Page 10 of This Is Why

I grab her arm. “I think I’m dying.”

“Dying?” Lexi arches an eyebrow and shoots me a look that would be the death of me if I didn’t love how tough sheis.

“Yes.” I put a hand to my chest. “Feel my heart.”

When she doesn’t comply, I take her hand and press it to my chest, covering it with my own hand. Her lips part and her eyes dilate.

“Do you feel that?” Iask.

“Feelwhat?”

Us. Whatever this is that happens when I’m near you. This crazy, obsessive need to have you touching me and to touch you in return. To delve into your thoughts and ideas and understand every last thing there is to understand aboutyou.

“My heart,” I say. “It’s racing.”

“It feels fine to me.” She pulls her handaway.

“It’s not fine.” I put my hands to my heart again and stare down at them, feigning shock. “I think…” I look up at her, drawing my eyebrows together. “I think it’s…” I drop my hands. “Broken.”

She laughs, despite her best effort not to. It’s brief, like the smile, but it happened. “You’re ridiculous,” shesays.

“I prefer the word adorable.”

And that’s that. She looks me right in the face and grins. “Why are you here, Ty?” she asks, still shaking herhead.

Because I can’t imagine being anywhere that you’renot.

“Because I want to take you to dinner.”

She shakes her head. “We went over this last night and what happened? Oh, yeah. That’s right. You walkedaway.”

“Only because you told meto.”

Her lips part. “I did no such thing. When did I ever tell you to leave?”

“I asked you not to say no. You told me you already had. That you were fine and that you would continue to befine.”

“None of that sounds like please leavetome.”

“Okay then, what would have happened if I stayed?”

The look in her eyes tells me she knows exactly what would have happened next but there’s no way she’ll admit it. “Well, we won’t ever know, will we?” She raises her eyebrows. “Because you didn’tstay.”

“I make a living knowing when to engage and when to walk away. Hell, most times my life … and more importantly, the lives of the men in my company, depend on me knowing when to engage an enemy.”

Her jaw drops and she lets out a harsh laugh. “Now I’m the enemy?”

“No. But, for the sake of time, just let me roll with this analogy, okay?” Holy shit she’s one tough cookie. I fucking love it. “You know what would have happened if I had stayed last night,” I say. “You would have stuck to your guns and I would never convince you to go out with me. I conceded the battle but not the war, a classic tactical move. And here I am for roundtwo.”

Lexi smiles, a real one. “What do you want, Ty?”

“Dinner.”

“I’ll give you lunch.”

“Perfect. When do you have a break?”

“Now.”

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