BEHIND HIS WALLS

Chapter 13

Sean was different on Monday.

Not cruel. Not even cold. Just distant. Careful.

It was as though the door he'd accidentally opened on Friday night had slammed shut again, and this time he was determined to lock it from the inside. He no longer lingered after meetings, no longer allowed those small, unnecessary moments between them to stretch beyond what was required. He stopped bringing her coffee, and their conversations became strictly professional, limited to the Halloran case and nothing else.

Mara noticed every change.

She tried not to.

She told herself that perhaps she was imagining it, that Sean was simply busy, that the pressure of trial was making him more focused than usual. But by Wednesday, she couldn't pretend anymore.

She caught him alone after a meeting and followed him into his office before she could talk herself out of it.

"Did I do something?"

Sean stopped.

"No."

"You've barely looked at me for three days."

He said nothing.

Mara swallowed, trying to keep her voice steady. "Friday night, you told me something you said you'd never told anyone. You trusted me with something personal, and now you're acting like it never happened."

His jaw tightened.

"Friday was a mistake."

The words hurt more than she expected.

"A mistake?"

"I said things I shouldn't have said."

"To me?"

"To an associate." His voice became formal, controlled, almost painfully detached. "Someone on my team."

Mara stared at him, unable to believe the distance he'd managed to create in only a few days.

"That's not what Friday was."

"Mara."

Her name came out quietly, almost pleadingly, and for a moment she caught a glimpse of the man she'd seen beneath the walls on Friday night.

"I have a responsibility to this team," he continued. "To you. You're my associate. I'm your supervisor."

He looked away, his expression tightening.

"I crossed a line."

"You didn't."

"I did."

You trusted me."

Sean closed his eyes briefly, as though those three words had struck somewhere he hadn't been prepared to defend.

"That's exactly the problem."

Mara's heart sank.

He opened his eyes and looked at her again.

"I can't do this."

She stared at him.

"What is this?"

He didn't answer.

He didn't have to.

She already knew.

Fear.

Sean was afraid. Afraid of what trusting someone again might cost him. Afraid of letting someone close enough to hurt him. Afraid that whatever was beginning between them would eventually become another reminder of everything he'd lost.

And instead of admitting that fear, he was pushing her away.

"Please," he said softly.

Mara swallowed the ache rising in her throat.

"Okay."

She nodded slowly.

"If that's what you need."

She turned and walked out of his office before he could see how much the conversation had affected her.

Her hands were shaking by the time she reached her desk. She sat down, stared at the documents in front of her, and tried to convince herself that she was fine.

She wasn't angry.

That would have been easier.

Instead, she was hurt because she finally understood.

Sean wasn't pushing her away because he didn't feel anything.

He was pushing her away because he did

And somehow, that hurt even more.