She glanced over at his truck, which was parked two spaces down. Although she didn’t come out and say it, given the way she angled her head, she was asking him a question.

“I can’t.” Jim took a step back. “I’m sorry.”

Devina hugged that white mink closer to her chest. “Didn’t you like last night?”

“Of course I did. But I know him now, and no matter what you say in this moment, you will regret it later.”

There was a long, tight moment; then Devina nodded and slowly sank into the bucket seat. Instead of closing the door or pulling the belt across herself, though, she just stared out over the steering wheel, the lights of the dash illuminating her gorgeous face.

“I’m sorry, Jim. I don’t know why I asked…. It’s not fair to you or him or me. I’m just so empty that I’m making bad choices and not acting right.”

Shit, he knew exactly what that was like. “It’s okay. People do that.”

He crouched down so he could look into her eyes, and as he did, he got pissed with Vin. Didn’t the guy know what he had? For fuck’s sake, no one was perfect, and the spat they’d just had in the club proved that on both sides. But come on.

“Look, Devina, have you talked to him? Tried to explain…” Goddamn it, Jim couldn’t believe the f-word was about to come out of his mouth. “Have you tried to explain how you’re feeling?”

“He’s always so busy.” Her eyes were dark and deep as she looked over. “But maybe you would speak to him for me? Tell him that I love him and I want to be with him—”

“Wait…whoa…” Okay, that was almost as bad an idea as their having sex again. “I’m not the kind of guy—”

“Please. Jim, please. It’s clear he likes you, and believe me, that doesn’t happen all that often. You could just tell him that you and I talked out here and that I miss him even though he’s in my life. I mean, I’m not a fool. I know what kind of man he is. Making money is always going to be important to him, and there are benefits to being with someone like that. But there has to be more.” Her eyes seemed to flash. “Don’t you think there has to be more to life, Jim?”

As he felt that ensaring pull reach out and grab onto him, he got to his feet. “Yeah, but you need to be saying those things yourself.”

For a moment he thought he saw something hard flash in her eyes, but then she nodded again and stretched the seat belt across her breasts.