Tori stopped a few feet away. He was about to say something to explain himself when she suddenly charged forward. Her hand reared back to slap him, and he was going to let her. His hands were full. What was he going to do? Swing a shovel at her? He deserved it, anyway.
Instead, she hesitated for a moment and her hand finally fell back to her side. Tori took a step back, her breath ragged in the darkness. He could finally make out her features in the light. Her eyes were wide, her jaw clenched tight. “You bastard!” she said. “All this time. All those nights we spent together were a lie. You were just using me. Lulling me into complacency so you could slip in and get what you wanted.”
“Tori, it wasn’t like that.” Wade tossed the shovel onto the ground and reached for her, but she took another step back.
“Don’t you dare. Don’t you try to smooth everything over with your charming lies. I’ve fallen for enough of those already. I can’t believe this.” Tori buried her fingers in her hair and clutched her skull. She turned from him and started pacing through the yard like a caged lioness. “I can’t believe I let myself trust you when I knew you were the last person I could trust.”
“I’m sorry, I—”
“That night in the diner was especially well done,” she continued, her sharp tone leaning toward the sarcastic and bitter. “Letting me believe that I’d won. That you had given up trying to take the land from me. And I just ate it up. Watched you with love-stricken doe eyes and sucked up all the crap you threw my way.”
“That wasn’t a lie. I don’t want to take your land. I knew I would hate myself for doing that to you. I couldn’t.”
“So, what? You decided you’d just wait until I left and steal what you really wanted? Save yourself the trouble and the half-million-dollar expense?”
Wade looked down at the ground, the expression on his face too guilty to be washed out by the bright lamps shining on him. “You don’t understand.”
“No, I don’t understand. And maybe I would, but you’ve wrapped everything up in a web of lies so thick I couldn’t see the truth even if it was right in front of me. What is it that you’re after, Wade? It’s obviously not the land and your family legacy, as you said before. What do I have on this property that is so valuable to you? What could be so damn important that you would ruin everything…” Her voice trailed off.
Tori’s voice trembled at the end, and it made his chest ache to hear her like that. He’d never wanted to hurt her. He’d spent his whole life trying to care for and protect the important people in his life. Why would he want to hurt her? He wanted so badly to tell Tori the truth. But that secret wasn’t just his to protect. He couldn’t betray his family, even for her. He’d failed his brothers and sister once. Wade absolutely could not do that to them again. No matter how he might feel about Tori. “I can’t tell you that. I want to. Believe me, I do. But I can’t.”
Tori chuckled bitterly and crossed her arms defensively over her chest. “Of course you can’t tell me. I can’t believe I trusted you. That I let myself fall… No.” She corrected herself with a firm shake of her head. “The only thing I fell for was your sob story about family. I’m not about to do that twice.”
“Tori, please.” Wade reached for her, but she moved out of the way.
She held out her hand for him to keep his distance. “You don’t get to touch me anymore.” Turning on her heel, she marched back toward her truck. She killed the lights, slammed the door and headed for her trailer.
Wade took a few steps to follow her. He wanted to talk to her. To help her understand.
“You know,” she said, “when I was in Philadelphia today, I had started to think that maybe this land wasn’t so important after all. I can build a house here, but if the things that make it a home are…somewhere else…what is the point? It seemed so vital for you to preserve your family legacy. So I decided you should. I got in my truck as soon as the ceremony was over, and I came home to tell you that I wanted to sell you the land. And some other things that aren’t relevant anymore.”
Wade closed his eyes, her words hitting him hard in the gut. She’d trusted him. She cared enough about him to give him the one thing he wanted. And he had ruined it by sneaking behind her back and trying to steal the gift before she could give it. He was an impatient ass, and there were no words in his defense.