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A sharp pain lanced her insides.
Her heart.
And also a sense of panic.
As if reading her every passing emotion, Apollo said, ‘My assistant in London will make sure you’re looked after, Sophy. You won’t be left alone.’
If there was one thing Sophy wouldn’t be able to bear, it was Apollo’s pity or that she was a responsibility to be dealt with. ‘That really won’t be necessary. I can go back to the flat I shared with Sasha. I’ll...be fine.’
> Apollo stood up. ‘Leander will be here before ten a.m.’
Sophy looked at him, in shock at the speed and efficiency with which he was apparently willing to dispatch her.
‘So that’s it, then?’
His face tightened. ‘I think it’s for the best. There’s no point in prolonging something that we both know is at an end.’
Sophy felt emotion swelling inside her. If she’d known the last time she’d made love to Apollo was to be the last time, she would have imprinted every second onto her memory. ‘You mean, something that never should have started.’
‘Sophy...’ he said warningly.
But a volatile mix of hurt, anger and fear made her say, ‘The truth is that something happened between us that first night, we had a connection, and I think you used my virginity as an excuse to kick me out. To deny it.’
‘You were inexperienced. Naive. I wasn’t prepared to let you believe it would ever become something more than just sex.’
‘Well, I think it was about you just as much as it might have been about me.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘I think you’re an emotional coward, Apollo. I understand why it’s hard for you to trust again. But I’ve lost my family too and I don’t want to shut my emotions up for ever.’
A muscle pulsed in Apollo’s jaw. ‘Which is why I said to you that you’ll go on to meet someone and have a family some day. You want more, Sophy. I don’t.’
Sophy felt something inside her crack and break. ‘I think you’re a liar, Apollo. I think you do want more, but you’re too scared to admit it.’
Or maybe he just doesn’t want more with you.
Her insides curdled at that thought. Maybe Apollo would trust his heart again some day. When he met someone he couldn’t walk away from, or shut out.
He opened his mouth but Sophy held up her hand, terrified to hear Apollo spell out that it just wasn’t her who could crack the ice around his heart.
Now who’s the coward? mocked a voice.
Sophy pushed it down.
‘It’s fine, Apollo.’ She lowered her hand. ‘It wasn’t as if you weren’t clear about what this was. I’ll be ready for Leander in the morning.’
Apollo watched Sophy turn to walk out of his study. At the last moment he blurted out her name. She turned around.
She said nothing. Her face was expressionless. Perversely, Apollo wanted to provoke a reaction.
‘You’ll let me know if there are any consequences?’
Her face leached of colour. ‘You mean a baby?’
Now that he’d got the reaction he just felt hollow. He nodded.
Her mouth was tight. ‘I told you, there won’t be. I’m sure of it.’
