Anika stepped back. His nearness made her jittery. Actions speak louder than words, the saying went. She’d observed his actions and believed he cared. Then his words had cut herintwo.
“Towhatend?”
“Anika—”
“You hurt me, Reed. Yes, I know we spent less than a week together, but you hurt me. You helped me get over my boyfriend and heal from his rejection, then you twisted the knife in me again.” Anika took a deep breath. She was gettingemotional.
“You never told me why the two of youbrokeup.”
“The reason doesn’t matter.” She clasped her shaking hands together. “Bottom line, I don’t trust you, and I’m not convinced you’re not the same kind of man simply because yousayso.”
“I am different. And what I feel for youisreal.”
“What you feel for me? After all this time, what do you think thatis?Lust?”
“Not just lust,” he said with a flash of anger. “It wasn’t just lust then and it’s not simply lust now.” His jaw hardened. “I don’t know how to explain, but for the past seven years, I’ve thought about you and wondered where you were and if you were okay. I panicked, because you represented change I wasn’t ready to embrace. I can see all of that clearly now, but Icouldn’tthen.”
“I’m so happy for you, but that’s not my problem. I just want to do my job and move on. Please don’t make this difficult for me. If you prefer, I could see if Laura would reassign yourproject—”
“No!” He looked at heraghast.
“Then you have to respect my request to stop.” Her hands fisted at her sides and her voice got louder as desperation sank its savage claws into her. “I don’t want to explore a relationshipwithyou.”
“Respect your wishes.” He laughed softly,bitterly.
“Or I’ll ask to have youreassigned.”
“You want to get away from me that bad,princess?”
The softly spoken endearment was almost her undoing. He definitely wasn’t playing fair. “Only if youpersist.”
His face cemented into hard lines. “Understood.”
Their gazes locked as her heart battered herchest.
“Hello there!” A cheery salutation broke the stare off. It came from a dark-haired woman who’d walked up carrying a toddler in her arms. A little girl who appeared to be about five years old rode ahead on a scooter with ahelmeton.
“Hi, Dharma.” Reed didn’t bother summoning a smile for hisneighbor.
She was all smiles, however. “Hello, Reed.” Her eyes swept his tall frame, full of feminineappreciation.
Reed introduced bothwomen.
“An interior designer. How fascinating. Making some changes to thehouse?”
“A few things,” Reed muttered. Clearly uninterested in the conversation, he kept his attention onAnika.
“I can’t use your services right now, but I’m sure one of my friends could at some point. Nothing too drastic, you understand. The women I’m thinking about are in the same boat as me—divorced, single moms who don’t have a spare nickel.” Dharma laughed, slanting a glance at Reed to gauge his reaction. He ignored her. “Do you have any cards with you?” sheasked.
“I do.” Anika retrieved three from her purse. “Here you go.” She handedthemover.
“Thank you so much. I’m sure I’ll be sending business your way in the near future.” She hoisted her son higher on her hip. “Reed, I hope we’ll see you at the neighborhood Easter party. It’s a lot of fun, and I’m sure Brielle will enjoy it. The kids have a blast hunting for the eggs. And we still have to set up a play date for ourgirls.”
“I’ll workonthat.”
“Anika, it was nice to meet you.” She walked away, calling out to her daughter, “Honey, slow down. Don’t get too far aheadofme.”
“There’s the relationship you should explore,”Anikasaid.
