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“You and Katia… ” I let my voice trail off.
He looked at me, not bothering to spare a glance in Katia’s direction. “I don’t know what the problem is. I didn’t make her any promises, and now she clearly knows we’re together.” His matter-of-fact tone made me angry.
“For such a smart man, you can be pretty stupid sometimes.” I rested my hands on his shoulders. “You might not think of her anymore, but from the sound of her voice, she thinks of you.”
He looked from me to the galley, sputtering a nonsense reply.
I slipped out of his grasp. “I’m going to apologize to Katia, and before we land, I expect you to do the same.”
“Why—”
I pointed at him. “Do not finish that statement. Do it. Make things right.”
My stomach churned as I made my way to where Katia was pulling together our food. When I turned the corner, she jumped and hastily wiped at her eyes. “Can I do anything to help you, Hazel?” she asked.
“I’m sorry for that. I know you and Jareth?—”
She cut me off, her tone brisk. “It doesn’t matter.”
I risked her wrath and laid my hand on her arm. “It does.”
She sighed and let out a shaky breath.
“I didn’t know today was going to go this way or that Jareth and I would… do… be this,” I stumbled over my words, unsure what to say.
She gave me a slight smile. “I know. I heard pieces of your conversation.”
My cheeks heated, and I wanted to hide, but I continued to look her in the eye, knowing I’d appreciate someone doing this for me. “I’m sorry. That probably made this even worse for you.”
She shrugged. “I shouldn’t be surprised. We’ve all seen how you two looked at each other when you didn’t think the other noticed.”
My mouth opened and closed a few times. I had no idea how to respond to that.
“I appreciate your apology, Hazel, and what you said to Jareth. I think you’ll be good for him.” She gave me an awkward, impromptu hug. “I’ll be fine. Go back to your seat.”
“If you’re sure… ” I was happy she helped to lessen the strangeness of our conversation. I turned to leave.
“Hazel,” Katia called out to me. “This really is for the best. Maybe now I’ll move on instead of hoping things will be different.”
“Good luck, Katia. You deserve to be loved with someone’s whole heart.”
“You do too.” I strode back to my empty seat, her parting words echoing in my head. She was right, and I hoped with every cell in my body that I could knock down Jareth’s walls so that he could love me with all of his.
I already suspected my feelings for him were heading in that direction.
CHAPTER 15
Jareth
We followed the staff member to our private Villa. He was kind enough to go ahead while Hazel stopped and oh’d and ah’d over everything. For the first time in forever, I wasn’t in a hurry to get to where we were going, and at Hazel’s insistence, I was trying to step away from work.
I couldn’t forget Hazel’s look of utter disappointment at missing Christmas. In my blinding rage, it didn’t even occur to me that I’d be making her miss out on her favorite holiday at home. I needed to make it up to her.
“So, how did it go?” she asked, leaning over to smell the blooms along the well lit walkway with the night sky framed behind it. My two bodyguards who had flown ahead were trailing at a discreet distance behind us. They were staying at the villa next door to us.
Hazel had been considerate enough to give me a few minutes alone with Katia. “Good. I apologized like you suggested.” Insisted was more like it, but this was our first day together, and I had enough self-preservation to know I should keep my mouth shut.
She hooked her arm through mine and grinned. “Don’t you feel so much better now?”
