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she’d hit Anna, she’d been avoiding him. The only time he saw her was at meetings. When he tried to come to her bedroom at night to talk, the door was locked. Not wanting to force the issue, he hadn’t insisted she open the door as he wanted to.
    He raked his fingers through his hair. “Look, I’ll take care of my issues before we go out, but in the meantime, you’re going to have to learn to work as a team if we’re to get this mission accomplished properly. I don’t have time to stand around here and argue about something this petty when I’m more interested in getting the entire team in and out of the city alive.” Jack walked away from Bennett before he could respond. He knew he probably shouldn’t have reacted so strongly to the other man’s assertion, but it bothered him that other people seemed to realize his distraction as well.
    This wasn’t going to work until he could clear the air with Sydney. He saw her standing in the corner talking to Holly and Chase. Striding over to them, he nodded in Chase and Holly’s direction and took Sydney by the arm, guiding her out of the room.
     
     
     
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    Though she didn’t protest, he could tell she was annoyed at him for dragging her away in the middle of a conversation with her friend. He didn’t stop until they were in the library with the door closed behind them.
    Sydney wrenched her arm out of his grasp and rubbed it. “Do you mind telling me what that was about? If you didn’t notice, I was in the middle of a sentence.”
    “If it’s important, I’m sure you’ll make time to discuss whatever issue you had later. Right now, I think it’s time for you and me to have a little talk.”
    “If it’s about what I did to Anna, I’ve already tried to apologize but she wasn’t interested, not that I blame her. What I did was inexcusable and nothing you can say can make me feel worse than I already do.”
    “No. Actually I wanted to talk to you because you’ve been avoiding me. If it’s because of the Anna incident, I’m not mad at you.”
    “Then why did you bring me in here? We should probably be getting some rest before the mission.”
    “I don’t think a few more minutes will hurt anything, unless you’re not willing to give me that.”
    Sydney sighed. “Look, Jack, I’m exhausted. It’s been a long day and frankly I’m not in the mood to talk.”
    She wouldn’t look him in the eye, but her chin jutted forward in a stubborn show of defiance. He recognized it as a defense mechanism for her and it saddened him a bit to know she was still building walls between them. Just when Jack believed he was making progress with her, she’d set things back to square one.
    Something inside of him snapped. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt he was in love with Sydney, but if she wasn’t willing to give an inch, there was no hope for them. Jack couldn’t take any more of her passive aggressiveness. He’d had enough.
    “I’m tired of this shit, Sydney. I really am. You tell me you’re going to make a conscious effort to give us a try, but you avoid me when I seek you out. You don’t want to open up, yet you make demands of me which I’ve complied with. Do you know how painful it’s been for me at night? My cock is so damn hard I ache. Yet, I haven’t pressed
     
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    you for sex. You punched Anna out in a roomful of people. She was hysterical, by the way, and said either you went or she did. Believe me when I tell you I spent a considerable amount of time trying to calm her down. Obviously you had your reason for doing it, but you won’t share it with me. I can’t do this anymore.”
    “I see.” Her head was still bowed. Was that all she could say?
    It hurt, but now that the words were out he couldn’t take them back. “Don’t you have anything other than that to say?”
    “What else would you like me to say? You’ve pretty much said everything that needed to be spoken.”
    “So you’re willing to end things right here and now.” She