Not one to hide from a tough truth, Yardley took a breath and marched over to unlock the door and face Kye.
She stepped out just as he slung the backpack over his shoulder. He paused, several feet away, but he didn’t speak. His expression was closed off. If he was angry, he was handling it. If he was thinking hard thoughts about her, they didn’t show through the dark depths of the candid gaze holding hers. The only thing about him that betrayed any emotion was the tautness of the bronze skin riding his cheekbones. And the tight grip of the hand holding his backpack on his shoulder. He was waiting. Nothing more, nothing less.
She understood. He didn’t need to say anything. Her conscience was doing his job for him. It told her she had behaved badly, leaving him outside. She was wrong. No excuses.
She swallowed a fair amount of crow before she spoke. “Can I talk to you?”
“Sure.” He folded his arms across his chest and stood back on his legs.
Lily, who’d coming running at the sound of her handler’s voice, shot through the door and launched herself at him, yipping in a delirious frenzy to see him. As if she, too, felt she had been mistreated.
Yardley’s gaze flitted away from the toller, feeling even more rotten. When a dog thought you were wrong, you were wrong! “We need to clear the air.”
He studied her for a second. “Shoot.”
Her gaze flicked back to him, emotion making her eyes feel hot. “About earlier. I don’t want you to get—have the wrong impression.”
“Which would be?” A slight curve of amusement appeared in his left cheek.
“That I—that we.” She looked away briefly, seeking her inner bitch. When she located it, she looked up again. “It’s been a shitty couple of months. I’ve been feeling a little sorry for myself today. You happened to be in the way.”
“Of?” Damn him. He was going to make her say it.
“Of my temper. My anger-management skills are rusty. You caught me at a low point.”
“Just curious. Was the low point when you poked me or kissed me, or left me out in the cold just now?”
She wondered if he was aware that he was rubbing his chest with a hand. Mesmerized by that motion, she could almost feel again the dense heat of his skin under her own fingers. Dear Lord! Why had she ever gotten so close to him? Was her conscience going to punish her with every distracting detail until she could no longer even glance at him without the heat of embarrassment? No, not embarrassment. This scalding heat was desire. Every sexy detail of the man was a flashpoint of hunger for something out of reach.
What about David?
She stiffened, remembering the phone waiting for her inside. She backed up a step. “I owe you an apology. I’m not very good at them.”
The sensual curve of his smile arched into being. “At least you’re honest. A real apology would have been better. But I’ll take it, since we both know what that was really about.”
What was it really about? She wished she knew.
She looked away. “I guess you think I’m a bitch.”
He caught the curve of her shoulder in his palm as she tried to turn away and rotated her back to face him. His expression was no longer neutral. It was equal parts lust and amazement.
“I would never call you a bitch, or any other ugly word. Complicated. Suspicious. Gorgeous. Distrustful. Sexy as hell with a mouth made for sin. You’re all those things.”
She turned away, not wanting him to be nice because she made her feel like the earth was shifting beneath her feet and that, maybe, she should grab on to him to steady herself. Yeah, that sounded like a fine idea. And a scary one.
She really couldn’t handle that right now.
But he wasn’t ready to let her go, and slid between her and the door in a move a man his size shouldn’t have been able to make so fluidly.
“Law sent me to find out what you think happened to a guy you care about. I had my doubts. But now you’ve got the feds watching you. Something big is going on. I’m not going anywhere until I know you’re safe.”
“Promise?” Damn, the question slipped out of her.
He looked at her a long time, giving away nothing. “You want honesty, Yard? I don’t know what’s going on between us. Hell, yes I do. But you don’t need to worry. I didn’t come here to mess with your life. Nothing’s going to happen you don’t want to happen.”
Something struggled inside her, something old she’d buried so deep she’d forgotten it was there. “What if?”
He shook his head. “This isn’t going down like that. You need to take care of some old business. I need to wrap my head around some things, too. We tried living on emotion once before. It nearly ruined both of us.” He was backing away as he spoke, as if their bodies shouldn’t occupy nearby spaces.
She felt it, too, the dangerous undertow stronger than reason. She dug her nails into her palms, afraid to say anything more. Because she knew where they’d end up.