she could throw up in private.
“You two probably want to catch up,” she said with what she hoped was a smile. “Don’t let me keep you.”
Not her most subtle moment, she thought. But she wasn’t in a position to be picky.
“Are you all right?” Justice asked.
“Peachy.”
His frown deepened.
Not knowing what else to do, she walked over to the front door and held it open. “You should show Felicia around town. Fool’s Gold is really lovely this time of year.”
“I’ve seen some of the town,” Felicia said happily. “It’s charming.”
“Isn’t it?” Patience motioned to the exit. “And it’s waiting for you to go explore. Bye-bye.”
Justice hesitated for a second, then walked out. Felicia paused to smile at Patience.
“It was wonderful to meet you. I look forward to spending more time together.”
“I can’t wait,” Patience lied, then slammed the door shut behind them.
Silence was everywhere. Silence and pain and the sense of having been a complete idiot.
The facts were really simple. Justice had lied when he’d moved to Fool’s Gold all those years ago, and he was lying now. Okay, withholding was more accurate, but so what? In the end, he hadn’t told her the truth. Not about who he was or why he was around.
A case could be made that while he was in the witness protection program, he couldn’t be honest. But since then? He’d never called, never come to see her. That was a really big clue about his character.
She drew in a breath and paced the length of the store. Okay, she could figure this out. She’d had sex. She’d been smart and insisted on protection, so she wasn’t pregnant. Basically a man she found attractive had given her fantastic orgasms. Yes, he was also a complete dirtbag, cheater, liar, skunk-dog. So based on this new clarification of his character, her choices were really simple. Keep pining for said skunk-dog or find a functioning brain cell and move on.
Which would be easier said than done, she thought grimly. But she was tough. Or if she wasn’t, she would be by the time she was over him. And over him she would get. She’d already been to this dance with Ned, and there was no way she was going back.
* * *
JUSTICESTOOD ON the sidewalk with Felicia. “Where do you want to start? A tour of the town? Or would you rather go to your hotel?”
“I’ve already been to the hotel,” she told him. “I went there first.”
“You found it.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Yes, I was able to manage the drive here all by myself and then locate a hotel. My ability to navigate public roads has never been called into question before.”
He laughed, then pulled her in for a hug. “It’s really good to see you.”
She sighed. “It’s nice to be missed.”
He released her and they started walking down the sidewalk. “Knowing you, it would be silly of me to tell you anything about the town’s history.”
“Of course. While scholars disagree on the original settlers, the first documented residents were the Máa-zib tribe, a matriarchal society. In the 1300s, the women migrated north, seeking a life away from their Mayan roots.”
Felicia kept talking, but Justice tuned her out easily. A habit born of practice, he thought contentedly. Felicia was one of the smartest people in the world. But with brilliance came a need to share what she knew, and that could get old.
On the bright side, she had one of the best minds for logistics he’d ever seen. She’d joined his special forces unit as a support member. Give her a time and place and Felicia could get anything, anywhere in the world. She would anticipate delays and plan for the unexpected. She was so good that when they had joint task force operations with other branches of the military, she was the one who ran the logistics.
She was also socially awkward and a little bossy, but he could put up with that. If Patience was the girl he left behind, Felicia was his family. They’d been close nearly from the first day they’d met. His favorite sister, he thought. They knew and understood each other.
They walked past City Hall and turned left.
“Where are you taking me?” she asked, breaking off her lecture on the history of the town.
“To Starbucks. You need a mocha. You’re always in a better mood after you’ve had chocolate.”
“I’m in a good mood now.”
Some guy walking in the other direction glanced at her and did a double take. Justice sighed. “Why’d you have to go and have that surgery? You were fine before.”
She looked at him. “Fine. Words to incite excitement in every woman’s heart. You know what it was like for me. No man would look at me. I didn’t enjoy not having a social life. I want to be like everyone else.” Her voice turned wistful. “At least as much as I can be.”
“There was nothing wrong with you.”
“You don’t like the idea of me having a social life.”
“I worry about you. Look what happened in Thailand.”
Felicia glared at him. “Not as much happened as I would have liked. You broke down the hotel door. What were you thinking? People knock.”
“I didn’t know what he was doing to you.”
“You had a good idea. I’m all grown up, Justice. You have to accept that.”
“Not really,” he said cheerfully.
Felicia had only been nineteen when they’d started working together. She’d grown up in the sheltered world of academia, always around kids older than herself. Because of that she’d never had many friends, hadn’t been on a date. Justice had been open to being one of the former, if not the latter. He’d taken her under his wing, had made sure the other guys stayed in line.
Five years later she’d come to him, begging him to consider getting drunk and sleeping with her. It wasn’t that she’d been madly in love with him; it was that she was tired of, as she put it, not being like everyone else. He’d refused as gently as he could. They’d been in Thailand at the time. Two days later she’d picked up a guy in a bar and gone back to his room.
Justice had rescued her, but it had been a little too late. When he’d tried to yell at her, she’d told him to stay out of her sex life. As it wasn’t a place he wanted to be, he’d agreed. The only problem was, the guy from the hotel was currently living in Fool’s Gold.
Justice knew he had to tell her. The question was when and how. Oh, and could he walk away without any life-threatening injuries? While Felicia didn’t have half his skills, she fought dirty and he couldn’t bring himself to put up much of a fight with her.
