She’d chosen a simple black dress, knee-length, figure-hugging, modest yet flattering, and teamed it with shiny black stilettos, the red sole a perfect match for the lipstick she’d chosen. Her dark hair had been brushed until it shone and left loose, if only because she knew he loved it that way.
Her fingers shook as she pulled the key card from her handbag. But before she could insert it into the door, she knocked, preferring not to just let herself in.
When no one answered, she pressed the buzzer for the apartment and continued to wait.
Still no answer.
With a frown, she used the key card, and her frown didn’t lessen when she stepped into the suite to find it in complete darkness.
‘Thanos?’ she called out, reaching around for a light switch. When she flicked it on, she made an audible sound of surprise that ricocheted off the walls.
‘What the heck?’
The entire apartment was blanketed in red rose petals.
The entire apartment. It was like a red carpet, thick and luscious. She shook her head as she waded through them, her heart beating harder and faster, her mind unable to make any sense of it.
‘Thanos?’ Her voice was curt.
And she understood why she felt annoyed.
Because this didn’t make sense.
And he shouldn’t be here.
And this was too much.
And, and, and... Her body’s defence mechanisms were firing to life, boarding up her too-soft heart, protecting her from the kinds of vulnerability that had led to her being hurt so badly.
A noise sounded and she shifted her focus, gasping once more when she saw what was beyond the balcony doors.
Candles.
Hundreds of candles.
Her heart slammed against her chest. She moved that way, closing her eyes as she stepped outside. Because there were roses there too, but long-stemmed red roses, so beautiful, so fragrant. She moved to one, feeling the petals, swallowing hard to clear the lump in her throat.
She spun around, her eyes searching for Thanos, and finally she found him. Standing on the deck, wearing a dark suit with no tie and a button undone at his neck, his eyes on her with such an intensity that a trail of heat pooled in her abdomen and ran all the way through her.
‘I told Kosta the truth.’
The words didn’t make sense. ‘What?’
‘I told him about us.’
‘Why?’ She shook her head. ‘I thought you wanted P & A?’
‘He’s selling it to me anyway.’
‘Oh.’ She exhaled. ‘Then why does he want to see me?’
Thanos’s smile was just a twist of his lips. ‘He doesn’t.’
‘What?’ Nothing made sense and her blood was pounding so hard in her ears she could barely hear anything above it.
‘He’s not in New York. I made it up.’
‘Why?’