Page 123 of Better Late Than Never

He glared at me. “I just think it’s impolite to ignore someone.”

I shrugged. “It’s impolite to keep texting someone who hasn’t answered, so…”

Tobias’s jaw worked.

“What is it you want?” I asked, letting the testiness into my voice, something I wouldn’t have dared done even a few months ago. “I’ve got work to do.”

“Yeah. Sure you do.” He made a big show of looking around the otherwise deserted waiting room. “You’re real busy, aren’t you?”

I refused to give him the irritated reaction he was digging for. “Oh, you sweet summer child. Have you really been discharged for so long that you’ve forgotten how much the military loves its paperwork?”

“I do plenty of paperwork,” he snapped. “Just because I’m not active duty anymore doesn’t mean I don’t do the same kind of work.”

“Okay, then that means you know why I’ve been busy and why I have shit to do. So could you please tell me why you’re?—”

“I just want to know why you’ve been spending so much time in Sanlúcar.”

I froze, realizing a heartbeat too late how conspicuous my reaction was.

A sly grin spread across his lips. “I mean, I know it’s not far from Chipiona, but you never seemed to want to go there when we were dating.”

I half-shrugged. “I explored it a bit and decided I like it out there.”

“Uh-huh. You sure have.”

I narrowed my eyes, pretending my blood hadn’t turned to ice. “What can I say? It’s more fun to explore it on my own than it would’ve been with you.”

“On your own.” The grin widened. “Yeah, I bet it’s been on your own, hasn’t it?”

Oh,fuck…

I cocked a brow, still trying to appear unaffected. Then I sighed with theatrical boredom and checked the clock on the wall. “Look, I really do have a ton of work to do. So whatever it is you’re trying to dangle over my head—just say it so we can be done with this.”

“I think you know exactly what it is.”

Fuck, fuck, fuuuck…

“No.” I shrugged. “I have no idea what you’re getting at, and I?—”

“You’re screwing Lieutenant Commander Marks, aren’t you?”

I choked on nothing, but masked it with a laugh. “What?That’syour big Sword of Damocles?” I rolled my eyes even as my heart slammed against my ribs. “I’ll give you props, Tobias. You’re creative, especially when it comes to bullshit.”

“It isn’t bullshit and we both know it.”

“Oh yeah?” I threw him a challenging look even as my insides twisted in on themselves. “How, pray tell, do you know?”

He sniffed indignantly. “You’re not nearly as subtle as you think.”

I rolled my eyes again because I knew how much that pissed him off. “You’re full of shit, Tobias. And I have work to do. So how about…” I gestured at the door.

He glared at me. “We both know I’m right.” He stepped closer, farther into my space than I ever wanted him to be again, and he added in a low growl, “Maybe you should’ve thought twice about dumping me and ignoring me.”

And then he was gone, the waiting area door swinging shut behind him before I’d even made sense of everything.

That…

That was not good.

---