AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I snorted. “I was alone there. You were just trying to be nice.”
“If I remember correctly, I was going to be alone there, too,” he corrected. “Did it never occur to you that I just wanted to spend some time with you doing something other than arguing a current events topic?”
“No,” I answered truthfully.
“I did. Still do.”
I shook my head. “Then I have no idea why.”
“I’m not sure you’d want me to answer that question candidly,” he answered. “Let’s just say I prefer your company to my own. Maybe I don’t like being alone all the time.”
God, I could relate to that. I felt the same way.
“But you haveyour family,” I disagreed. “And when is a billionaire in your industry ever really alone?”
It was ludicrous to think that a man like Chase Durand couldn’t get the attention of dozens of people if he wanted it.
“Have you never been in a crowded room and still felt lonely?” he asked hoarsely. “Like something or someone was missing?”
My breath caught.
I’d felt that way more times than I could count. But Chase…
“Don’t get me wrong,” he clarified. “I love my family, but Torie has Cooper now, and Wyatt isn’t exactly a talker. Yes, I can find company, but I doubt I’d get it for the right reasons. That day in Vegas, all I really wanted was to spend time with you. Not because I felt sorry for you. I was feeling sorry for myself because it had been a long time since I’d been with a woman who saw me and not my money.”
I looked at him in surprise. “Do you really think that’s all you have to offer a woman?”
He shrugged. “No. Unfortunately, that’s generally the first thing they notice.”
I really wanted to argue with that observation, but I didn’t.
Chase Durand could reel a woman in for a multitude of reasons other than his bank account. But it was probably true that the first thing people thought about when they met him was his wealth and power.
My heart ached at the thought of Chase being as lonely as I felt sometimes. “Did you really want to hang out with a woman who spends most of her time slugging around horrible locations in mud boots and with very little makeup on unless she’s on camera?”
“More than anything,” he answered promptly. “You broke my heart when you ran away without looking back.”
I burst into laughter. “Now you’re just being facetious.”
“You don’t believe me?” he questioned with mock indignation.
“Not for a moment,” I shot back. “But I totally get the loneliness thing. If you really want to know the truth, I think I’m experiencing severe burnout in my career.”
I went on to explain what I’d talked about earlier with Torie.
Chase listened intently until I was finished.
“A person can only give for so long before they have to find a way to blow off steam and replenish the energy they’ve lost,” Chase mused.
A tear rolled down my cheek as I said, “I think I’m completely empty. I was struggling a little before the kidnapping. Now I feel totally lost, Chase. I’m afraid of my own damn shadow now, and I hate that. I love being an investigative journalist, but I’m not sure I love running from place to place constantly. Just the thought of going on my next assignment makes me nauseous. I don’t know how to fix this.”
He stood, picked me up, blanket and all, and then settled back into his chair with me on his lap. “We’ll fix it together, sweetheart. I’ll help you work through those issues one by one. I guess we both need to go looking for ourjoie de vivre.”
I laid my head on his shoulder and sighed, loving the way he could pronounce that phrase like a native French speaker. “I’m afraid that mine flew away a long time ago. You?”
“Not so long ago that I can’t find it if I look,” Chase said with a chuckle. “I think I probably did a better job at finding enjoyable things to do with my off time when I was in the military. There were always other guys around looking to blow off some steam or shake off the stress.”
“If you think I’m going to go out and sprint for five miles with you for fun, you’re out of your mind,” I warned him. “I’ve seen you torturing yourself in the gym, and I know you go out for a run early every morning. I’m barely walking at the pace of a snail on the treadmill right now.”
