Page 70 of Love In Translation

Something flashed in his eyes, but in the light of the weak half-full moon, she couldn’t tell if it was regret or irritation.

“I’m sorry I hurt you by not getting in touch,” Fletch said.

He sounded distant and unapproachable, a stranger. Not someone she’d made love to morning and night, and sometimes during the day, for the last six weeks.

Rheo wanted to shout at him, demand he engage, but she couldn’t help wondering if she’d just read him catastrophically wrong. Was this on her? Had she projected her feelings onto him last night and this morning and over their whole time together here at the Pink House? He hadn’t promised her anything, never hinted at having deeper feelings. She was the one who’d slipped into love...

But she couldn’t help feeling that if she dug a little deeper, pushed a little harder, she’d find the man she’d come to love behind this cool stranger. Was she really missing something or was she clutching at straws?

She was tired of his yo-yoing, shehadto know.

“Talk to me, Fletch,” she implored. “Come out from behind that wall and engage with me.”

He slid his hands into the pockets of his shorts and lifted one shoulder. “Why? What’s the point, Rheo?”

“The point is we are friends, lovers, and now you’re behaving like a dick!” She stood in front of him, and placed a hand on his bare, muscled forearm. God, he felt amazing. She wished she didn’t love touching him so much.

He looked at his watch again, and Rheo’s core temperature rose. Oh, to hell with pussyfooting around, what did she have to lose?

“Over the last few weeks, you’ve become my friend as well as my lover,” Rheo told him. “I’ve told you things I’ve never told anyone before. You’ve become my sounding board and my compass point, someone whose opinion I greatly value.”

“That’s not my problem—”

She didn’t give him a chance to finish his dismissive statement, choosing to thump his arm with her fist. “For one minute, stop being a jerk and talk to me! You’ve always been so upfront with me. Just be honest, dammit!”

Fletch grabbed her upper arms with his bigger hands, his grip not hard enough to hurt. Hunger and frustration replaced the ice in his moss-green eyes.

“Okay, so whatisthe point, Rheo? What’s the point of trying to be friends when all of this—” he lifted one hand to point at the house behind her “—all of what we havehasto end? I’m trying to put distance between us so we can slide out of each other’s lives, but you’re determined to fight it.”

“I’m trying to understand—”

“Well, do you know what I understand?” he demanded, his voice rough. “We’re having a fling, Rheo, it’s nothing more than a brief physical connection! I’m sorry you think I’m someone special, but I’mnot. You’re just using that as an excuse to justify our hot meaningless sex.”

Oh, hell no, that wasn’t fair! The connection they’d made wasn’t meaningless. Something existed between them, something he was now trying to deny.

But it glowed. Brightly. And last night she’d felt its light bathing her skin, filling every inch of her.

“C’mon, Fletch.”

“I’m being honest, Rheo, isn’t that what you wanted?”

Yes, but...

“Even if there was a deeper connection between us, and there’snot, you’re leaving Gilmartin. Soon you’ll be at your desk, working ten-hour days. I have to leave too, but I’ll be on the opposite side of the country from you, planning my next long-ass expedition, trying to raise sponsorship, training, my entire focus on my work. We’ll be six hours and a million light years apart!”

He dropped his hands and linked them behind his head, frustration bubbling over. She’d pulled the cork and his words flowed. “You want a different life than I do, Rheo. We are fundamentally incompatible for anything longer than a fling. We only hooked up because we happened to be in the same place at the same time.”

She wanted to protest, but he didn’t give her a chance to speak.

“I like everything you don’t. Living on the road, seeing what’s around the next corner. You need to be in the same place, doing the same job, day in and day out. You need stability, I need freedom. We were always going our separate ways, Rheo. How could you forget?”

She hadn’t. Not for one minute. But she imagined they’d keep in touch, that they’d talk and maybe even meet up again.

He caught something on her face, a look in her eyes, and he released a harsh laugh. “And yeah, okay, I admit it, I did ghost you because I felt like we needed to put some distance between us. I came to you last night to apologize, but I can’t keep my hands off you.” He exhaled sharply. “But, Jesus, I know it can’t work, and I was hoping you’d get there on your own!”

She hadn’t considered wedding dresses or a honeymoon in Bali, but she hadn’t thought their relationship would end with him treating her like she was an STD he wanted to avoid. And how dare he decide on their future without her input!

“What I know, for sure, Fletcher, is that I am sick of you pulling me closer and pushing me away. One minute you’re all about the sex, the next you’re acting like you never want to let me go,” she told him, just managing to hold on to her dignity. “Opening up one minute, ignoring me the next. And if you thought our situation was becoming too intense, we could’ve sat down and discussed it. All you needed to do was tell me you felt uncomfortable and that you wanted to slam on the brakes.”

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