“Why would you do that?” The look of shock and bewilderment on her face hurt a little, but I handled it.
“It feels good to do something altruistic. More importantly, I believe in what you’re trying to accomplish. If you can get at least one of those kids off the streets, it would be worth it. What’s a couple of million dollars to the price of human life? And I expect hundreds of lives will be changed by what you’re planning to do. Foster kids don’t get adopted after a certain age and then the statistics really become appalling. How many are in jail, on drugs, dead? You don’t have the collateral to help these kids at the moment. I do.” I took a sip of my drink and let the warmth of my triumphant moment wash over me.
“Why did you pay so much for me? You didn’t have to, especially after buying the building …” Her voice trailed off into confusion, and she looked like she might cry.
“Let me ask you. Why did you run away from me? I want the real reason. I know you gave me your answer, but why did you stay away?” I never got nervous around women, but my heart slammed against my chest. I was actually terrified of what she might say.
She looked down at her plate of salad she hadn’t touched. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled.
“I didn’t ask for an apology. I would like an answer, please. I’ve tried to devise one on my own, and I just can’t. I’m the catch of the century according to Cosmopolitan Magazine.”
“Maybe your ego might be part of the problem.” She laughed for the first time all evening.
“My ego isn’t the issue. You knew the immensity of it the moment you recognized me in the bar. So …” I stared at her beautiful blue eyes that had widened with stress.
I didn’t want to be causing her such alarm and yet, I needed to hear the truth.
“But you aren’t really that bachelor, are you?” She started timid and shy at first, but her courage built as she spoke. “You were too intense. I couldn’t … I …”
“Did I hurt you?” I suddenly worried.
“No, but you would have.” Her eyes met mine, and my blood ran cold.
I knew exactly how I could hurt a woman like Kylie.
A fragile bird with a feigned strength that protected her from a world that was always clamoring for more. I could find the chink in the armor and bring her down. She had to be brought down so she could live and not always be in the fight, but by doing that it would mean I’d also have to fall, and I couldn’t allow that. In knowing my own weakness I better understood hers.
“You only want sex. Actually, you don’t want just sex, you want a weird, submissive all-consuming sexual exchange that lays me open and makes you feel powerful. You got a taste and wanted more. The problem was, you wanted to open me up and then just leave me bleeding when you were done. I like you, Alec. I’m unreasonably drawn to you. I could give a shit about your billionaire status, but there’s something about you. Like that building, you might charge me too much for it and the fact that I don’t know if you will scares me. You aren’t real, and what we had that one night wasn’t real either, but you were there. I saw a glimpse of you. I liked who I saw, and it scared me too, so I ran because Alec Blair doesn’t do relationships, he fucks … and I … I’ve been fucked over before.”
Her feelings and bombshell observations crashed all over the table, waylaying both of us.
“Excuse me, Kylie.” Our waiter interrupted us, though neither of us had finished our salad. “Sue Sararkian wants to take some pictures with you, and there’s a line of people who are asking for a moment of your time.” The panicked look on Kylie’s face had me wanting to rescue her despite her just laying my moral character out flat and stomping all over it.
“Tell them she’s leaving.” I stood up and offered her my jacket.
She was still wearing a gorgeous wedding dress. I knew she’d have clothes somewhere, but I didn’t care, I was getting her out of the spotlight. We had a lot more we needed to discuss.
“No, it’s okay,” she interrupted me.
“Tell them she’ll follow up with them in a few days. Also please gather her things and have them ready for us. I’m calling a car now.” I pressed the app for my car service and gave Kylie my coat despite her protests.
I was going to change this narrative, but I had to be on my turf.
“I don’t want to go home with you,” she whimpered as I brushed her cheek with my finger while putting my coat on her.