Page 36 of Justice for the SEAL
He closed the space between them and tilted her head up. “And if I want a relationshipwithyou?”
“I’d say it’sjustsex.”
“It could be more if you’dletit.”
“Well, I’m not going to, sothat’sthat.”
He crossed his arms. “You’re full of shit. You know that? Why won’t you evenconsiderit?”
The last thing she needed was to fight with him about this. “I’m trying to protect you. Don’t you see that? I want you to find someone you can actually have a future with. If you and I getserious…”
“Then you getscared?”
“No.” She met his stare head on. “I’m a dead-end street, Logan. I’m thirteen years older than you. Thirteen! I can’t have kids. There’s no point in dating me. You have to see the logicinthat.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You can’thavekids?”
“I’ve had chemo and radiation, some of the strongest drugs they make. I’minfertile.”
“There are other ways tohavekids.”
“You don’t even know me! This is a pointless conversation. I don’t want to date you. End of story.” She turned her back to him and faced the window, her arms crossed over herchest.
He suspected she wascrying.
He stared at her back, wishing he hadn’t pushed the issue. She was beyond stressed. “Gemma, I’msorry.”
“We shouldn’t do this anymore. I told you from the beginning I only wanted something physical, but you just keeppushing.”
“We have aspark—”
She spun around. “You’re not listening to me. I don’t want to go outwithyou.”
Damn it, she wasright.
From that very first night she’d been honest with him, but the more he grew to like her the more he kept trying to changehermind.
The problem wasn’tGemma.
Itwashim.
“I appreciate what you’ve done for me, Logan. I don’t want to know what would have happened if you weren’t outside my house the other night. But I think it’s best if we end things now, before they get out ofcontrol.”
His lips hardened into a straight line. “There’s one more thing I forgot to tell you. The computer finished analyzing the license plate from the van outside your apartment. They’re government plates from a state vehicle kept in downtownAtlanta.”
Her mouthdroppedopen.
He nodded. “I’ll see you in thebriefing.”
21
Logan closedthe door too loudly when he left, making Gemma jump. She understood why he was angry. She wasangry,too.
She’d gotten a glimpse of what her life could have been like without cancer, like a child spying the brass ring on the carousel, but it was permanently out of reach. She could never be the woman Logan wanted. She could never give him the things he so flippantly dismissed asunimportantnow.
But what about later, when the resentment kicked in? She knew exactly what it was like to think you’d make your peace with something inherently unfair, only to rally against it like a prisoner pulling against hischains.
She wouldn’t do that toLogan.
