“The job offer was spontaneous, wasn’t it?” she said. “You didn’t really think it through. Didn’t think about how you’d react if I took you up on it.”
“I admit, at first I just wanted you off the streets. It was fucking killing me, imagining you cold, hungry and in danger. It was purely selfish, but I wanted you near me, where I could watch over you. Gray had been on at me to hire a female, so I figured it was the best solution. I guess I had it in my mind that you’d make coffee and answer the phone.”
She snorted. “Do you know how sexist that sounds?”
“Yes, no doubt anyone else would kick my ass.”
“And what makes you think I won’t?”
He grinned wickedly. “Because you like my ass just the way it is.”
“Oh yeah?”
“I’ve seen you checking it out.” He pulled her up into his arms, carrying her into the bathroom.
“What are you doing?”
“You need a shower and I don’t want you taking one without me. You might slip and fall.”
“Hunter.” She pulled back, looking at him seriously. His stomach clenched as he saw the hesitation on her face. He was not about to let her pull away. “I know we talked about this last night, but I’m not exactly looking for a relationship. I’m barely holding myself together.”
He sat her on the bathroom counter, placing his hands on either side of her, trapping her.
“I care about you, Cady. I’m going to say that as many times as I need to. I want to be with you, to see where this relationship could take us. I’m hoping you’re brave enough to admit you want the same thing.”
She bit her lip. “That’s just it, I’m not brave. I’m a coward. I put on this big front, but on the inside I’m scared. If I came to care about you and you left me…”
Fuck.
Did she seriously see herself as a coward?
Hell no.
“Look at me,” he growled. She turned her surprised gaze up to his. Yeah, he knew he sounded like a grouchy bastard, but she needed to know how serious he was.
“You are not a coward. Christ, you’ve got more balls than most of the men I know.”
“I’ve been hiding. I couldn’t face what happened with Rusty, I ran away.”
“And now you’re fighting back, you’re taking back your life. I know it must have been damn hard to move here, to take this job, to put yourself in dangerous situations again where you have to rely on someone else. That took guts, baby girl. You saved Josh’s life. Someone who had been through what you have would be forgiven for freezing, but you didn’t. You are not a coward. Say it again and your ass will pay the price.”
He ran his thumbs over her cheeks. “We’ll take this as slow as you need to, but I’m not going anywhere. I know you’re scared, but baby, I’m not going anywhere.”
“This is a bad idea. You should be running in the other direction. Why would you want to get involved with me?”
He cupped her cheeks. “Because you’re beautiful, sexy and smart. You have this inner core of strength that amazes me. I want to learn more about you. We don’t know each other well and it’s going to take us both a bit of time to trust each other, but I want to show you that you can rely on me.”
“Don’t you have some rule about co-workers getting involved?”
“Nope.” He grinned. “It’s never come up before.”
“Do you really think you can keep our relationship out of the workplace?”
“No,” he said honestly. “But I’ll try not to let my emotions overpower my brain. I probably won’t always be successful and you’ll want to kill me more than once.”
“Oh, I don’t doubt that for a second.”
Chapter Six