Page 53 of Ace of Spades

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“I’ll do it.”

Nate had known she would, but he didn’t like it. He’d argued with Pauline when she’d suggested it. He also didn’t like the dread he saw in Taylor’s eyes. “Why don’t you think about it overnight before making a decision?”

“No. I need to do this.” She came back to the sofa. “The sooner the better.”

“I’ll set it up.”

“Will you come with me?”

“Of course.” There was no way he’d let her go through that alone. Surprising him, she stretched out her legs, resting her feet on this thigh. “Looking for a foot rub, tiger?”

She smiled. “That would be nice.”

The tension that had existed between them the past several days had eased in the last few minutes, but there was more they had to talk about. What he had to say would probably put them back on edge, and he almost let it go. He didn’t want to be at odds with her, but he owed it to her to tell her why they couldn’t be anything more than friends.

“I missed that, you know.”

“What’s that?” He stroked his thumb along the bottom of her foot, eliciting a moan from her that sent his blood streaming straight south. She had pretty feet. The skin was soft, and her cherry-red toenails drew his attention. He’d never in his life sucked on a woman’s toes, had never wanted to. Inexplicably, he wanted to lick hers.

“You calling me tiger.”

He gently set her feet aside. “I can’t ...” How did you tell a woman you wanted her but you couldn’t let yourself have her?

“Call me tiger?” She pulled her legs up under her. “Fine then, don’t.”

He was screwing this up. “That’s not what I meant.” He swiped his hand over his face. “I’ll never marry.” There, he’d said it.

“Me either, but what does that have to do with anything?”

“It’s why I don’t do relationships. Women fall in love. They want to get married. They want children.”

“Okay.” She scrunched her brows together. “Out of curiosity, why?”

“Won’t I ever marry?” She nodded. “Because ...” Man, this was hard to admit. He stood, going to the fish tank. Maybe that was why she kept a fish. So she’d have something to look at when she said things she’d never dreamed of talking about. “Because I’m afraid I’ll lose my temper someday and hurt my family. If I had one.”

“Nate?”

“Yeah?”

“Turn around and look at me.”

He obeyed, pushing his fingers into the pockets of his jeans.

“Have you ever lost your temper enough to hurt your brothers? Have you ever hit them in anger?”

“No.”

“Have you ever hit anyone?”

Instead of answering, he said, “Did you know that around thirty-five percent of abused children grow up to be abusers? It’s what we know, Taylor. All we know about how to behave in a relationship.”

“I don’t believe you’d hit anyone in anger.”

He snorted. “Shows what you know. I almost killed my father.”

“If that’s true, then you had a good reason.” She patted the sofa’s seat. “Come here.”