He tried to regroup. “Nothing that wouldn’t take hours to unwind.”
Dammit.He knew exactly where his big mouth had just gotten him. He’d already discovered that Tabitha wasn’t the type to ignore a subject that was practically handed to her on a platter.
“Huh. Isn’t it nice, then,” she confirmed his suspicions, “that you have so much time on your hands. Me, too, actually. Which means we’ve got nothing to do but chat.” Tabitha waved an arm at his current man-cave.
Spencer groaned. “You really want to hear about all my stupid Achilleas-heel shit before you discover my…finer attributes?”
Tabitha made a “phhht” noise with her lips. “Spencer, I’ve already fantasized about your, uh, proficiencies,” she stated pointedly.
Her words made his cock twitch.
“And if I’m as good a judge of character as I think I am, that’s one area where youwon’tdisappoint.” She winked, then barely pausing for a breath after almost knocking his from his lungs, she continued. “What Idon’tknow is what drives you, what makes you tick, and why you have a job on a Merchant Marine vessel that your brother apparently didn’t know about.” She stared at him through the acrylic window separating them, almost daring him to deny her what she wanted to know.
“Shit. Has anyone ever told you you’re far too tenacious?” Spencer grumbled.
“All the time,” she agreed without remorse. “Just an hour ago, I do believe those were the Commander’s very words. Now, are we going to swap head-case stories, or drop it and simply go with a superficial, hot-sex-thing once you get out of seclusion?”
“I’m not… Wait.” Spencer played back what she’d just said, and nearly choked on his tongue.
“Uh, just to clarify,” he coughed. “Are we going to have sex?”
Yeah, that was the major issue on his mind at the moment, but he also had to get out his second question before he lost his ability to think altogether. “And are you saying you trust me enough that you’re going to share something with me that fucks upyourhead?”
Spencer couldn’t believe he was having this conversation. About sexorlong-buried secrets. It was…refreshing, after all the dancing around bullshit he’d done, not only with his family but with the few women in his past who’d wanted more than hecould give. In his book, when he got the go-ahead from a female, it was because of his Sothard good looks and his unending supply of charm. It was not to open his portfolio and give over deets on what made him tick. His family, on the other hand, was always too chaotic to pay close attention to individual needs.
But Tabitha… She reallydidwant the nitty gritty.
To say Spencer was blown away was an understatement.
He once again got her amazing laugh in response. It was something he wouldn’t mind hearing over and over.
“I think we’ve already gone past the ‘are-we-going-to-do-it’ question,” she assured him, dimpling up. “If I’m not mistaken, we both made overtures regarding that even before life-or-death reared its ugly head. I felt we were on the same page after we talked at dinner yesterday. But if I’m wrong, tell me and I’ll back off.”
“No. No.” Spencer held up a palm and placed it against the window. “You have that right,” he agreed.
She looked not only validated, but a little flushed. Which meant that as bold as Tabitha was, there still remained a part of her, deep down, that was unsure. Her vulnerability did even more to cement Spencer’s attraction.
“And the answer to your second question is yes,” she continued, clearly trying to ignore the pink she must know stained her cheeks, “If you tell me how it is you came to be on the Atlaua, I’ll share a few of my deep-dark secrets with you.”
Spencer didn’t need to think twice. He wanted Tabitha to be curious about him, and he wanted to know everything about her. He felt more than compelled to share.
“Deal,” he agreed.
But how to start? He’d fixated almost obsessively on his troubles, during the years before he’d joined up with the Merchant Marine. Since then, the head-space Spencer inhabited had been much better. He’d only let things cross his mindevery now and again. Being away from his family had made his concerns seem…not quite as dire. If he were honest with himself, he’d admit he should have made some noise; discussed his insecurities with his folks and his brothers before he’d left.
“Sometimes it’s just best if you spit it out,” Tabitha broke into his thoughts. “Don’t worry if what you say doesn’t follow a specific timeline or doesn’t seem to make sense. I’ll sort it out in my head.”
“I miss my family,” Spencer began with that truth. Something he’d been dancing around for months now. “All the chaos, all the unspoken competition. Hell, even the bickering. Now that I’ve been distanced from it for almost two years, I realize that I’ll never be able to duplicate that kind of love in any other place on earth.”
“Yeah. I get that,” Tabitha agreed, sagely, and Spencer wondered if that was part of her story, too.
“But when I was in the thick of things, I almost felt like I couldn’t breathe anymore.”
Tabitha was quietly canting her head to the open doorway.
“Wha…?
Ahh.She was letting him know with her eyes that they had an eavesdropper.
