“Who would do that?”
She shrugged. “It’s overly dramatic, but I’m making a point. If you want this to work, you have to trust me. I have to be more to you than comfort.”
“You are,” he promised softly. “And I won’t ever listen to Dre again. Well, not if he’s trying to keep me away from his sister. I don’t think he’s going to be mad about this, though.” He winced. “I might have asked his permission to go after you when I came to DC, and he might have laughed his ass off that you had a boyfriend. He told me to try again later. I don’t think he’s totally against it, but you should know that even if he had been, I would have taken my chance at some point.”
She wished she could completely believe him. “I wish you had come to me with your troubles. Even when I visited you in the hospital, you told me you were fine.”
“And I made you sit and play games with me. I came up with excuses for you to not leave.”
She shook her head. “You can’t do that now. That’s not the way to have a relationship with me. You have to tell me what you need. It’s the only way I’ll feel comfortable asking you for what I need. I’m giving you a chance. If all you want is to spend a couple of months enjoying each other’s company while you save yours, then I’m okay with that. I’ll be honest, I’ll probably sleep with you because I enjoyed it, but I’ll understand what this is.”
“And if what I want is to be such a good husband you won’t ever want to leave me?”
“Then you have to let me in,” she said. “You have to tell me how you feel and when you hurt. You have to trust me.”
“I trust you more than I trust anyone.”
“Then you have to learn to trust me more.” It was time to see if he could open up a bit. She’d noticed something. “You seemed to struggle when you were sleeping.”
She’d drowsed, but mostly she’d lain in bed and thought about what had happened. And then she’d watched him while he slept. He’d grimaced as though having a bad dream, and he’d muttered something about not wanting to go.
He seemed to breathe her in for a moment. “I was dreaming about the accident. One minute I was walking along, heading toward city hall. I was coming to see you that day. I was going to convince you to work on a project with me. I was going to ease my way into your world. So I was walking along and happy and then I was fighting for my life.”
She’d only heard about the accident. She hadn’t been there. Hallie’s mom had a heart attack while driving, and she’d lost control of her SUV. Hallie almost lost her baby girl, and it was only Lila LaVigne’s swift action that saved any of them.
“Gertie didn’t tell me you had an appointment that day.” She remembered how terrified she’d been when she’d heard Rene had been hurt and that they were taking him to the hospital hours away. She’d run down to the site, but he’d already been taken in the ambulance.
“I didn’t make one because I thought you would duck out on me. I was tired of waiting. I was going to bring you a project and use the time we spent together to get close to you again.” He shifted and suddenly she found herself on her back on the bed with Rene looming over her. “I sat there on the sidewalk while I was bleeding out and all I knew was that I’d wasted the best part of my life by walking away from you. I don’t know that I would do it again. I think if I went back, I might let the selfish part of me win, and then we could have been married for years.”
This was a much better way to deal with her. Maybe he could learn. “You don’t know that would have happened. Maybe I would have told you I wasn’t interested in you back then.”
A slow, sexy smile curled his lips up. “Oh, you were interested. I was there. I remember everything about that night.”
Her body was already heating up again, and she wanted to let all her doubts go because she wanted this to work. “You’re older than me. I’m the youngster, remember? I think your memory might be going.”
He leaned over and kissed her. “If I’m old, then I should make up for lost time.” He sobered slightly. “I want to make this work. I don’t ever want you to feel like I don’t want you.”
What if this was his version of love? Rene was surprisingly wounded, and he didn’t seem to understand how to ask for her help. Maybe Hallie was right and she needed to be patient.