Page 81 of Renewal After Dark

Was she making the same mistake again? Was she failing to notice the signs?

“No, damn it. There were no signs. Everything was fine—better than fine—and then it wasn’t.”

When her eyes filled with tears, she closed them tightly, refusing to shed another tear over a man. She was done with that nonsense. Whatever had been developing with Duke wasn’t going to happen now, and she’d have to accept that and move on. There was no sense losing sleep—or tears—over a man who felt like he wasn’t good enough for her or whatever other nonsense he’d told himself.

McKenzie was still sitting in the dark, trying not to cry, fifteen minutes later, when a soft knock sounded at the door.

Her heart lurched. It would be him. Who else could it be? Had he come to tell her more about why she was too good for him or too young for him or whatever bullshit he’d cooked up since she came upstairs?

She took a deep breath for fortitude and released it before she got up to open the door.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey.”

“So… I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“Sending mixed signals and being weird and, well… all of it. It’s… um, been a while since I was, you know, interested in someone this way.”

“And what way is that?”

“The, um, well… you know…”

Had he ever been cuter than when he was trying to tell her how he felt? Nope, but she refused to make this easy for him.

“I’m not sure that I do.”

The low growl that came from deep inside him almost made her laugh, but she wouldn’t do that to him when he was clearly suffering. He deserved to suffer a little. But not too much. “Would you like to come in?”

“Yeah, I would.”

McKenzie stepped back from the doorway to let him in and then returned to the sofa, curling her legs under her.

“Why are you sitting in the dark?”

“Because I felt like it.”

“Okay.” He sat on the edge of the sofa, as if he wasn’t sure he was truly welcome.

She turned on a lamp so she could see him and then blinked several times as her eyes adjusted to the sudden burst of light. “Have you come to tell me more reasons why you could never be right for me?”

“I… uh, no.”

“Then what?”

“I wanted to say I was sorry. I’m not even sure where all that came from in the truck just now. I think maybe I was a little… scared or something.”

“Scared of what?”

“Liking you so much.”

“Why would that be scary?”

“Um, well… It’s you, and you’re…”

“What am I?”

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