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I smiled. “Not a production. More of a sincere appreciation.”
Austin huffed and took a sip of what looked to be scotch. His eyes stayed on me as we assessed each other. I nodded toward the crystal highball glass in his hand.
“That seems awfully strong to have with dinner.”
His eyes narrowed as his jaw tightened. “When you’ve served overseas and seen the things I have, then you can judge my beverage of choice.”
I raised my brows, then sobered at the truth in his statement. Carter had kept me up to date on him when he was in the service. Everyone knew a situation would be bad if a SEAL team were sent in. And I’d kept up with every single one since his first deployment.
The very night I’d fucked everything up.
I met his beautiful green eyes and immediately wanted to explain. “You’re right. I apologize. I can’t imagine how difficult your job had to be.”
His expression softened as we stared at one another. Austin Wentworth was no longer the twenty-two-year-old I remembered. He was a man who had lived and seen the world from a different perspective. All I could think was, would things have been different between us if I’d kept my promise?
“Nothing for you to be sorry for Greer.”
He continued to study me, and I wanted to ask what he meant. Because I was sorry. For so many things.
Austin tore his gaze from mine and focused on his glass as he reclined in the seat, swirling the amber liquid.
“If I could go back to that night,” I said before he cut me off with a hard scowl.
“No. Do not bring up the past.”
I sighed and rubbed my fingers over my stubbled jaw. “Then how do we get past it?”
“Nothing ever happened.”
His words cut me deeper than I expected them to. I wanted—no, needed—to make things up to him. I just hoped he’d give me a chance at some point. But since he refused to discuss it, I relented for now and changed the subject.
“Let’s talk about this week. I’m also going to need to train while I’m there. It’s not safe to be out without protection.” I might have been lying there a bit. The only protection I really needed was from the monkeys and my sister.
“Train for what?” His eyes roamed over my face, then down my neck to my chest.
“Triathlon.”
Austin’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t comment. So I kept going.
“It’s also entirely possible I need you to run interference between me and my meddling sister. She’s invited some single ladies for me to socialize with in hopes I might find someone.”
He shook his head. “But she knows who I am, Greer. I’m not the person for this. Dreamboat is who you need. He’s a natural-born flirt. Flirts with everything and everyone.”
I chuckled as he described his other best friend. Brent Trainor was a character.
“I agree he is. But I don’t need him. I need you.”
Austin released a deep breath. “What if I don’t want the job? There’s too much bad history between us. It will never work. I can’t look at you like a significant other.”
“You did once.”
He looked away from me, clearly irritated. “I was a twenty-two-year-old fool.”
No, I was the fool.
I curled my lips in before picking up my wineglass. Taking a healthy sip, I put it down and looked over at him. “We’re going to have to find a way to put our past behind us. They’ll never believe we’re together if you show this level of animosity toward me, Austin. It will make things uncomfortable for everyone around us, and they won’t understand.”
He seemed to consider my words as his eyes held me in place. When he didn’t respond, I sat forward and shifted in my seat. “You must have had to work with someone you didn’t like before, right?”
