“I just want to talk to her.” He peered over Bobbie Jo’s head and caught a glimpse of all the cardboard boxes in the living room. “What the hell is going on? Why are the Barlows loading boxes into Anna’s car?” He ran a hand over his distraught face. “Sonofabitch. Don’t tell me she’s leaving town.”
Bobbie Jo shrugged nonchalantly. “What does it matter to you? It’s not like you care.”
“What? I do care! Now let me in.” But Bobbie Jo didn’t budge. “Damn it, I need to find her. Get out of the way or I’m going to pick your ass up and move you.”
Something resembling a smirk lifted the corners of her mouth. “She’s probably in the kitchen packing up more boxes,” she said nonchalantly, dropping her arm from the doorway.
As Cowboy stepped inside, I slipped out of view and pretended to be busy.
“Anna…?”
I poked my head out of the kitchen and frowned at him. “Why are you still here?”
“I want to know where the hell you think you’re going.”
“Beg your pardon?”
“You heard me.”
I glared at him. “I’m no longer your concern, remember?”
Cowboy counted slowly under his breath, trying to gain control of his temper. “Stop this nonsense, woman. I won’t sit by and let you leave town all because I—”
“Because you what? Used me? Took what you wanted and moved on? Guess you were bored with me. Isn’t that how you put it?”
“That wasn’t true and you know it.”
“No, I don’t know. As far as I’m concerned, that’s exactly what happened. Now, get out.”
“I need to talk to you. To tell you something. At the very least I owe you an explanation and an apology.” When I crossed my arms and waited, he continued. “I was promoted to chief.”
“Good for you. Now leave.”
“Damn it, just listen. After I came out of recovery, the mayor stopped by to see me. I thought he’d heard about my injury and was coming to tell me he was appointing a new acting chief. But instead, he congratulated me for making chief.”
“What the hell does that have to do with me?”
“I couldn’t stand the thought of you living in fear that something would happen to me. That one day, I might be burned alive. You don’t sleep as it is. I didn’t want to give you any more nightmares.”
My mouth dropped open. “So you didn’t even fight for me because of that?”
“No, not just that. I…” He closed his eyes and breathed out slowly, gearing himself to say something he obviously dreaded. “I save people for a living. It’s what I do. But I…couldn’t save you. And to make it worse, the whole thing with Mandy was my fault.”
“Your fault?”
“Before I saw you in the library that first night, I…I flirted with her. No more than I did with other girls, but I hadn’t realized she was unstable and had taken any of it seriously.”
“So you’re saying you and Mandy were sleeping—”
“No. Of course not. Nothing ever came of it, but she got the wrong idea about me because I let her get the wrong idea. Just like everyone else around here.” He shook his head. “No one takes a playboy seriously. And my behavior with the women in this town hasn’t encouraged it. I’m sorry, sweetheart, but this was all my fault. I was doing what I thought was best…for you. To end things and let you move on without me.” He glanced behind him at the boxes stacked everywhere before his eyes landed back on me and he frowned. “But I don’t want you to leave. Damn it, Anna, I can’t lose you.”
Slack-jawed, I stood motionless and stared at him in silence for a full thirty seconds, waiting for a declaration of love or at the very least an honorable mention in the like department. But it didn’t come. As the realization sank in that he might never admit his feelings for me, I only blinked at him, which apparently wasn’t the reaction he expected.
He shifted his weight and sighed with annoyance. “Gonna leave me hanging or are you going to say something?”