Freddie slammed the door and did his best to situate his injured arm. The pain left him feeling sweaty and sick.

“You look like shit.”

“Thanks.”

“The doctor told you to take it easy. It’s too soon to be back at work.”

“I’ve already got my mother and Sam bitching at me. I don’t need it from you, too.”

She abruptly pulled over. “Then why don’t you get one of them to drive you home?”

Startled, he ventured a glance at her and was surprised to see that she was genuinely pissed.

“Yeah, I shut your phone off. Yeah, it’s my fault you got shot. I get it. Now maybe you can get over it. If you can’t, you’ll have to find someone else to be your bitch. I’ve had enough.”

“I don’t blame getting shot on you,” he said haltingly, stunned and unnerved by her outburst.

“Right.”

“I don’t.”

“You could’ve fooled me. I put up with your crankiness when you were in the hospital and when you got home because I blamed myself. But I figure my debt is about paid up at this point.”

Suddenly, Freddie didn’t want to lose her. He wasn’t ready for this—whatever it was—to be over. “You’re right. I’ve been a shit to you, and I’m sorry.” He brushed at imaginary lint on his jeans. “I wasn’t prepared for this to be more than just…”

“Sex?”

Shrugging, he said, “I thought we’d have some fun, and then go our separate ways.”

“No reason we can’t.”

“I don’t want that,” he said, reaching for her hand. “We haven’t had nearly enough fun yet.”

“So you want more sex, and then you’ll cut me loose?”

“I don’t know what you want me to say, Elin. I like you. I like being with you. That’s the part I wasn’t expecting.”

She stared out the windshield. “I like being with you, too.”

“You sound surprised.”

“I was in it for the sex, too,” she confessed.

“So you’re using me,” he joked. “I see how it is.”

“You were using me, too!”

His eyes met hers. “All I know is that from the first time I met you during the O’Connor investigation, I wanted you. I thought about you, and I wanted you.”

“I wanted you, too. Just as much.”

“So what do we do now?”

“You’re really done being a shit?”

Freddie winced. “I’m done.”

She replied with a coy grin. “Then you wanna go home and have some fun?”

He hesitated.

“What?”

“The last time I had that kind of fun, it didn’t work out so well.”

“It worked out great until you got pissed and left.”

“Yeah. I guess.”

“So what’s the problem?”

“I want to tell you, but you might think I’m weird or something.”