Page 138 of Lethal Game

“Connor.” She looked away. “You should go.”

Something had happened to cause this about-face. He wasn’t leaving until he knew what it was. “No.”

She frowned at him, then deliberately turned on her side and stared at the wall.

“What’s wrong with you?” he asked her.

“You’re what’s wrong with me.”

“Sophia.”

“I told you before, all my cell counts are low.”

That didn’t sound like cancer.

He had to work to keep excitement out of his tone. “You don’t have leukemia?”

“No.”

No cancer.“The nosebleeds?”

“Not enough platelets and too much stress from idiots who can’t take a hint.”

Not cancer.

ThankGod. “I’d go, but we have some unfinished business.”

“Tai Chi lessons?” she asked hesitantly.

She was pushing him away, probably thinking it was for his own good.

Sometimes, it was good to be bad.

If he told her how he really felt, how much she really meant to him, she’d fight him every step of the way. It was time for a little tactic called fishing, and he had the perfect bait. He bent down so he could whisper in her ear, “Sex.”

Her breath caught right before she inched away. “I’ve changed my mind.”

“You? Ms.I'll Get It Done or Die Trying,you’ve changed your mind?”

She didn’t answer for a long time, then she sighed and said, “It was a nice idea, but the reality is, I’m in no shape for it now.”

“Nice?”

She rolled over to stare at him.

“Sweetheart, you’re covered in bruises and every time you sit up you have a nosebleed. I know I can be an idiot sometimes, but I’m not that stupid.”

“Max is going to have me on a plane for the lower forty-eight within the next twenty-four hours. I don’t know if I’m ever going to see you again, so there’s no point in...discussing it.”

He’d deal with theI don’t know if I’m ever going to see you againstatement in a minute. “Why is Max putting you on a plane so fast if you’re not dying?”

She sighed. “Because he thinks, and I agree with him, that I have aplastic anemia—my bone marrow has totally gone on strike—and I’m too sick to work. I need to have more testing to determine what my next treatment steps are, but that will have to happen in the States.”

“But not dying?” he asked, holding steady to his determination. Hope was too wild an emotion to let loose inside him.

She hesitated for a long couple of seconds. “It’s just as deadly as any cancer if my bone marrow doesn’t respond to treatment.”

“So, that’s it?” He couldn’t believe it. “You’re just giving up?” This woman always had a will of steel. Where had that gone?

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