She went forward to see what he was concocting. “Oooh, hot cocoa. Yum.”
“Made with real milk, none of that powdered stuff.” He smiled at her but she got the slippery feeling that something was wrong. He was too nice. Too polite. “I was going to wake you soon. It’s nearly ten. I thought some hot cocoa before you had to relieve your sitter.”
“At least it’s a bit warmer out here,” she said, wrapping her arms around her middle.
“I brought in some wood for the fire too.” His gaze dropped to her improvised nightshirt. “Nice,” he added.
Not that she’d say it out loud, but she’d watched lots of movies where the confident, sexy woman wore her lover’s shirt after sex, and wondered what it would be like to be that girl. It felt fantastic, if she were being honest. Who knew she could be that woman, anyway? It’s not like she had a history of hookups, and men certainly hadn’t been beating down her door. She suspected, however, if she said anything of the sort she’d sound silly and awkward, so she met his gaze evenly. “You don’t mind?”
“Of course not.”
But there was no innuendo, no shared intimate look or smile. Unless she was totally off base, Dave was backing off. Big time. Why? Maybe tonight hadn’t been as good for him as it had been for her …
“Dave, did I do something wrong?”
He spared her a glance. “Of course not.” It seemed to be his stock answer. His gaze slipped back to the pan and he grabbed a ladle. “Hand me a mug, will you?”
Mechanically she took a cup from the cupboard and handed it to him. He poured the rich cocoa into the mug and handed it to her, then repeated the process with his own cup.
She perched on a chair at the table, unsettled, and sipped. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
She knew whatever he was about to say was a lie because his face took on an expression of innocent denial. “Nothing. Why would something be wrong?”
“Because you’re acting strangely. Because I woke up and you weren’t there and you’ve brought in wood and made cocoa. Something’s on your mind, I can tell.”
He sighed. Stared into his cup. “We can talk about it later. You need to get home soon.”
Classic avoidance. Charlie tried taking a drink to simply be doing something but the moment it touched her tongue her stomach twisted.
There were times Charlie deeply resented her upbringing, but today she totally understood what her mother had meant when she said that sex had the power to change everything. In this case, it hadn’t changed in a fairy-tale-come-true way, had it?
She didn’t trust herself to speak. Thought back to that first moment that they’d met, how unsettled and awkward she’d been. The man before her wasn’t some fantasy guy from the docks anymore. That seemed like another time and place. He was real, flesh and blood, and currently pulling away from her.
And then she looked across the table at Dave and knew that she couldn’t pretend forever. She was tired of feeling like she always had to please people. That if she was just quiet and went along with everyone else’s plans for her everything would be fine.
She’d come to Jewell Cove to get away from that. Trouble was, she was still accepting it in her personal relationships and that wasn’t okay.
“I have a few minutes. If something’s wrong, I want to know.”
He shifted in his chair. Charlie frowned. Difficult conversations were so not her strength.
“It’s fine.”
“No, it’s not. Dave, we made love. You asked me to stay. Now you’re treating me like nothing happened.” Encouraged by the steadiness of her voice, she lifted her chin. “Honestly, I don’t think I did anything wrong. Which means you’re running scared. What I want to know is why.”
He pushed back his chair and took his mug—his cocoa unfinished—to the counter.
“Hey,” she said. “Avoidance is my party trick. For God’s sake, Dave, just be honest with me. If you think we made a mistake, just say so.”
He turned around and met her gaze. “Being with you was great,” he answered, his voice rough. “But yeah, it was probably a mistake. My mistake, Charlie, not yours. I got involved with you when I knew I shouldn’t have.”
She gave a quiet snort. “That makes two of us.”
“See? That’s what I mean. We were both pretty honest from the beginning about what we did and didn’t want. Then we ignored it. Convinced ourselves it didn’t matter. I told myself it was nothing serious. That we were just enjoying each other’s company.”
“Until tonight. Because sex changes things.”
He nodded slowly. “Yeah, it does. And all the things I’d been ignoring were suddenly there in front of me again. I’m not sure I can be the perfect man for your perfect plan.”