Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 86020 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86020 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
But he couldn’t say it.
And didn’t that mean they were right back where they’d been before she’d knocked on his door last night? Right back where they’d been all along? With her wanting more than he could ever give?
* * *
Okay. He could handle this. He wanted to go back to bed and make love to her all over again. Make her scream all over again.
But she wanted to take the dog for a walk.
All right. He could deal with that. He wouldn’t pressure her. Especially after last night. He couldn’t push her and ask if what they’d done last night meant as much to her as it did to him. Last night, she’d said he was the missing piece to her puzzle. He’d taken that to mean so much.
But maybe it hadn’t meant as much as he wanted.
That was okay. He’d give her time. He wouldn’t push. He wouldn’t make her run away. And tonight he’d take her to bed again and show her over and over how much she meant to him.
But that would be tonight. For now, he said, “You know, we really need to hire an assistant for you. With you being in charge of the new project, we’re going to need more help. I’ll start looking for someone.”
He couldn’t read her expression. It was suddenly flat, not a single indication of what she was thinking.
Then she smirked. “Oh, no. I’m choosing my own replacement.”
She put both hands on the counter and levered off the stool. “I’ll take a shower and get dressed. Then I’ll take Rex for a walk before we get to work.”
Just like that, in the space of a moment where he hesitated about what to say, she was gone. He watched the empty doorway through which she’d disappeared.
Mentioning the assistant had been his way of giving her time. And letting her know she was his equal. It hadn’t been a way to avoid talking about his feelings.
But she was running away. Even though he could swear he hadn’t pushed her. But maybe he’d pushed over dinner, telling her the next move had to be hers. Setting up an expectation. And she had made her move. Except that this morning, she regretted it.
That day after the Maverick meeting when he’d thought she’d been about to quit on him was the closest to a heart attack he’d ever come.
Don’t push too hard, don’t ask too soon, just play it low-key.
All he could do now was wait and see. Even if the wait might kill him.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Cammie couldn’t flat out ask Dane, Do you love me? She just couldn’t. It would break her to ask. She’d laid her heart on the line last night when she’d told him he was the missing piece to her puzzle. What else could that mean except that her heart was only complete with him in it? Yet, even as perfect as last night had been, as out of this world, he hadn’t said he loved her.
Was Dane even capable of love after his upbringing? His parents had pretty much abandoned him and all his siblings when they were young. Something like that left irreparable damage. If that were so, they didn’t have a chance.
It hurt her head to think about it.
Sitting at her computer, she busily searched for an assistant for them both while she managed the special needs resort. The office suite, formerly the library, was a darkly paneled room, with bookcases floor to ceiling, a massive fireplace, and only two smallish windows looking out on the garden. Which made the entire room dark.
She could barely concentrate.
Especially with Dane sitting at his desk busily throwing a rubber ball for Rex. The dog went crazy, running into walls, rolling across the carpet, sliding on the hardwood that wasn’t covered by the rug. At any other time, she would have laughed at T. Rex’s antics. And Dane’s.
But it wasn’t any other time. It was the morning after he’d made glorious love to her.
And she could think of nothing else but why he hadn’t said he loved her.
The slam of the front door made them both jump.
“Good God,” Dane said, sitting up straight. “That can’t possibly be Fernsby.”
Of course it wasn’t. Fernsby would never slam a door. Yet who else could it be?
A moment later, the man himself stood in the office doorway. Grinning. The man who never smiled was actually grinning.
“I’m one of the contestants on the show.” His fist moved as if he wanted to punch the air and only barely held himself back. “I beat that scourge of the earth, Digbert.” He laughed, a raspy sound, as if his throat muscles didn’t know how to laugh. “He actually made croissants.” Glee trickled through his voice. “How did he get past the first round? Even one of your sister’s vegan monstrosities would have been better.”