Read Online Flashpoint by Suzanne Brockmann - Free Book Online Page B

now. You’re sorry you didn’t foresee that possibility. I’m into honesty, Nash, remember?”
    “Yeah.” He met her gaze only fleetingly. “I, uh, do remember.” He laughed softly. “God, this is awkward.”
    “Why?” she asked, and this time he really looked at her, with wariness and disbelief in his eyes, neither of which he tried to hide from her. “I’m serious,” she added. “Why should this have to be awkward?”
    Apparently she’d rendered him speechless.
    “I don’t know about you, but I had some really great sex that night,” she told him. “It was incredible. You’re very good in bed. I’m sorry if I implied otherwise when we were talking about Dave Malkoff—you just really pissed me off. And yeah, okay, it’s true, the first time
was
a little quick, but you more than made up for it later—”
    “Tess, stop. Look, you have every right to be angry—”
    “But I’m not,” she said. “I’m really not. I’m just . . . Yes, okay, I
am
, but not about what you think. I didn’t even realize it until Decker said you were here, until I saw you again.” She closed her eyes, wishing there was an easy way to explain. “I didn’t expect you to call me because we had sex that night, Jimmy. I expected you to call me because, well, I thought we were friends.”
    Tess opened her eyes and he was staring at the floor, jaw muscles jumping. When he glanced at her, his eyes were filled with chagrin. If it was an act, it was brilliant.
    “Are we really going to be able to do this?” he asked.
    “I am,” Tess said. “I’ve wanted this for too long to walk away from it now. And unless you’re going to let Decker go by himself into a city that’s been labeled ‘the terrorist capital of the world’—”
    “I’m not,” he said.
    “Well, there you have it,” she said. “It looks like we’re going to do this.”
    They were both silent then. Nash was looking at her now, really looking at her. He’d looked at her that same way, that night—as if he liked what he saw. And as if that surprised him.
    They both spoke at the same time, both cut themselves off.
    “I’m sorry,” Nash said. “Go ahead.”
    “No, you go,” she said.
    “I was just going to ask if there was any way we could be friends again.”
    Yeah,
right
. “Well, that depends on your definition of friends,” Tess countered evenly instead of bursting into disbelieving and near hysterical laughter. “Because I was just going to say that there’s absolutely no way I’m ever going to sleep with you ever again. Not in this lifetime.”
    He nodded. “Of course. I . . . I understand.”
    Did he really? Tess doubted it. But there was no way she was going to explain that she couldn’t keep sex separate from her emotions—the way he did—without revealing that she’d fallen a little bit in love with him that night. She might’ve been able to keep her heart out of it if it really had been a casual encounter—just relatively superficial small talk, some laughter, and an orgasm or two—the way she’d expected. But Nash had
talked
to her. He’d said things she’d never expected to hear him say.
    They’d connected.
    Correction—she’d thought they’d connected. He’d merely played her. Although why he’d done that, she wasn’t sure. She’d made the first move—he had to know she was more than willing.
    But maybe Jimmy Nash had gotten to the point where sexual conquests weren’t enough. Maybe he didn’t get off unless he knew he was going to break someone’s heart.
    Although hers had only been cracked.
    “So,” she said now. “Tell me what I need to know about you to pass myself off as your wife. Have we been married for long? What’s my name?”
    “My cover was that I was unattached, so you can keep Tess,” he said. “It’s easier that way. Although you’ll be Tess Nash, of course, to drive home the fact that we’re together.”
    “But Nash isn’t your real name,” she started to say, and as he