Last time was in herflat.
The thought settled quietly between us, both conscious it was there. Was she remembering it the same way I was? An image of her leaning back onto her bed, her white pants wet from wanting me, her beautiful, full breasts falling free when she slipped out of her bra—
Fuck.
How could I be gettinghard?
I was stuck in a safe room with a wonky cat and a cabinet minister in the next room.
But Iwas.
Because I was there withher.
“It was your place,” I said. “Where he ran away.”
She didn’t reply, but I saw her bite her bottom lip.
The last time I’d really felt close to her.And then I’d left and fucked everything up, because I didn’t have a plan for how to handleit.
“Yes,” she murmured.
Screw Bonnie and her insistence that I didn’t apologize. That was wrong.I’dbeen wrong. And in a way that hadnothingto do with admitting liability or putting Novexia at risk.
“I’m sorry I left so quickly, Andrea,” I said. “I didn’t know you worked there, and it… surprised me.”
I hadn’t known what to do, and I’d lost control of the situation. And I hated that more than anything.
“It’s okay,” she said. “I didn’t expect you to stay anyway.”
I felt an immediate pressure on my chest.I’d hurther.
“I’m not explaining myself well.” I took a deep breath. “I wanted to stay, Andrea. But hearing you say my name… my father’s name—” Fuck. That was the heart of it. “It threw me. I thought if I told you I was the one who’d bought the company, that you might—”
Reject me like the capitalist pig you thought Iwas?
Or was I more worried she’d change if she knew? That I wasn’t justLiam from the lift—that I was rich and connected, and could do things for her that had nothing to do with whether she liked me or not?
I’d seen it before, too many times. The change, the calculation.
And I hadn’t wanted to see that in her eyes.
“What?” she said.
I couldn’t find the words. “That it might… ruin things.”
Fuck.Thingssounded like I thought we were involved. It had just been one afternoon, but it felt like more than that. At least, it did for me.
“It kind of got ruined anyway,” she said.
I looked at my hands. The cat on her knee had gone to sleep.
“I know. I just… wanted to tell you I was sorry,” I said. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“It’s okay. It got complicated.”
“You could say that.” I laughed softly, then paused. “I’m sorry about the meeting thing, too. If I’d told you who I was before I showed up at Novexia, none of this—”
“It’s fine, Liam. I know you didn’t mean for that to happen.”
