‘Sure.’ Kate smiled brightly. ‘Nice to meet you, Mr Challender.’
‘You, too, Kate.’
The silence was as deafening as the applause had been only a few minutes ago.
Aiesha rolled her lips together, searching for something to say. ‘You should’ve told me you were coming. I could’ve got you complimentary tickets.’
His dark blue eyes held hers in an unreadable lock. ‘You know me. I don’t mind paying.’
Her cheeks still had a layer of bronzer on them but, even so, she was sure he would know she was blushing. ‘So, what brings you here? Did you have business in Berlin? It’s a lovely city, isn’t it? I’ve always wanted to come here. It’s weird because now I’m here I can’t walk down the street without worrying someone will recognise me from the tour poster.’ She was talking too much but at least it filled that ghastly silence. ‘That’s the price you pay for fame, huh?’
‘Is it everything you hoped for?’
She painted on a smile. ‘You would not believe the amount of money in my bank account. Oh, that reminds me.’ She turned and fished in her bag in the drawer under the make-up counter. ‘Ah, here it is. I knew I had it somewhere.’ She held the engagement ring out to him in her open palm and stretched her smile a little further. ‘I can buy my own jewellery now.’
He ignored the ring. ‘How are you?’
‘I’m fine. And you?’
‘I see your stepfather sold a pack of lies to the press,’ he said.
‘Yes, I’ve been expecting that for a while now. It’ll keep him in drink and cigarettes and drugs for a year or two.’
‘Are you going to do anything about it?’
She shrugged. ‘What can I do? Hopefully, it will blow away in a day or two.’
His brow was deeply furrowed. ‘But it could damage your reputation before you get your career properly launched. You’re only starting out. It could destroy what you’ve worked so hard for.’
Aiesha closed her fingers over the ring, barely noticing how it bit into the flesh of her palm. ‘You shouldn’t be here, James. People will talk.’
‘So? Let them talk.’
‘Your business will suffer.’ She dropped the ring on the counter next to her make-up kit, turning her back on him as she straightened the cosmetic brushes in a neat line. ‘Your reputation has a lot further to fall than mine. It could jeopardise your business.’
He let out an expletive and spun her around to face him. ‘Is that why you fed me that rubbish about not loving me?’
Aiesha looked into his glittering eyes. Tears were not far away in hers. They didn’t look far away in his, either. ‘Don’t make this any harder for me. I don’t belong in your life. I don’t belong in your world. I’ll bring you down, James. I’ll ruin everything for you. It’s already happening all over again.’
He pulled her up and crushed her to his chest. ‘You silly little goose.’ He kissed the top of her head, the side of her face, her chin, her nose and then finally a hot, hard kiss on her mouth. He held her from him, his eyes misty. ‘That song. That was for me, wasn’t it? I was the love you had to let go.’
Aiesha could barely speak for the emotions that were rising like a tsunami in her chest. A huge, emotional storm that was like a cauldron boiling over. ‘I didn’t want to hurt you. I figured I’d already hurt you enough. Letting you go was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.’
‘I love you.’ His hands gripped her shoulders so tightly it was close to pain but she didn’t care. ‘I love you so much. It’s been so hard to stay away from you. Every day I wanted to call you. To beg you to come back to me.’
‘Why did you come now?’ Aiesha said. ‘Why not before?’
‘I was angry after what happened in Paris,’ he said. ‘But I stubbornly refused to make the first move, even though I realised soon after you’d only made that crack about hooking up with my father as a way to push me away.’
She gave him a sheepish look. ‘I’m sorry about that. It was a pretty crass thing to say.’
He cupped her face in his hands. ‘When that awful story came out this morning, I was sick with worry. I was worried there would be no one by your side to protect you. I want to be that person, Aiesha. I want to make you feel safe. I want you to feel loved. I want you to feel accepted. You’re a part of me. I can’t function without you. Just ask my mother. She’s been tearing her hair out over me. You can’t do that to her. You have to marry me, otherwise she’ll never speak to me again. How bad would that be? You would have cost her a husband and a son.’