Page 32 of Hold

“You guys go ahead,” he said. “Zahra, I’ll see you Sunday.” But he didn’t look at her.

“Okay,” she replied, uncertainty in her voice. “Thea? You want us to hang out a little longer?”

“Of course she doesn’t,” Chloe said, hefting Zahra’s enormous bag from the floor and pressing it to her chest.

Thea was damned if she was going to blink first. If he had something to say, she was ready for him. “I’m fine. Got a couple of things to clear up with Mr. McConnell, here.”

“Is that what they’re calling it nowadays?” Chloe asked. Zahra poked her on their way out of the door.

Liam and Thea stayed in the middle of the room, eyes locked on each other, until the last threads of sound from Zahra’s engine had died away. Then Liam opened his mouth, but Thea got there first.

“What the hell is your problem?” she said, furious but trying to keep her voice down.

“My problem? What aboutyourproblem?” He reached into his back pocket. “What the hell was this all about?”

He had the check she’d written him. “Payment, Liam. For services rendered.”

“I told you I don’t want your money.”

“That was before you found out I’m a spoiled rich kid playing at being poor.”

“That’s not what I—”

“Yuh, Liam, that’s exactly what you think.”

“It isnot. And what about you, huh? You’ve been looking down your nose at me since the minute you met me.”

“I havenot!You’re the one who was scowling at me every time I walked into that classroom. I didn’taskyou to fix my house, especially not for free, and now that I finally pay you, you get mad at me!”

She might have been able to hear his back teeth grinding together. “I—don’t—want—your—money,” he reiterated. “I was trying to help. Like a friend.” He spat out the word.

“What friend? You don’t even like me!”

“You don’t likeme!”

“That’s ’cause you’re always so damn cranky!”

“And you take people’s generous gestures and throw them back in their faces!”

“I told you about my family in confidence, and you crapped all over it in front of everyone!”

“I didn’t—” He paused. Seemed to lose a lot of the energy that was keeping him fighting. “I’m sorry about that. I just—hadn’t expected it. That you were…”

Thea eased back as well. “What difference does it make?” she said, her voice softer. “Except that now you know I do have some money and I could pay you, so I did.”

“The difference is…” He took a step closer to her, and his expression changed, his eyes not glaring anymore but sympathetic. “The difference is that you don’t need me, and I kinda wanted you to.”

She hadn’t expected that answer, and the low rumble with which he admitted it sent all her hibernating girl parts to dancing. Her breathing quickened. She could feel her skin more clearly, the light touch of her dress’s hem against her knees and her neck, along her arms.

Her silence made him look away for the first time, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. “Yeah,” he said, with a small laugh, “your basic macho bullshit.”

“I don’t want to need anyone,” she heard herself saying. “Ever again. Not you, not anyone.” The fabric of her dress was in her clenched hands. When had she done that?

“I get that, Thea,” he said. He was closer now. “And I still can’t stay away.”

The cool breeze trickling from the air conditioner made goose bumps rise up on her forearms. At least she thought that was what it was. Not his shirt that now brushed her arm or the warmth of him or the way his voice got richer, lower when he said her name.

She focused on the shirt button at his neck. If she looked up at him, she would meet his eyes. Maybe he wanted to kiss her. Maybe she could just lean in, a little. Maybe his arms would go around her and she could stop trying to do this all by herself for once in her life. He had so many answers; she wouldn’t have to find them for herself for once.

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