She started to laugh, then stopped. ‘Wait, seriously? Why on earth would I? Anyway, I texted you to tell you that I didn’t think Selena Hamilton should be on her own. I think she might have taken something. Luckily, I eventually managed to talk her out of sky-diving—’
‘I didn’t receive a text and you seem to be missing the point here.’
‘Which is what, exactly? That I have to report my every move to you now? Well, you’ll be happy to know that, aside from talking his wife down from a possibly fatal jump, I warned Roger Hamilton that if his eyes strayed to my cleavage one more time I’d gouge them out. I was very diplomatic about it, of course.’ She smiled sweetly. ‘Was there anything else you wanted to know?’
Ari couldn’t believe his ears. He’d been scared out of his wits. And she was giving him sass. ‘Are you serious?’
He watched her walk towards him until he could smell her. He raked a hand through his hair as she tilted her head and regarded him with steady eyes.
‘Ari, you’re seriously overreacting here. You can’t molly-coddle me through this pregnancy. I know what this child means to you but I won’t be wrapped up in cotton wool until the baby’s born’
He whirled from her and paced to the window. ‘You think I’m only concerned about the baby?’
‘Come on, be honest—would you be this worked up if it was just me on that plane?’
The air drained out of him and he reeled from the accusation thrown at his feet. He opened his mouth but no words came out. Because the realisation that was dawning on him—had been dawning on him all week—felt too overwhelming to make sense of.
‘Perla...’
‘You know what I was thinking when I was on the bus?’
Slowly, he shook his head.
‘I started off thinking perhaps I should count my blessings. My first husband was physically and emotionally unavailable but I could graduate to a physically available but emotionally unavailable one. And maybe, if this one doesn’t work out, I might strike it lucky third time round—’
‘There won’t be a next time. If you marry me, you’ll be stuck with me for this lifetime and the next.’
‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. What I didn’t say was that the thought of an emotionally unavailable husband would never work for me. Not now. I’m learning very fast that I’m an all-in kind of girl. So I’m not willing to risk my future happiness on a man who won’t open up to me even a little.’
The emotion that slashed through him made his gut clench hard. He couldn’t breathe. Could only remain still as she stared defiantly back at him, dared him to react to the gauntlet she’d thrown down.
He opened his mouth; no words came out.
He shook his head, damning himself for ten kinds of a fool when pain rolled over her face.
‘Or you could just get lucky. Since you’re so determined to hammer home just how incompetent I am at taking care of myself, maybe I’ll just die and save you the trouble.’
* * *
Perla heard the words tumble from her lips and felt shock bolt through her.
Ari’s face whitened and he actually stumbled back a few steps. Horror gripped her at how callous she’d been.
‘Oh, God, I’m sorry.’ She rushed to him but he flung out his hand to stave her off. ‘Arion, I didn’t mean it.’
His hand slowly lowered and he stared at her as if she was a monster. Perla’s insides shredded as he took another step back.
‘I’m sorry,’ she repeated. Her stomach went into free fall when he remained silent. ‘Please, say something.’
‘Get out.’
‘No, Ari. Please—’
He jerked forward and caught her to him. The kiss he delivered was harsh and pain-filled and devastatingly breathtaking. But it lasted less than ten seconds before he pushed her away and strode from the room.
She refused to shed another tear even though her throat thickened painfully with the need for release.
Going to her bedroom, she sank onto the bed, tried to make sense of what had just happened.
Pain had made her lash out in the worst possible way and strike Ari where it’d hurt the most. She’d gone too far. She had to fix it.
She rose, smoothed her hand down her dress and left her room.
He was in his study, his shoulders rigid, fists clenched as he stared at the ocean.
‘Ari, we need to talk.’
He stiffened but didn’t turn around. Grateful for not being thrown out, she stepped further into the room.