“You’re not?”
“No. We’re just friends.”
They simply stared at each other for a tense long minute.
He had to summon the courage to tell her the truth.
“What happened?” she asked.
“It doesn’t matter,” he said, although Lola’s deception still stung. “And for the record Iwasgoing to tell you, but you didn’t take my calls for a while after the last case. And when I came to the station to find you, you were gone.” His breath heaved out. “And then I found you at the falls…”
Ellie’s eyes filled with tears. Cord was really worried now. Ellie never cried.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured, still confused.
Ellie’s lip quivered and she slapped his chest. “Why do sexy men have to be such big buffoons?”
He was getting whiplash. She’d called him a buffoon.
But she’d also said the word sexy. Granted, it didn’t exactly sound like a compliment. But hell, he’d go with it.
“You think I’m sexy.” A smile twitched at his lips, and he tilted his head to search her face. Shehadsaid sexy, hadn’t she?
She sighed, long-winded and exasperated. For a moment, he thought he’d messed up. Then her eyes began to sparkle. “Out of all that, that’s what you heard?”
She slid her hands around his neck and toyed with the hair at the nape of his neck.
“A buffoon, yes, and sexy… well…”
His gaze latched with hers, heat sizzling between them. A heat he’d felt for a long time.
One he hadn’t acted on before. One he should douse now.
The truth would do it. She needed a reality check. “I have scars, Ellie,” he murmured. “A lot of them.”
Emotions filled her eye then she pressed one hand to his chest. Then her own. When she spoke, her voice was so soft he barely heard her.
“So do I, Cord.”
They stood there for what seemed like forever. Staring into each other’s eyes. Questions lingering. Heat rising. His body beginning to tingle.
Her anger slowly faded. A smile creased her lips. Then a teasing sultry look softened her face.
God help him, but he lifted his hand and tugged the ponytail holder from her hair. Her lips parted. A breathy sigh escaped.
And he closed his lips over hers.
* * *
