This was the first time he'd been angry with her. Even when she chose Matt it had been disappointment and possibly a little pettiness. This time, though, his frustration and concern had turned into something different.
She should trust him by now. He shouldn't have to beg her to listen to him. There was not backing down from a fight, and there was being foolhardy, and Dani's attitude fell into the latter category. He admitted, he was a little pleased and proud to know that she had gone full Santino with Agent Bennet, but she didn't understand how ruthlessly the Feds operated and what the stakes were at this level - how could she? No one normal could, really.
He felt the first flare-up of irritation and frustration when she reproached him for getting her involved in the investigation in the first place. How could she both get angry at him for avoiding her AND blame him for this? He had suffered for months trying to protect her, and only because of her threat of leaving him altogether did he relent and tell her most of what was going on. He didn't hide his bitterness when he reminded her of that. That seemed to register on her, but when he pushed her to step back and let him handle this, she insisted that she would handle it herself. She said she was going rogue, which under any other circumstance would have made him laugh fondly, but here her naivety was not charming, it was foolish.
He allowed himself to take out some of his frustration on Bennet in the parking lot, but he ended up committing to getting more evidence so that the FBI would leave Dani alone. He'd gone from protecting himself and getting the job done to protecting Dani, protecting TK, protecting Hutch, and protecting Crabchek - she had made his life so much more complicated.
He was downright livid when he found out - from Paloma, no less - that she had been being blackmailed by Troy. The reasons why this disturbed him were many: Did she not understand how dangerous Troy was, or V3 was? Carl had committed suicide, Crabchek and Hutch had given up their professional careers, and there were millions of dollars laundered through the company. That didn't even factor in that a professional athlete had kissed her against her will - what if Troy had wanted the pictures to be more damning than merely a kiss?
She wanted to stay there because she felt loyal to her clients and Paloma. He couldn't - and wouldn't - be doing the same. She still wanted to know what happened to Hutch, which he got, but thanks to TK she didn't need to remain there to do that, which he told her. When she realized that he had warned TK, her face softened, which helped to mollify his anger a little bit, and to encourage him to say what was really hurting him: that she needed to trust him. Her reply - that she was trying - hurt, but at least she was finally acknowledging that she didn't entirely. At this point he was really struggling for composure, and he knew he was at the same point she had been at the other night - he couldn't go through this again. He threw it all out there: "I have a ticket to Dallas in my pocket." and then he waited. Her response - that he couldn't leave - wasn't enough, so he pressed on: "Why not?"
A million years passed while he waited to see if she would dodge his question (an answer in itself) or respond. Then a look went over her face he hadn't seen before, and then she kissed him. This kiss was different - it was passionate, but there was purpose in it. When they pulled apart, he was dazed - a feeling he recognized from that long-ago first kiss outside in the garden. She wasn't. Not this time. She smiled at him, gave him a knowing look, and walked away. For a split-second he was confused, then he saw her walk slowly up the stairs, letting the silky robe fall to the ground.
She was supremely confident, and she had made up her mind. This was really happening.