The drive was long and quiet. Baymac didn’t speak, and Grace didn’t want to bother him because the roads were still really bad. Hell, she didn’t think they were going to be able to make it to the highway from Kris and Mary’s house. Once there, the roads hadn’t been plowed at all, but Baymac pushed the truck onward with a fierce determination that was deflating. It was almost like he didn’t want to spend any more time holed up in the house with her. Wrapping her arms tighter around herself to ease the hollow feeling in her middle, she watched the snowy pines out her window. Did he use me for sex? It didn’t make sense. He was too damn gorgeous to need to waste his time with her. She knew he could have his pick of any female, but she couldn’t place why he’d suddenly shut down on her.
Still staring out the window she asked, “Did I do something wrong?”
“No.”
She waited, and when he offered nothing else she turned to look at him. “What happened? Why are you so different now?” She watched his jaw tick.
Finally he responded. “I messed up, Grace. We shouldn’t have…” He shook his head hard. “I shouldn’t have shown you those things. It wasn’t my place.”
That had her guts twisting. “You…you didn’t enjoy it?”
“Of course I enjoyed it,” he snapped, shooting her a dark look before dragging his eyes back to the road. “Your body is…” His words died off, and she saw his stomach clench through his form-fitting thermal shirt. “Last night was the best night of my life, Grace, and that’s the problem. I was sent to retrieve you. I’m on the clock. This isn’t supposed to be fun. It’s work.”
His words felt like a slap. She jerked her head toward the window. “I’m just a job to you. I get it.”
“You don’t get it, and I can’t explain it to you. All I can say is that we need to distance ourselves from each other before something happens.”
“Something already happened,” she gritted out angrily.
“Something bigger,” he warned. “Roads are still too bad to get you to Glacier, but I can get you to StoneCrow, and from there Monroe can take charge.”
“So, you’re passing me off?”
When she looked at him, he turned and gave her a dead stare. “Was always the plan, Grace.”
Something cold and dreadful filled her stomach, and Grace wanted to puke. She’d shared something with Baymac. It was something wonderful and special, something no one else had shared with her before, and now he was acting like it was nothing. Maybe it was nothing to him, but it had been everything to her. Well, up until ten seconds ago. Now, she wanted away from him just as badly as he apparently wanted away from her.