Can't Hardly Breathe (The Original Heartbreakers #4)

“Dorothea,” he said with a stiff nod.

Dorothea again. Ouch! Well, she could do him one better. “Mr. Porter.”

He flinched, but she experienced no satisfaction.

“Aren’t you supposed to be out there working security?” she asked. “You know, putting yourself in danger for your job.”

His eyes narrowed. “I’m on a break. And I can wear Kevlar to protect myself from a bullet. What can you wear to protect yourself from a twister?”

Holly spun, a good-sized helping of anger taking the place of her excitement. “Wow. Look at the piece of shit the cat dragged in.” She jammed a finger into Daniel’s shoulder. “Can Kevlar protect your balls from my knee? I don’t think so. Now hit the bricks, Porter. This town isn’t big enough for the both of us. Get gone. Fast.”

He was too strong to be budged. “You’re as pleasant as always, I see,” he replied, his features twisted into a sneer.

Hey! “You don’t talk to my sister with that tone,” Dorothea snapped. “Do it again, and you won’t be talking for a week.”

“Or ever. Because I’m your worst nightmare, boy-o.” Holly fronted on him. “I cut first and ask questions never.”

He looked between them, astonishment registering. “You forgave her,” he grated to Dorothea.

“Yeah. So? What business is it of yours?”

“Now, girls.” Carol tugged Holly back to her side and put her nose in the air. “We all know Mr. Porter is severely brain damaged. Let’s not tax his limited mental capacity with big words.” She looked him straight in the eye and, as if she were speaking to a toddler, said, “Go. Away.”

Dorothea wanted to cheer. The woman who hated confrontation was doing a dang good job of confronting. And since their own confrontation, she’d been a better mother all the way around. She’d encouraged Holly and Dorothea to talk, and she’d helped around the inn more.

Daniel’s focus remained on Dorothea. “Why aren’t you in the city?”

“Why would I be in the city?”

“You know why. The job you couldn’t live without.”

“I didn’t take the job because I didn’t want it,” she said, and turned away. Let him stew on that!

For several seconds, he said nothing. Then he bit out, “If you didn’t want the job, why the hell did you choose storm chasing over me?”

Without looking at him, she replied, “I didn’t choose storm chasing over you. I chose freedom from a dictator. You demanded I do things your way or no way, and you weren’t willing to talk to me about your concerns. Why would I ever want to be with you?”

Another round of silence stretched out. The line shortened, and she moved forward, but now her limbs were quaking. A showdown with Daniel had been destined to happen sooner or later, but she hadn’t been prepared for what it would feel like. This hurt. This hurt bad.

“If everyone will excuse us, Thea and I are going to have a quick word.” He grabbed hold of her hand and whisked her away.

Holly sputtered. Brock said something to quiet her.

“Let me go,” Dorothea snapped.

“Hell, no. I made that mistake once already.” He dragged her through the crowd and back inside the inn.

He was going to try to get back together with her, wasn’t he?

Once the door closed, she wrenched free. “Don’t do this, Daniel.” She rubbed the skin where he’d touched her, trying to ease the burn he’d left behind.

His anger was gone, not a vestige of it remaining. His posture was yielding, open, his golden gaze beseeching. The way hers had once beseeched him, without success.

“I shouldn’t have commanded you like a soldier and expected you to comply,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

“Of course you’re sorry. You got your way. I won’t be chasing storms.”

“Thea—” He reached for her.

She jumped out of range. “Before you showed up tossing commands like they were pennies, I’d already realized I could live my dreams from the comfort of my home. I’m going to be a stay-at-home weather girl, and I’m going to do it without you in my life.” There! Take that!

Despite her words, he looked at her with hope, and it only made her want to slap him. “I was so afraid of losing you. I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

“Maybe you weren’t thinking clearly,” she grated, “but you lost me anyway.”

“Don’t say that. I’ve been a mess ever since we broke up. I can’t eat or sleep. I miss you. I think about you all the time. I...love you.”

After everything he’d done and said to her, he was finally ready to admit his feelings? Well, of course he was; he’d gotten his way. No job in the city, no chasing storms. She laughed bitterly. Nothing had changed—for her. Their relationship was still fractured. Knowing he loved her fixed nothing.

“Too little, too late, Daniel.” The anger leached out of her, leaving only sadness. “I will always know there are strings to your love. I’ll worry about losing you if I don’t do things your way. With that, on top of your worry about losing me again, we’ll never be happy.”

Sweat beaded on his forehead. “I know I messed up, but I wasn’t worried. I was being proactive.”

Oh, the lies we tell ourselves. “You were worried, and you are worried. I reached out to you, Daniel. I tried to talk to you. I took steps to win you back. You did nothing. Wait. That’s not true. You threw me away like so many others have done. As if I meant nothing.”

His skin pulled tight around his eyes and mouth. “I couldn’t fight for you because I was busy fighting for my sanity. And I didn’t answer your text because I hoped to save myself from drowning in my misery.”

“Or you wanted to punish me. Meanwhile, you left me drowning in my misery.”

He blanched. “I’m sorry,” he repeated. “I’m so sorry. I just... I was trying to avoid future hurts.”

“That’s the thing. You can’t avoid hurts. They’re going to come one way or another. That’s life.”

“Thea—”

“It doesn’t matter, anyway,” she interjected. “I told you. We’ll always be worried about losing each other, and I don’t want to live that way.”

He grabbed her by the shoulders, holding tight, as if sensing she was about to bolt. “If I could go back...”

“But you can’t.”

“I’m worried, yes. I admit it. But I’ll deal.”

Not good enough, she thought, and oh, her heart was breaking. “I’m sorry. I’m not putting my trust in you again. You’re the same man today that you were when you broke up with me. You haven’t changed.”

“Thea.” He framed her jaw with his hands, his thumbs dusting over her cheeks. “Please. My dad is upset about the breakup. He wants us to be together as desperately as I do.”

It was the total wrong thing to say, heralding the return of her anger. “Have you fooled yourself into thinking you love me just because your dad wants us together?”

“No. No!” His grip tightened. “I know how I feel about you.”