I frowned at him, not sure I understood what he was suggesting.
“Why don’t we what?”
“See Italy. We could take the motorcycle and go see all those places we talked about: Milano, Verona, Capezzano Inferiore – see if your dad’s relatives still live there.”
Oh, he’d definitely found my weak spot.
“Don’t you have work to do?” I replied, avoiding answering the question. “How come you’ve got all this time off?”
“I’m on leave,” he said, quietly. “I’ll be shipping back out to Afghan – in about three weeks.”
“Oh,” I said, feeling the blood drain from my face. “I didn’t realize… I thought you were stationed in Geneva.”
He shrugged.
“I was, but they need interpreters, and they’re getting antsy about using locals. Too many green-on-blue attacks.” He brushed the thought away. “So, what do you think?”
I shook my head.
“I can’t, you know I can’t. My papers could come through any moment and I’ll be on my way out there myself. Besides,” I said, trying to lighten the moment, “three weeks with you – that’s definitely a dangerous mission.”
“Don’t you trust me?” he said, trying and failing to look wounded.
“No, not particularly.”
He grinned at me, completely unabashed.
“Oh, don’t say that. I’ll be good. Scout’s honor.”
“You were never a boy scout.”
“True,” he said with a smirk. “What if I promise I’ll behave myself: separate bedrooms and everything?”
“No way, Hunter. I’ve heard about your reputation, remember? Besides, I don’t know how soon I’ll get a flight to Leatherneck. I don’t want to risk losing my slot.”
“It won’t happen for at least two weeks.”
I narrowed my eyes at his tone.
“You sound very sure of that.”
He just grinned at me.
And then realization dawned.
“What did you do, Hunter?”
His grin got wider.
“Let’s just say I know people in the right places.”
I couldn’t believe his arrogance.
“Are you telling me you’ve blocked my application?”
My voice started rising, and he had the grace to look almost contrite.
“It’s not blocked, Caro, not entirely. I… just threw a few well-aimed monkey wrenches in the works. It’ll take at least a week to sort out – probably two.”
Unbelievable!
Now I was really angry.
“This is my work, Sebastian,” I said, the fury in my voice more than obvious. “This is how I get paid. How dare you interfere like this! You’re unbelievable.”
He scowled at me.
“You can’t butt into my life like this!” I half yelled at him. “I’m not the insipid little woman I was ten years ago!”
“You were never that,” he said, his expression burning.
Oh, how well I remembered that look.
“You’d better damn well get that monkey wrench out, Hunter! I mean it.”
He sighed, looking disappointed.
“I can’t, Caro, it’s out of my hands now. But I promise it’s temporary. I just… after all this time… I wanted us to be able to spend more than a few hours together.” He stared at his hands. “I don’t know when I’ll see you again,” he mumbled. “I’ve already waited ten years.”
His admission was so astonishing and he looked so miserable, that my anger began to ebb. I was still annoyed, furious at his interference in fact, but I couldn’t hold the same level of rage when he looked like that and, more importantly, once he’d explained his reason for doing it – that he still had feelings for me. But what the true nature of those feelings really was, I remained deeply unsure.
“Will you at least think about it?” he said, softly.
I nodded, still too angry to speak.
I let Sebastian finish up the fondue, my appetite having vanished. He kept throwing me guilty glances, but it didn’t stop him polishing both his plate and mine.