Worth Fighting For (Warrior Fight Club 2.50)

Out of the corner of his eye, Jesse caught her looking. He did a doubletake, his brow cranking down as if in question. And all that open easiness bled right out of his expression. Finally, he looked away.

She had to tell him. Tonight. After dinner.

Having decided that, Tara was beyond happy when it finally wrapped up.

“You okay?” Dani asked when they’d all gotten up from the table.

Tara knew she hadn’t been herself throughout the meal, but she just hadn’t been able to help it. Through the first half she’d been all stuck in her own head, and through the second, she’d been too eager to get the hell out of there. “Yeah, just have some things on my mind.” She waved a hand. “Work stuff.”

“Well, if you need to talk, give me a call, okay? I know our schedules don’t always jive, but we could go to dinner or a movie or something.”

Smiling, Tara nodded. “I’d like that, Dani.”

They spilled out of the restaurant into the chilly March night air, and everyone called out good-byes as they scattered for their cars. “Okay, I’ll text you my schedule and let’s set something up.”

“Perfect,” Tara said, truly looking forward to getting to know Dani even better. Clearly, Tara needed to make more of an effort to build a community for herself.

Which brought her thoughts back to Jesse. Scanning the parking lot, she saw him at the far side getting into his Jeep. His lights came on as he started it up.

Damnit!

She’d wanted to talk to him, but he’d beelined out of there like he was escaping enemy waters. Tara’s shoulders sagged as she got into her own car, backed out, and pulled into the street.

Which was when she realized Jesse was two cars ahead of her, waiting at the light. It wasn’t like she didn’t know where he lived…

She might’ve felt like a bit of a creeper following him across town if he hadn’t been going the exact same way she was, especially when she floored it on a yellow light so they didn’t get separated. Now that she’d determined to talk to him, she was nearly coming out of her skin to do it as soon as she could.

Now. She wanted him to know she wanted him now.

He turned onto the street with access to the Marriott’s garage. Tara had two choices—to go home and walk back over, or…

Jesse turned into his garage. Tara turned in after him.

Butterflies performed a whole freaking aerial show in her belly. If Jesse hadn’t realized before that she’d been following him on purpose, he sure as hell did now.

The worst thing was she didn’t know how he was going to react to her, proving that, once again, the anticipation of what you feared was worse than the thing itself. At least, she sure as hell hoped that would be true here.

Two levels down, he parked, passing several available spots in favor of one that had free spaces adjacent to it. Perfect. She pulled in right next to him, killed her engine, and looked to her right—to find Jesse staring at her wearing an expression she couldn’t read.

He got out. So did she.

“What’s going on, Tara?” he asked. Wary. That was the only way to describe him—his tone, his posture, the look in his eyes.

Stomach doing a flip, Tara met him at the back of his car. “I need to talk to you.”

He leaned back against his Jeep, stance wide, arms crossed. Like he was resigned but not happy about it. “Okay.”

Wasn’t going to make this easy for her, was he? Fair enough. She was the one who’d put them through this after all. She forced a deep breath, debated for the space of a second what to say, and then let the words fly. “I made a mistake.”

“About what?”

“About us.”

He shook his head. “No, you didn’t.”

She frowned. “I’m pretty sure I know how I feel, Jesse, and I—”

“How do you feel?” Oh, man, the walls were up so high behind those dark eyes.