Page 49 of Vicious Sabotage

He knew that too. When he gave in to the impulse to dance with her, he hadn’t asked for her hand in marriage. They were just having a good time, getting to know each other.

“Livia. Talk to me.”

She didn’t look away from the road. “What do you want to talk about?”

“How about what you’re thinking? What you’re feeling.”

Five full heartbeats ticked by.

“Well, I’m thinking about going home and making some toast because I’m feeling hungry.”

“That’s not what I mean and you know it.”

She whipped her head around and pierced him in her stare. “Why are you interrogating me?”

“Tell me what’s bothering you.”

“I wasn’t raised to be touchy-feely. Or talk about feelings. I didn’t realize military guys do both.”

She was deflecting onto him as a defense mechanism.

“I’m confident in my masculinity.”

“All you men are the same.”

“You don’t always have to be mean, Livia.”

She sent him a dark glower. “Look, you have no idea what it was like growing up with parents like mine. My mom was absent even when she was there, then she ran off. My father drank too much and partied with pretty girls trying to mooch free booze off him. I never wanted a relationship. I’m fine with not getting serious.”

“I bet you say ‘that was great, see you later.’”

“Yup.”

“’Don’t call me. I’ll call you.’”

“It’s the perfect end to any night.”

“You never let any guy spend the night.”

“Why should they? Any guys I took to bed knew what they were getting with me.”

I think I’m the only one who knows what I’m getting.

He bit down the words before they could leak out and infuriate her further.

He ran a finger down the bridge of his nose. “I was raised differently. I had two parents who loved each other. I’m not one of those guys who joined the military to escape family troubles—I joined to get the GI Bill. Then I discovered that I really liked what I was doing.”

Without a word in response, she turned onto the street leading to her house.

“My point is that plans change, Livia. I thought I’d go to the military to get the benefits and complete college so I could get a job I really wanted. Then I made the military my life. Now…”

She pulled into the short driveway and parked. “Say whatever you want to say, Wolfe.”

So he was back to being Wolfe. The lines were drawn in the dirt between them.

Hell if he was going to stay behind that line.

He stepped right over it.

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