She stopped chewing, her mouth still full. She paused as she stared at me, and she quickly finished chewing before she forced the food down her throat. “What?”
“Do you need a few more days?” I could have someone handle selling her place while we were away. There was nothing she couldn’t take with her. All the furniture in her apartment could go on my plane.
“No…I just…wasn’t expecting you to say that.”
“Say what, exactly?”
She set down her silverware. “Well, I can’t leave, Conway.”
My eyes narrowed, immediately annoyed by that disgusting sentence. “What does that mean?”
“I work here. I live here. I can’t just drop everything and leave.”
“I know you can’t do that immediately. That’s why I recommended you take a few days.”
“You don’t get it,” she whispered. “I signed a contract with Andrew for ten years. I can’t just walk away.”
“You can always walk away. Contracts are broken all the time.”
“Well, I can’t break this one.”
My body automatically went rigid, the mere suggestion that some man had a stronger claim over her than I did was insulting. “Why not?”
“I have to pay back what I owe. I already bought this place and all the furniture.”
“Don’t worry about that, Muse. I’ll take care of it.”
When her eyes narrowed, she showed her displeasure. “I don’t need you to pay my debts, Conway.”
I forgot how proud she was. “Then what do you suggest?”
She fell quiet, knowing there was no other option. She would have to get a job doing something else if she ever wanted to pay back every cent she’d received.
“Then let me take care of it,” I said gently. “The contract will be over, and you can come back with me.”
When she avoided my gaze, I knew there was something wrong.
“What is it, Muse?”
“I…I don’t want to go back to what we were.”
My fingertips moved over my lips.
“I don’t want to be so dependent on you. When you were pissed off, you threw me out on the street.”
I cringed, hating myself for that stupid impulse.
“Fortunately, Andrew had already offered me that deal. If I hadn’t had that on the table, I have no idea what I would have done.”
“That suitcase had three hundred thousand dollars in it. The Ferrari is worth over two fifty.”
“But I’ve never wanted your money, Conway. How many times do I have to say it?”
I felt her emotional stare burrow right under my skin.
“Unless I have something more secure, I need my own income. I need my own independence. So I need to keep this job and my apartment.”
My eyebrows shot up. “You can’t be serious.”
“I am serious, Con.”
Just when I thought everything was perfect, it went to shit. “We can’t have a long-distance relationship.”
“Well…”
“I’m not doing that.” I tried to keep my temper under control, but it was already rising. I knew exactly what I wanted, and I wouldn’t settle for less. I told this woman I loved her. It was the first time I’d said it to anyone. I wasn’t going to live on the other side of the world away from her. “You’re sleeping in my bed every night. You’re living under my roof.”
“We can still do that, but here. You work remotely most of the time anyway.”
I was tempted to slam my fist against her dining table. “Muse, you know how much my family means to me. I can’t live that far away from them. It doesn’t make any sense for us to live here just for you to have a job.”
“The only way around it is if I have a job there.”
“Fine,” I said. “You can work for me. Problem solved.”
She shook her head. “I can’t work for you, Conway.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Because all you have to do is get pissed off and I’m out of a job.”
I rolled my eyes. “Muse, a night like that isn’t going to happen ever again. I came all the way here to tell you I love you and to bring you back home with me. It’s different now. Let’s go back to Verona and live in that beautiful mansion you love so much that’s way too big for a single person, alright?”
Her eyes drifted toward the table. “I’m sorry…but no. I need more than that.”
“More than that?” I asked incredulously.
“It would be different if we were married. But for right now, this is how it has to be. We’ve never had a real relationship. It’s always been in a situation where you have power over me. I want my own place—”
“I’m not letting you live alone. Nonnegotiable. I need you in a place where I know you’re safe, and there’s no place in the world safer than beside me. As for marriage…don’t push me. It was hard enough for me to come all the way here and put my heart on the line. It was hard enough to admit how much I need you. Let’s start there and see where it goes…”