Page 62 of Recklessly Yours

“You should head to the station,” I told Seabass. “Getting a fresh pair of eyes on what we have so far would be good. I’ll let Aiden know you’re coming.”

Fifteen minutes later, Seabass was gone, and I was exhaling a sigh of relief. I’d lose my damn mind if I had to watch Hattie smile at and laugh with this guy any longer. Especially when she was giving me nothing but indifference.

I turned to head back into the kitchen and almost collided with her. She jumped back, then turned, as if trying to brush past me. With a sharp breath in, I grabbed her forearm, but when she flinched and pulled away, I immediately released her and stepped back.

What the hell was going on?

I was fucking great at my job, but unfortunately, I couldn’t read minds. We needed to have a conversation. Becca and I hadn’t communicated well, and I’d learned the importanceof being transparent—and asking for transparency from my partner—a little too late in that relationship.

“What’s up with you?” I crossed my arms in front of my chest, bracing myself, certain a blow was coming.

As much as it killed me to think that Hattie couldn’t handle the way my job affected my personal life, I’d rather know now than weeks or months down the road when I was more invested. Even now, though, I was already pretty damn invested. It was why I was busting my ass to solve this fucking case. For her. For us.

“What do you mean?” Her words were laced with feigned nonchalance. Maybe the act would fool most people, but I’d been trained to read body language and expressions, as well as tone of voice. And there was no hiding her stiff posture or the pain swimming in her eyes.

I sighed and let my hands fall to my sides. Talking about it now would hopefully allow us to figure out the best way to handle issues we were met with in the future. I wasn’t planning to let her walk away without putting up a fight.

“I thought it was weird that you fell asleep in the guest room last night, but brushed it off, assuming you were tired and didn’t want me to wake you when I came in.”

She tilted her head, her eyes narrowing, but she didn’t respond.

“Then this morning, you were openly flirting with Seabass.”

She opened her mouth and sucked in a breath like she was ready to argue, but I went on before she could.

“And just now, you literally flinched at my touch. Please, if you’re mad at me, just tell me. Because I’m at a loss. What did I do to upset you?”

She stared at me for what felt like forever before she sighed and wrapped her arms tightly around her stomach. “I’m not mad. I realize that we haven’t had a real conversation aboutwhat’s going on between us. But I’m not interested in anything temporary…”

Good. Neither was I, but what did that have to do with her strange behavior?

“And I don’t know…maybe you changed your mind,” she rambled on. “But it’s fine. I got your message yesterday.”

My message? Changed my mind? About what? What the hell was she talking about? We barely spoke yesterday, other than for a minute before I left for work and a few random texts throughout the day. None of those messages were about anything important. Were they? Maybe I needed more sleep, because my brain was having a hard time putting the pieces together.

She shifted on her feet and looked away, her throat bobbing.

“Hattie, if you’ve decided you can’t handle my job, I understand. I’ve heard it before. It’s a lot.”

She frowned, her brows pulled low as she studied me.

“I’m usually good at deciphering things, but I’ll be honest, I’m lost.”

She locked eyes with me, her irises swirling with indecision.

“Can we sit and talk?” I waved at the open archway that led into the living room.

With a nod, she shuffled to one sofa. Rather than sitting across from her, I sat right next to her so our thighs touched. Then I forced myself to give her a smirk. “Maybe my brain is too full of thoughts of you and this case, because it’s not working too well. But I need you to spell it out for me. What’s the problem?”

She sighed, head bowed and fingers fiddling with the hem of her shorts. “On Wednesday, after you thought you saw someone outside the restaurant, it seemed like you didn’t want me in your bed. Then yesterday, you had Ethan drive me. That’s fine, I swear. But then you didn’t even come out to say hi when I brought your lunch to the station.”

My stomach sank.Shedelivered my lunch? Shit. If I’d known, I would have had Chris send her back. Not sure why he didn’t say something. And why the fuck didn’t Ethan give me a heads-up?

Hey asshole, probably because you haven’t told any of them she’s officially your girl.

As far as any of them knew, we were only letting people think that in order to draw out the stalker.

With a huff, Hattie went on, her words tumbling out quickly, making it difficult to keep up. “I texted you in the car when Ethan brought me back here, but you only responded with one-word answers and then you didn’t text to let me know you’d be late. I waited up, but when I started dozing on the couch and you still weren’t home, I went to bed.” She looked down at her hands, wringing them. “It felt like maybe you had changed your mind. Or that you weren’t looking to get involved in a relationship.” She slowly looked back up, meeting my gaze once more before squaring her shoulders. “I need to know what we’re doing. If I don’t, then I’ll end up listening to my stupid insecurities like I have been for the last twenty-four hours.”

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