Page 57 of Control (Everyday Heroes 3.50)
“That’s such a load of crap and you know it.”
“It’s me. Do you know anyone who I’ve kept around longer than a few weeks? It’s been a few weeks...so it’s only inevitable what’s going to happen next.”
“Next? If I were you, I’d kick me and Taylor out and go in there and thank that man properly for installing a security system. Mm-mmm-mmm,” she murmurs as she leans back in her chair so she can catch a glimpse of him. “Just his name—Reznor—it oozes sex and that bad-boy appeal and basically everything you love in a man...so the fact that you’re hitting that hottie only a few times and then backing away slowly says you like him more than you’re letting on.”
And this is the problem with having a friend who knows you so well. She sees through all of your bullshit lies. Even the ones you’re telling yourself.
“He’s here for a short time.”
“Exactly. Just how you like them—here and then gone—so tell me why you’re not taking advantage of him?”
Because he’s too close.
The thought repeats in my head later when the house is quiet and everyone has left. I walk back and forth in front of the infrared sensors Reznor installed just to watch them turn from green to red and back to distract me from thinking about my conversation with Emerson.
I’m not in love with Reznor.
She definitely has pregnancy brain if she’s thinking that.
I can’t be.
And yet one particular part of the conversation keeps replaying in my mind.
“So Grant says he’s been trying to convince you to stay here in Sunnyville, Reznor.”
Reznor stopped mid-motion as he released the chuck on his electric drill and nodded. “He has indeed.”
“We’re not exactly a small town anymore. I know we’re not San Francisco, but we’ve grown a lot in the past few years. Now we have a lot more crazy,” she says and laughs. “Grant thinks having an experienced SWAT commander is a good thing. Besides, it’s safer here...and we have lots of wine.”
I’m here, I thought.
“It won’t be easy going back, that’s for sure,” he said as he looked at me, those brown eyes of his giving nothing away before looking back at Emerson. “But yeah, I’ll be going back. My guys need me.”
The pang of pain from his words hits me just as hard now as it did when he spoke them.
Maybe even harder. Because I hear other words about when he is leaving. It could be sooner unless I find something here that piques my interest enough to want to stay. And clearly, I haven’t piqued his interest.
Em was wrong.
Admitting that hurts just as deeply.
I glance out the window toward his place, where the soft glow of the light reflects against his closed curtains.
Want to know the best way not to have your heart broken, Desi?
Keep your guard up, heart closed, mind clear. In other words, don’t let yourself fall in love to begin with.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Reznor
“Coming,” I yell in response to the knock on the door. I set down the book I was reading and head to answer it.
I’m surprised when I open it and see Desi standing there, bright orange sundress on, and a smile on her lips. “Hi there.”
Jesus, that voice, that smile, does shit to my insides.
“Hi.” It takes me a second to see the plate of cookies she’s holding out to me. “You made me chocolate-chip cookies?” My stomach rumbles at the thought.
