Even his tone hurt. As though her anger was impossible to understand. As though she had no right to carry the burden of pain after the way he’d led her on then broken her heart. He mightn’t have said he loved her, but he knew what she’d been through, how much her broken engagement had stung, and he’d consoled her out of that, he’d made her feel like a princess, as though the world spun only for her. And for Abby, she’d understood why her engagement had never felt right. She understood why things had gone bust with Eric. She hadn’t loved him. Not like she’d loved Gray, with her whole entire heart.
She pressed her teeth into her lower lip, pushing back the emotions, focusing on this moment and how the hell to extricate herself from it. “I’m not pissed,” she said firmly, pleased that the words sounded so commanding. “I’m just tired. I’ve worked ten hours straight and I’m exhausted.” Not to mention taking care of Charlotte all of the night before. Usually, Charlotte slept like a log, but she had a sniffle at the moment and had needed extra comforting, and Abby, already appalled by how quickly her baby had transformed into an independent toddler, had secretly relished the chance to sit in the rocking chair by the window and have extra snuggles, even if it had left her with dark bags beneath her eyes.
He nodded slowly, once, scanning her face as if to understand if she was being honest with him. She wanted to tell him to go to hell, but the instant satisfaction she might feel at throwing those words at his feet would be quickly eclipsed by the realization that she’d shown how much she’d once cared.
“How are you?”
She hated him in that moment. She hated him for asking a simple question as though theirs had been a simple relationship with a simple ending. She hated him for making her love him then walking out of her life. She hated him for living his life without thinking of her for two years, while she was mired in diapers and formula and sleep deprivation and baby vomit. She hated him for being so sexy and disheveled, so desirable. She hated him with all her heart.
“We don’t have to do this.” She managed to make the words sound dismissive.
“Do what?”
“Act like long lost friends reunited. We’re strangers, Gray. Always were.”
His eyes narrowed, something sparking in their depths. They were fascinating eyes. Green, and mysterious, and ever-changing depending on his mood. Now they swirled with flecks of gray, just like his name; she was losing herself in their stormy depths so she blinked away, looking longingly down the corridor.
“Not quite strangers,” he said quietly, and when she turned back to face him, he’d taken a step closer, so her next inhalation doused her in his subtle but oh-so-masculine fragrance. “At least, that’s not how I remember it.”
Despite everything that had happened, the hint of sensuality in his words made her heart tremble. She swallowed hard. “I’m surprised you remember anything at all.”
His eyes narrowed, a hint of danger in their corners. “That’s doing a disservice to what we shared.”
“What we shared was ‘just sex’,” she reminded him coldly. “And I’m sure you’ve had alotof that since then.” She looked down the corridor again, needing to escape. “I don’t see any point in rehashing something that happened over two years ago.”
She was right.Their affair had lasted longer than he usually allowed relationships to run, but that hadn’t altered the fact it had been meaningless. No, not exactly meaningless, but future-less. He’d been careful to avoid creating the impression that he wanted anything more from her than fun. And he’d wanted to make her smile. To make her laugh. After everything she’d been through with her asshole of an ex, it had seemed like the least he could do. A mutually beneficial fling. Except, those last few days, something had shifted between them, and simple sex had started to seem a lot like something else. So he’d done the smart thing and shut it down before she could get the wrong idea about him, before she could start to want a future with him.
He’d done it quickly, firmly, like ripping off a band aid. Maybe it had been a tad abrupt but that didn’t explain why she was looking at him as though he were the devil brought to life.
The smart thing to do now was to let her go.
So why did he lift a hand, pressing it to the wall at her right, effectively blocking one exit from her? Why did he bring his body closer, staring into her eyes, his lips close enough for their breath to mingle?
“Then forget what happened two years ago. Let’s talk about now.”
Two years ago, he’d gotten to understand every flicker that moved in her eyes. He’d gotten to understand every lift of her lips, every twitch of her features. He’d knowneverythingshe was thinking. But her face was impassive now, her lips barely moving as she returned his gaze.
“What do you want to talk about?” She almost sounded bored. That drove a part of him crazy.
“You.”
She arched a perfectly shaped dark brow. Not plucked and waxed, but naturally long and straight. So much of her beauty came down to nature. From her complexion to her smile, to her teeth that were white and even, to a look of radiance that seemed to shine from every pore. She’d been breathtaking the first moment he’d met her, and she was breathtaking now. God, he wanted her.
The realization hit him right between the shoulder blades. He had no business wanting her. But up close like this, he had an irresistible urge to wade through time and make her his again. To kiss her like he once had.
“To what end, Grayson?” She called his bluff. “We’re not friends. We’re not anything to each other. So why would we discuss me. Or you. Or anything?”
“For old time’s sake?”
She flattened her lips. “I’m not into that. The past is in the past.”
“Fine. Let’s talk about the present. I didn’t know you were still waitressing.”
In the month they’d spent together, she’d talked about wanting to go back to school, to study architecture. She’d never really explained why she hadn’t been able to go to college straight out of school. He’d asked, but she’d dodged the question and in an effort to keep things between them light, he’d let it go. Still, he’d expected she’d be studying by now. Unless she was, and this was just her night job. After all, how many people could afford to go to school and not work at the same time?
She made a sarcastic laughing sound. “I haven’t seen you in over two years. Why would you know anything about me?”
Something shifted in her eyes and for a second, his intuition was back. He understood her. There was remorse in her features. Anger. Guilt? He frowned.