| |
Clay knew he’d been a total asshole. His only excuse was that his defenses had been down. He’d lain awake most of the night with her on his mind.
Clay saw her silhouette against the morning sun the instant she climbed atop that damned ridge. It seemed wrong to see Bailey in a place where they'd had a dead body all that long ago.
He tensed.
Her hair was down. When it wasn't in one of those braids or a ponytail, it reached midway down her back. Pale silk, with just the touch of curl.
She wore faded jeans that hugged her scrawny little ass perfectly. He stared for a moment. Not at her ass, but at the whole picture. The way she sat told its own story. She looked so...hurt.
Broken. Confused.
In a way he didn't know how to fix. Was it because of what he'd done the night before? Or something more?
"Bailey?" Her name came out in a soft sigh. But she heard. She turned.
“Clay. Why are you here? Has something happened?”
“No. I just...wanted to stop by. Talk. I was in the neighborhood.”
“There’s not much past this place.”
No. She had him there. Anyone in this area was here for a damned good reason. “Hell, I’m here to apologize.”
“Oh.” Her arms crossed over her chest. She was putting up barriers between them. His fault.
He’d kept barriers between them from the very beginning.
He shoved his hands into his pockets. It was all that was keeping him from touching her. “I was just...angry.”
“At me. You’re always angry at me. And I don’t know why. I don’t know why I stay here either. Maybe because I needed to at first. I need to leave on my own terms, if I leave at all. My terms. No one else’s. I’m tired of others trying to be in charge of my life.”
There was such vehemence in her words Clay almost stepped backward. He had never intended to be in control of her life, or make her think that. “I’m not in charge of your life. I know that.”
“I don’t understand you.”
“I know.”
“It’s none of your business what I do with my life. I need you to stop confusing me. You want me sexually. You won’t do anything about it.”
“I know.” Everything she’d said was truth.
Bailey’s blue eyes bore into his. A world of confusion looked at him. “Then we need to keep to the boundaries. Until I leave—for Finley Creek. I’m going to talk to Elliot Marshall and Haldyn Harris today. I’ve already made an appointment with them when I’m finished with Kevin Beck and the crime scenes.”
“Hell, I don’t know why you bring out the asshole in me. I really don’t.” He wanted to touch her. Just reach up and wrap his fingers in that blond silk. Capture it from the wind that kept taunting it.
The resolve in her eyes had lead settling in his stomach.
“Guess I’m just lucky, then.” She picked her way over the rocks. She wobbled.
Clay reacted before he could stop himself. He put his hands on her waist and steadied her.
Bailey turned on him. “See. You’re a sexist at heart, Clay Addy.”
“I was just helping you.” What in the hell had he done wrong? Clay didn’t have a clue. Bailey had needed him and he’d reacted. Like he always would.
“But you wouldn’t help Jeremy or Jeff or Ralley. Because they’re men.”
Hell, that had nothing to do with it. He certainly hadn’t ever worried about his last female partner when in the field.
Or any other woman he had worked with.
It was just this woman he worked with. It would always be just Bailey. “Because they are not you. I don’t care what equipment the people I work with have. It’s you I want my hands on, Bailey. You. Bailey Jane Moore. No one else. And that is what makes me angry. Because I want you and there’s not a damned thing I can really do about it.”
Blue eyes flashed at him, and he knew he’d messed up again.
“Yes, there is. You’re just too afraid to do it.”
She stood and slid off the rock, picking her way back down to the ground. Clay followed.
She spun to look at him. “As soon as we close this case, I’m transferring to Finley Creek. You’ve won, Clay. I’m leaving you alone forever. You’ll never have to do anything about me again.”
Clay’s hands went around her before he could stop himself from moving.
He couldn’t lose Bailey. But he’d never really had her to begin with. His own damned fault. Bailey took off toward the house, leaving him staring after her.