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“Why are you here?” She wet her lips as I stood, making my way over to her. “I thought you were on the run?”
I stopped a few feet shy of her and shoved my hands into the pockets of my black slacks. “On the run? I guess that’s one way of putting it.”
She angled her head, her eyes flying down my black dress shirt before moving to my sleeves, maybe searching for the tattoos she remembered being there. “You do some eavesdropping over the years? I assume you’ve heard some things about me from your mother.”
“Maybe.”
“I think it’s safe to say it’s more than a maybe.” Unable to help myself, I closed the last bit of space between us, lowering my chin to look her in the eyes.
When she lifted her hand between us, hesitating as she reached for me, I took hold of her wrist but didn’t force her hand down.
“I’m just so surprised to see you here, and I’m . . . well, I needed to touch you, make sure you’re not a ghost.”
Letting go of an uneasy breath, I relented, guiding her hand to my cheek so she could confirm I was real. At the feel of her palm on my heated skin, I dropped my eyes closed but didn’t release her wrist.
“Did you find who did it?”
I knew exactly what she was asking. She didn’t have to spell it out for me. “Yes.”
“That’s why you disappeared, right? Why you became, well, who you became.”
I nodded and forced open my eyes.
“And now?”
“I’m . . .” I didn’t know what to say. Did I let her in on the secret about my team? That I’d lost my way while searching for vengeance, crossed too many lines, and was now doing my part to make up for the wrongs I’d committed along that path? “I didn’t know you worked here,” I deflected instead, turning the conversation back on her.
“Mom finally got her way and talked me into it. I’m assuming even though you weren’t at the reading of the will, you know your wife left my mother twenty-five million dollars. Mom felt like I owed it to . . .” She swallowed, leaving her sentence unfinished between us, as if regretting ever starting it to begin with.
She may have kept other secrets from me, but I knew all the people Rebecca had in her will. If both of us had died, Camila Hart would’ve received money as well. I’d sent Camila money after Rebecca died anyway because, in a sense, I did die the day Rebecca had.
“Did your mom share the money with you?” The idea of Diana spending Rebecca’s money, though . . . I couldn’t wrap my head around that thought for some reason.
“No, I didn’t want it. Told her to donate whatever she’d planned to give me to charity.”
Unexpected relief filled me she not only declined the money but gave it away. Whether she didn’t want the money because she didn’t need it, or just wanted to help others who needed it more, it soothed a part of my heart. Confirmed there were still good people in the world, who weren’t all after Rebecca for her name or her wealth. That thought had me feeling like someone had taken a defibrillator to my heart and shocked it awake.
She slowly pulled her hand back from my face, and I finally let go of her, stepping away so our bodies weren’t so damn close. And so I wouldn’t breathe in whatever sweet perfume she had on. A fragrance tempting my basest self to lick the side of her neck. Taste it. Taste her.
Fucking fuck, I needed to get laid.
Not with Diana.
Never.
“I’m sorry if I came across ungrateful for an opportunity to work here and honor Rebecca’s dream for clean energy. I know she wasn’t a scientist, but she was passionate about believing fusion could one day be a limitless and viable energy source. That we didn’t need to wait decades for it to happen.”
Apparently, that was her father’s dream.
“But I . . .”
There was a reason the moth went to the flame, and I was just as powerless as I reached out and slipped the back of my hand across her cheek. “You what?”
I couldn’t help but notice she wasn’t wearing a ring. Was she married to her work like me? Or was she dating that ex again, the one with the name of a Scottish knight, since they worked together?
“It’s not important,” she said as if in a daze, and I retracted my hand as she shook her head, clearing her mind and breaking our trance. “Are you back-back?”
I smiled. What in God’s name is wrong with me? “No, I’m not.” Damnit, seeing her was a bad idea. Being around her made me feel lightheaded. Drugged, even. Maybe it was nostalgia from knowing her at a time when I was a different man. I wasn’t sure what it was, but it had to stop. I turned and went over to the desk, set my hands on the surface and closed my eyes, bowing my head.
