“I’m not sure if that’s a compliment.”
“Me, either.”
Her lips twitch into the first signs of a smile. “I really am sorry that I overreacted yesterday. It was silly.”
“Your feelings were hurt.” I sip my coffee and watch as a frown creases her brow as if she doesn’t want to admit that her feelings were, in fact, bruised last night. “And I need to apologize for that. I didn’t mean to hurt you, Mags.”
She opens and closes her mouth and then settles on that frown again. “It was silly to get worked up.”
“I wanted to break that asshole’s arm.”
Her head whips up in surprise. “Whose?”
“The jerk that you were out with. He looked smarmy, and I only saw him from behind.”
She laughs and nods in agreement, biting her donut. “Yeah, he was a piece of work. He thinks I should have a better career plan than just working at the pub for the rest of my life. And he was sorely disappointed that I don’t own the place.”
“Maybe I’ll hunt him down anyway. Punch out some teeth.”
She giggles, and my gut clenches. God, I love her laugh.
“I basically told him to go fuck himself.”
“Good girl.”
She swallows hard and frowns down at her coffee cup.
“You said something last night that’s stuck with me,” she says. “That you’ve tried to have more with me, but I’ve made it clear that we’re only friends.”
I just lift a brow and wait for her to continue.
“It’s not because I don’t like you or find you attractive. I mean, that should be pretty obvious.”
“Nothing is obvious with you, Mary Margaret.”
“I threw myself at you, Cameron.”
“Yeah, almost two years ago. And you’ve barely tolerated me since.”
“I—” She stops and folds her lips in, frowning. “It messed me up when you left.”
“I didn’t have a choice,” I begin and then stop when her green eyes flash. “Okay. I’m sorry.”
“You’re a sexy, intelligent, and fun guy, Cameron, but you don’t stay. You’re in and out constantly, and I was married to that before. It fucked me up, and that’s just not what I want in a relationship.”
“I bought this house,” I say quietly and glance around the white kitchen. “I quit my job.”
Her mouth drops open in surprise.
“Your brothers didn’t tell you?”
“I knew you bought the house, but I didn’t know about your job.”
“I work from here now. I might have to travel occasionally, but it shouldn’t be more than a couple of times a year. This is my home base. My office. I have a pretty sweet setup upstairs.”
“I want to see it.”
I mentally scan the room to make sure there isn’t anything confidential out in the open that she can’t see, and then crook my finger and lead her up the stairs.
“What do you do for a living?” she asks. “Whenever I ask anyone, they just tell me that we aren’t allowed to know.”
“And you’re still not allowed to know most of it,” I confirm when I open the door to my office and gesture for her to walk in. “What I do is highly classified.”
“With the government?”
“Sometimes.”
She blows out a breath and stares at the bookshelves and the blank computer screens on my desk.
“I can’t do secrets,” she says at last. “It’s a hard limit for me, Cam.”
“A hard limit?” I grin. “I’d like to know what your other hard limits are.”
“I’m being serious.”
“So am I. Look, I cannot tell you about the inner workings of my job. I could go to jail for talking about it. I mostly work with computers and databases.”
Her eyes narrow. “You’re a computer geek?”
“Why does that surprise you?”
“Because you’re way too hot to be a geek.”
“So, you think I’m hot?”
She rolls her eyes again, but I see the flush on her cheeks. The attraction isn’t one-sided here at all.
And I’m enjoying the hell out of her. It’s the first time since that damn night two years ago that I can see some hope here.
“I can tell you that I won’t ever lie to you,” I continue, and when she turns back to me, I cup the side of her face in my hand, brushing my thumb over the apple of her cheek. “If I can’t talk about something because of my job, I’ll say so. I’m not a liar.”
“This is probably a mistake,” she whispers, her eyes on my lips.
“Does it feel like a mistake?”
She bites her lip, shaking her head. “No, and that’s the most frustrating part of all. I was so mad at you. So damn mad. But I just can’t seem to stop thinking about you.”
I kiss her forehead and breathe her in. “Let’s just start slow. Since you’re hell-bent on dating, why don’t we go on a date?”
She leans back and snorts. “Right. You want to take me on a date?”
“Why is that so hard to believe?”
“I don’t know. You’re…you. You’re practically family. And you want to date?”