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Her hair was windblown since her cap was long gone. He noticed the glow of a budding sunburn on her cheeks.
“Edward has the best racers sewn up. People who’ve been sailing for years, and you…” He glanced at her wounded hand. She looked at it, sheepish. “Well, you’ll need a little while to heal from that.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not.”
“Then maybe I could talk to your brother. Maybe he’d agree to let a racer go.”
“No.” Mark whirled. “Don’t you talk to him.” His voice came out angrier than he wanted, but he couldn’t help it. The thought of her with his brother made his skin crawl. He didn’t want her anywhere near that man.
“Hey. Okay. I just thought maybe you need a peace broker.” She held up her hands like a shield.
“No, I don’t.” That’s the last thing on earth he wanted. Not talking to his brother was working out just fine for him. He didn’t need to break that habit.
They walked to his pickup truck, and he opened the door. She glared at him, peeved. Of course, she was peeved. Women were always getting the wrong idea. He just wanted to protect her, so why wouldn’t she let him?
He shut the door, feeling exasperated as he strode over to his side of the truck, slipped into the cab and revved the engine. Soon, they were on the five-minute drive to the condo. After that, she could easily head upstairs and away from him.
Maybe that was best. Maybe it was foolish to think she could understand. She couldn’t help him, not now. The whole race was a hopeless pipe dream anyway. He shouldn’t have even set his heart on it. Besides, deep down, he knew all he really wanted to do was go out on the water and never come back. He didn’t need the prize money to do that, exactly. If he wanted to end his life, he could do it, prize money be damned.
But her helping him do it…he just…he didn’t feel right about it. That’s what he really wanted to tell her. Don’t get involved in this. Don’t. He imagined what she’d think if he sailed off into the deep blue and never came back.
He glanced sidelong at her as they drove and saw the hurt look on her face. She was already invested in him. How would she feel if all the work she’d done just led to him being lost at sea?
He didn’t want that for her. He didn’t want that guilt.
They sat in stony silence for most of the drive home. As they pulled into the condo parking lot, he put the truck in Park and turned off the engine.
“Maybe I could help you look for people,” she said, not looking at him, as if the conversation were still going. Clearly, she hadn’t let the subject drop. “If you can’t train me, or won’t,” she murmured under her breath, “maybe—”
Frustration welled in him. He swung open his truck door and jumped out. She followed him, even as he grabbed the cooler and some other gear from the back and began loading it into the workshop.
“Laura,” he cautioned.
“I want to help.”
He took his duffel bag full of gear and headed to his condo’s front door. She followed him. The woman just wasn’t going to let it go. “Look, I know you mean well, but it’s not all that easy.”
She stepped up in his space, and now she was so close to him he could smell the salty sea air in her hair. “Why don’t you tell me why it’s not so easy? I want to help. And you keep trying to shut me out.”
“I…” I don’t want to let you in. It would be too dangerous if I did.
He pushed his key into the lock and swung open the door. She followed him inside.
“What is it?” she asked, the accusation clear in her voice. “Why do you dislike me so much?”
He dropped his duffel bag on the kitchen floor in frustration. Dislike her? He felt the opposite.
“You run hot and cold, like a teenager,” she went on. “I can’t get a handle on you. Sometimes I think you must really hate me if you keep running so cold.”
Cold? Every time she was near him, he could feel the heat in his blood, the base attraction that made him itch to touch her. Cold was the last thing he was feeling.
“You’ve got it wrong,” he said, staring down at her bright green eyes. She glared at him, crossing her hands across her chest. Why did she always get it so wrong?
“Oh, really? I don’t think so. I’m just trying to help you. That’s all I’ve been trying to do, and you just want to scare me off.”
Because if you stay, I’ll really start to care about you. I might already care about you, actually, and it might be too late.
He opened his mouth, but no words came out. Why didn’t the words come out?
