Page 85 of Never Enough

“I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”

TB smirked. “You’re a terrible liar. And I know you’re not okay because I happened to open my door while you and Nemo were saying good night, so rather than interrupt what did not sound like a happy good night, I stayed put. Then I saw Nemo leave here, and he wasdefinitelynot okay. He would never leave you on your own, given how he feels about you, so that means whatever happened was bad.”

“Well, I guess he’s got everyone fooled because he’s on his way to the airport to spend the night with his dog rather than me.” Even she heard the hurt in her voice.

TB was totally on the mark. She was a terrible liar. Always had been. It was part of why she chose to stand silently when people spoke to her, and she either didn’t have a truthful answer or didn’t know how to talk around the truth.

TB turned his head to consider the view outside the window. When he brought his eyes back to hers, he looked decidedly uncomfortable but resolved. “That man is head over heels in love with you. Has been for years. If this is about the women he?—”

“It has nothing to do with the women he’s fucked his way through.” She crossed her arms again over her chest. “Well, not directly. I don’t care about the women themselves, but they’re too much a part of his psyche. I can’t compete with them, and frankly, I don’t want to.”

“What has he told you about them?” TB asked.

“Nothing.”

TB nodded as if he expected that response. “All of them have looked nothing like you.”

See? I told you he’s not interested in short little tomboys like you.

Why did TB’s admission hurt so much? It wasn’t like she hadn’t known that she wasn’t really his type.

He continued, “We didn’t know him when you met for the first time. He’s been really closemouthed about it, so what little we know we got from Midas, and his knowledge is minimal, at best. The second time you two got together, he was on one of his first assignments for Tribe. Midas told us that he’d run into you again, and Sarah, our handler, was pissed as hell at him for letting you get away. From that point forward, he fucked every woman he could find, but not one of them was a tiny, curly-headed blonde. No tattoos or piercings. All high-maintenance, manicured, designer-dressed women who just wanted a quick fuck. He was doing everything in his power to drive you out of his brain.” Now he really looked uncomfortable. “You did not hear this from me. I will deny it to my dying day. Do you know about the bet?”

“Is this supposed to make me feel better? Because it doesn’t,” she grumbled.

“Yeah. We’re guys. We bet on everything imaginable. It’s a terrible, asshole move, but I’m pretty sure it’s part of a male’s DNA. Anyway”—he shrugged—“when you were sitting in the conference room, he opened a new bet. Said that he wanted you or no one. He predicted thirty days to get you to agree to be his woman. We, of course, being the dicks we are, gave him shit about it. Predicted everything from months to never for that to happen.

“Of course, we were being shitheads on purpose. I think we were so surprised that we didn’t know how else to respond. There’s one person who said he shortchanged himself, but Steel is some sort of Nostradamus. Either way, Nemo was dead serious. So serious that he claimed you, no one else, and if not you, then no one ever again.”

Keeping the look of surprise from her face was impossible, and she knew it.

TB confirmed, “He’s dead serious about you, Gem. So much so that he’s had several conversations with Flame about how to handle what he sees as the most delicate operation of his entire life.

“The guy who I just saw leave this hallway? He was hurting. Hurting badly. You’ve got a lot of power in your hands when it comes to him. If you don’t want him, then, by all means, cut him off right now and keep away from him. We’ll always protect you and be there if you need us, no matter what happens between the two of you since he’s claimed you as tribe.” TB walked to the door. Before he opened it, he looked back at her. “If you love him, or even think you could love him eventually, then believe in him. Because if there’s one thing I know about Nemo, it’s that he honestly believes that no one does.”

TB was almost out the door when she called him back. “TB, wait!”

He ducked his head back in the door.

“Will you take me to the airport?”

TB grinned and stepped back in to grab Nemo’s duffle bag. “I was hoping you’d ask. Grab your shit. Let’s go.”

When they gotto the airport, TB made sure she was able to board the plane, put Nemo’s bag in the front galley, then got back in the rideshare and went back to the hotel.

Haskell crept to the back. The lights were dimmed throughout, but not enough that she couldn’t find Nemo and Scheherazade. When the dog saw her, a low whine came from her throat, and she got up and went to Haskell. She nuzzled Haskell’s hand, then went to lie in the doorway of the plane as if she understood that Nemo needed his human woman right now.

Nemo lay flat on his back, the arm closest to the back of the couch thrown over his eyes. Quietly, she placed her bag on one of the seats. She pulled off her shoes, then crawled onto the sofa, weaseling herself between Nemo and the back of his makeshift bed.

His arm snaked around her waist, pulling her tightly to his side. His other hand dropped from his eyes to snake through her curls and pull her head to his chest.

“I’m so sorry, Nemo. I didn’t mean to doubt you. I just don’t see myself the way you do.”

Nemo pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “You need to stop listening to your da’s voice in your head, tiny.”

“It’s hard,” she admitted.

“I know,” he whispered. “But from now on, the only voice you should be listening to is mine. Or yours and mine.”

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