Page 94 of Our Chaotic Love Affair

Rossi was right about one thing. She was something. Cleo was absolutely something.

Screw the errand. Screw the client. None of it mattered.

CHAPTER 32

CLEO

Ifound him on the balcony. The sun was setting over Rome. Our last Roman sunset. And Cash was standing at the railing with his back to me, shoulders rigid, still wearing his suit from the meeting.

“Hey,” I said softly.

He didn’t turn around. “How was shopping?”

“It was fine.” I set my bags down and moved closer. “How did the meeting go?”

“It’s handled.” Two words. Clipped and final. Like a door slamming shut.

I tried again. “Cash, what happened?”

“I let him out of the contract.” He said it like he was reporting the weather. “No penalties. Clean break.”

“Is that a good thing?”

“Doesn’t matter.”

Not exactly the reception I was hoping for after the day I had. The man I met all those months ago was back. Gone was the Cash from last night. Maybe I could get him drunk again. But that was wrong, right?

“Do you want a drink?” I asked. “You look like you could use a drink.”

“We’re flying out tomorrow morning. Early flight. I’ve already arranged everything.”

“Okay,” I said slowly. “And then what?”

“Then we go home. Back to New York. Back to our lives.” He straightened his cuffs, a gesture I was starting to recognize as his tell when he was uncomfortable. “We can bury this whole trip in our memories. Like it didn’t even happen.”

His words hit like physical blows. It took me a second to get my bearings. He threw me off. Was that his intention?

“Like it didn’t happen,” I repeated, my voice sounding just a little wheezy. Like I’d just come up for air and was struggling to fill my lungs.

I was definitely struggling.

“It’s cleaner that way.”

“Cleaner.” I laughed. “Cash, this happened. We can’t just—I mean, the media knows about the engagement. Your family knows. Melody knows. We can’t erase it.”

“We can minimize it.” He was using his CEO voice now. The one I hated. “I’ll handle the press. We’ll do a quiet dissolution in a few weeks. Mutual decision, still friends, the usual script.”

“The usual script,” I echoed. “Do you even hear yourself right now?”

“I have ears.”

“No, seriously.” I moved around to stand beside him. I searched his face for any sign of the man who’d held me in the courtyard. “Where did you go?”

“I didn’t go anywhere.”

“Bullshit.” My voice cracked. “You’re standing right in front of me and you’re a thousand miles away. What happened between last night and now?”

“Nothing happened. This was always the plan.”