“I know. I’m not opening the restaurant today.”
She frowned deeply and looked at me like I had two heads. “We have to open the restaurant. It’s Friday. It’s the busiest day of the week.”
She was always so damn practical. “I have something more important to take care of,” I admitted, nodding towards one of the booths. “Sit?”
She hesitated, but finally move to sit in the empty booth, her arms crossed over her chest. “What?”
I sat across from her and folded my hands on the table, my gaze fixed on her. “I’m not here to beg you or convince you to do something you don’t want to do, alright? I just want you to hear me out and whatever you decided after that…I’ll accept it and we can both move on. Is that fair?”
She cocked a brow and sighed. “Fine. Go ahead. Talk.”
“I know it got to you when you saw me and Marie. I don’t even blame you. It gets pretty nasty when it comes to me and her. If you’ve never seen her before, I can see why you might be suspicious, but…You can ask anyone. Marie has no interest in me. She’s real interested in my money, though. She thinks she can convince me she loves me if she keeps playing this game, but it isn’t going to work. I’m not going to fall into that trap again.”
“Trap? What do you mean?”
He closed his eyes and sighed. “I just…I want you to know what happened and why I’m the way I am. You asked me on our date and I never really answered.”
Her shoulders relaxed and I could tell she was actually listening now. Her face had softened and her eyes were fixed on my features. I could feel my chest tightening and the fear creeping in through every inch of my body. I hadn’t talk with anyone like this in a long time.
“Years ago, when I first moved to New York and established my business, I didn’t know how to handle the money or the fame,” I started. “I didn’t know how cruel people could be or how cunning. I fell in love with a woman named Gemma and I thought it was the real deal. We were perfect for each other. She made me laugh and she made me feel like I was the only man in the world. She treated me like a king, so I asked her to marry me.” I frowned and my shoulders slumped forward just a little. “It was all a game. We got married, then she divorced me and ran off when a musician she met around the same time we started dating. Now she gets alimony and I pay for her house in Belize.”
“Oh, God…That’s awful…”
I nodded slowly and reached out to touch her hand. “And it’s not about the money.” Her fingers curled around mine. “I have plenty of money. I really do. I have so much of it, I don’t even really know what to do with it, but she broke my heart. I loved her. I loved her with every piece of me, and after all that, I knew I didn’t want to find myself in that situation again. I never wanted to give someone that kind of power over me ever again, so I just started sleeping around. I toyed with woman, thinking it would make me feel better, but it never did.”
She was silent for a long moment, her brows furrowed. “So…What about me? What does all of this have to do with me?”
“I trust you.”
“We haven’t known—“
“I know, but I can smell a gold digger a mile away and you aren’t one of them. That’s why I wanted to get to know you. You’re the first woman who’s actually made me work for her attention, you know that?” he said with a soft laugh. “You’re the first woman I couldn’t win over with money or gifts. That made me want you even more. At first, I was even convinced it was a game, but now I know it’s not. I’m not ready to tell you I love you, but I hope that one day I can get there…If you’ll give me the chance.”
She looked around, her eyes darting between my face and the flowers. Finally, she sighed and turned to face me. “I don’t like letting people in either.”
I sat up straighter, wanting her to know that I was paying attention to every word she was saying. She smiled as I straightened and pulled her hands away, standing to move to sit beside me in the booth. “I’ve been let down by people I loved too…People who were supposed to love me unconditionally. So…It’s not going to be easy, but I think I want to give this a shot.”
A grin tugged at my lips and I couldn’t stop myself from wrapping my arms around her. “Really?”
She nodded and draped her arms around my neck, her thumb running along the fine hairs at the back of my neck. “Yeah. I’ve missed you, Jami. I missed talking to you like this. I don’t really know what to do with that feeling, but I think if you give me enough time I’ll figure it out.”
“Seems like we’re both a little emotionally stunted.”
She chuckled and nodded. “Just a little…But that makes it fun.”
I pressed my forehead to hers and closed my eyes, enjoying the way her breath tickled my lips. “So, are we okay?”
“If you keep your word.”
“I’m never going to mess with you. I told you the morning after our date, and I’ll say it again. I mean it, Lena.”
She smiled and cupped my cheek, nodding. “I know you do.”
Finally, Lena closed the space between us, our lips crashing together so hard I was sure my own lips would be bruised in the morning, but I don’t care. The desperation in that kiss showed just how hard we’d both been trying to ignore our feelings.
I’d be damned if I ignored them anymore.
Lena