Page 24 of Falling Fast

“No, I’m glad you told me. And hey, bonus that it took my mind off Baker for a little while.”

The edges of his mouth lifted a little. “Then I’m glad.”

She curled into the corner of the couch, drew her knees up and tucked her hands between them. “Is that why you’re so set on all or nothing with me?”

His gaze jumped to hers, his surprise clear at the abrupt shift in topic. “Doesn’t matter. You made it clear you’re not interested, and besides, now we’re working together.”

“And I’m Easton’s sister.”

A grin tugged at his mouth. “Yeah, and that too.”

But that wasn’t as important as the other reasons. Interesting.

He was still such a mystery to her in so many ways. “So while we’re on the subject, what’s so bad about something light and short term, hypothetically speaking?”

His expression was equal parts wary and heated. “I won’t settle anymore. I know what I want, and I won’t take anything less.”

And he still wanted her, but only if she was all in. The tantalizing possibility sent a thrill rushing through her veins. “Why me? You don’t really know me.”

“I know enough.” He lifted a shoulder, his muscles bunching under the dark T-shirt. “We’ve got a lot in common.”

She lifted an eyebrow. “Such as?”

“You grew up in a military family so you understand the lifestyle, what makes guys like us tick.”

“Somewhat, yeah.”

“And you know just how short life can be.”

Their mothers. Wyatt. Her father. No one knew how long they had on this earth. Nothing was guaranteed. “Yes,” she said softly.

“So why the no strings stance, then? What are you so afraid of?”

The question threw her so much, she immediately scowled. “It’s got nothing to do with me being afraid.”

He gave her a look that said he didn’t believe her. “Then why?”

Still scowling, she floundered for a response, which was totally unlike her. But no one had ever asked her that before, and she’d never questioned her reasoning, much less examined it. “I just…don’t like being told what to do with my life.”

“Uh huh.” His tone called total bullshit.

What are you so afraid of?

She’d tried to dismiss it out of hand, but the question was still resonating inside her like the hum of a tuning fork. Powerful and specific.

Wasshe afraid? Just the idea seemed laughable, and yet… There was something about it that spoke to her.

She’d never really thought about it before, but after seeing what her father had gone through after losing her mother… God, maybe Jamie was right.

She vividly remembered deciding the day of her mother’s funeral that she didn’t ever want to experience that kind of pain. So had she subconsciously tried to avoid a committed relationship thus far out of a sense of self-preservation? Trying to avoid being hurt by remaining emotionally distant from the men she’d dated in the past?

It fit. More than that, it rang true inside her, shocking her more than the initial question had.

Jamie continued to watch her with those eyes that saw far too much, waiting for a response. God, how the hell had he seen so deeply inside her when she hadn’t even been aware of it herself until a moment ago?

Shaken but refusing to let him know it, she finally found her voice, put a sarcastic edge into it so he wouldn’t know how his words had affected her. “You forgot one other thing we have in common: stubbornness. That means we’d probably fight a lot.”

His answering smile was slow, and hot enough to melt her insides. “Then I guess we’d make up a lot too. Unless you hold grudges?”

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