’d been to think that was possible.

She tugged her hand free.

“I can’t do this any more, Ford,” she said before she lost her nerve. “It’s been nice to pretend for once that this thing between us was something that could happen. But we both know it can’t, not for the long term, and I’d forgotten that until tonight. I can’t afford to forget it any longer.”

Ford narrowed his gaze, his green eyes crinkling at the edges with confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“Look, my family and your job don’t mix.” It wasn’t not true. It just wasn’t the whole truth, and at this point she wasn’t sure she could give him that. So much for always being honest with each other.

He crossed his arms and stood looking at her like she was talking crazy. “It’s a good thing I’m not dating your family, then.”

Ugh. Why did he have to be so frustrating?

“You know what I mean,” she said, her voice just below a shout, because if she was going to make an ass out of herself on the sidewalk in front of Marino’s with people slowing their pace so they could listen in for a second before walking inside, then she might as well go total fishwife about it.

“No, I know that you’re feeding me a bunch of bullshit right now,” he hollered back. “What is this about?”

He wasn’t going to let it go. He was too stubborn for that.

“Do I have to say it?” she asked, her voice cracking.

Ford’s face softened, and he took a step forward, reaching for her. “I guess so, because I’m not getting it at all.”

Avoiding his touch was the last thing she wanted, but she couldn’t let him touch her. Not now, not if she actually wanted to get the truth out and be done with this horrible conversation. She took a deep breath, pushed her hair back behind her ears, lifted her chin, and stepped into the light coming off the red neon Marino’s sign above the door. Might as well let him really get a good look.

“We both know I’m not the girl who ends up with a happily ever after with a guy like you, so I need to walk away now while I still can.”

Chapter Sixteen

Ford couldn’t think of a single thing to say. It wasn’t just because he wasn’t the charming Hartigan, it was because he really had no fucking clue how to respond with words to such an asinine comment.

So he didn’t even try.

He simply closed the distance between them, took Gina’s face between his hands, and kissed the ever-loving hell out of her. It wasn’t a particularly nice kiss or a gentle one. He didn’t mean for it to be.

When she opened her mouth in surprise, he deepened the kiss with a ferocious need that had him straining against his own sense of self-control. On some level, he knew they were standing in front of Marino’s with people weaving around them on their way into the bar, but he didn’t give a shit. This wasn’t about those people.

It was about him and Gina.

So he kissed her like a man who believed that if he did it right, she’d forget that anyone had ever called her awful names or made her feel like she wasn’t everything a man could want.