Where she’d gotten the idea that she wasn’t good enough for him, he had no fucking clue. And when he looked into her eyes and realized she actually believed the shit she’d just flung at him, it pissed him the hell off.
With his hands back at his hips, Jake glared back at her. “What the hell is that supposed to mean? Are you seriously going to stand there and feed me the whole ‘it’s not you, it’s me,’ line of bullshit?” He chuckled humorlessly and shook his head. “Sorry, sweetheart, but you’re gonna to have to do a hell of a lot better than that.”
Her beautiful, imploring eyes pleaded with him to believe her. “It’s true, Jake. It’s not you. You’re brave and confident. Trustworthy and honorable. You’re the best person I know, and I’m...” Her voice trailed off.
A stab of guilt from her choice of words shot through him, but Jake pressed on. Taking a step toward her, he asked, “You’re what, Liv? Do you honestly think you’re not all of those things and more?”
Olivia had always exhibited a level of confidence that Jake found both admirable and sexy as hell. But whatever she’d gone through on that Godforsaken island was doing its best to destroy her. The fuck he’d let that happen.
Switching tactics, Jake decided to go with one he’d used in the military. Far too many times, he’d witnessed the men or women under his command struggling to deal with things they’d seen or been forced to do while in combat. Those soldiers didn’t need someone spewing platitudes at them, and neither did Olivia.
He hated the thought of what he was about to do to her, but desperate times and all that shit. And Jake was way the fuck past desperate.
With his heart in his throat, he schooled his expression and asked coldly, “What happened to you?”
Picking up on the abhorrence in his tone, Olivia’s brows furrowed with both confusion and exasperation. “Excuse me?”
She was getting pissed. Good. Jake could handle Pissed-off Olivia. It was this broken down, self-doubting Olivia that was breaking his fucking heart. If he had to make her mad to bring her out of it, that’s exactly what he’d do.
Jake took a step forward, unwilling to let his true emotions show. “You heard me.” He ran his hand over his jaw, hoping she couldn’t see the way it shook. “Honey, I get that you’ve been through hell, but the Olivia I know would be ranting on and on about it. She’d be shouting at the top of her lungs, demanding justice and plotting against those responsible, not...” He swallowed down a healthy dose of guilt and forced the words out, “not standing around having a fucking pity party.”
Olivia flinched back, as if he’d struck her. The pain flashing through her widened eyes was like a dull, jagged knife slowly tearing through Jake’s heart. He was about to throw himself at her feet and beg for forgiveness when Olivia’s look of pain morphed into an unhinged fury.
With her hands in fists at her sides, she yelled, “A pity party?”
I’m so sorry, baby. “That’s right. You’re going to stand there and tell me you’re not good enough for me, and all because of what? Some assholes decided to blow everyone in your camp away and take you captive?”
She flinched again, making him feel lower than dirt, but he couldn’t stop now. Enunciating every word, Jake drove his point home.
“It. Wasn’t. Your. Fault. You have to accept that and stop blaming yourself for something you had no control over.”
Olivia stormed toward him, not stopping until they were nearly nose-to-chin. “You self-righteous, egotistical asshole!” She poked him hard in the chest. “You have no idea what I’ve been through, so don’t you dare stand there and judge me for how I’m dealing with it!”
Jake’s own anger—at the men who’d hurt her, at Olivia for holding back on what they could have together, at himself and the entire fucked-up situation—burst through.
“You’re right, Liv,” he yelled back. “I don’t know everything, because you won’t tell me!”
He felt like a total prick, but dialing back his emotions was impossible.
“Every time I try to get you to talk about it, you either clam up or change the subject. What happened to the woman who wasn’t afraid to take chances? The one who’d go after what she wanted with a vengeance and stop at nothing until she got it? Where's the woman who would fight for what was right and just, no matter who or what she had to go up against? That’s the Olivia I know. So, where is she now? What happened to the Olivia I know and lo—”
Fuck! He sucked in a breath, stopping just short of professing his love for her. Now was definitely not the time for those words.
Catching him off guard, Jake stumbled back a step when Olivia slammed both of her palms against his chest. “You bastard!”
She turned and walked a few steps away, stopping just before the cave’s entrance. Jake watched as she wrapped her arms around herself. It should be my arms around her.
“I am a bastard,” he admitted in a low voice from behind her. “Grade-A. I’m also right, and you know it. Come on, Liv,” he closed the gap between them, barely managing to keep his hands to himself this time. “Baby, talk to me. Please.”
After several agonizing seconds, Olivia slowly turned back around, tears falling steadily over her cheeks. The fight in her eyes was gone, and the sight ripped him the fuck apart.
“The Olivia you speak so highly of?” She shook her head. “She doesn’t exist.” Liv licked a teardrop from her top lip and added, “Apparently, she never did.”
It was Jake’s second what the fuck moment in a matter of minutes. “What the hell are you talking about? You’re the most—”
“I froze, okay?” Olivia’s raised voice cut him off, bouncing off the cave’s walls. “Is
