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Rich blew out a mouthful of air. “Okay.”
“Can we go to your apartment?” Meghan suggested.
He nodded, turning on his heel and heading back to his door, opening it and letting her walk inside. Clenching his teeth together, he closed it softly, leaning back against it as though it was some kind of safe harbor.
“Have I done something wrong?” she asked, her voice soft.
She looked so tiny standing in his apartment, the late morning light bathing her skin. All he wanted to do was pull her into his arms, to press his face into her hair and inhale her.
“No. You’ve done nothing wrong.” He shook his head, still leaning against the door. He didn’t dare move.
“Then why aren’t you talking to me? I don’t understand. I know this has come out of the blue, but I need you. I missed you last night.”
It was cold comfort that she hadn’t been able to sleep either.
“Did Dylan sleep at your apartment?”
She blinked. “Yes. We talked for hours. I wanted to make sure he was actually ready to meet Isla. I don’t want him coming into her life and upsetting her by changing his mind. But he seems solid. Mature, even. Then he fell asleep on the sofa. I left him and his bodyguard to it.”
He nodded, but said nothing. His body was so tight it was getting hard to breathe. All he wanted to do was run.
Far from here. From his thoughts, his feelings, the goddamned emotions that wouldn’t stop stabbing him in the chest.
“There’s nothing going on between us, you know,” Meghan told him. “He has a fiancée. He just wants to get to know Isla.”
Rich swallowed. “I’m glad for her. She deserves a father.”
Meghan ran the tip of her tongue along her bottom lip, and it made him want to kiss her. “So, can I call you when we’re in L.A.?” she asked him.
His stomach tightened. “That’s not a good idea.”
She recoiled, as though he’d slapped her. “Why not?”
“Because you need to concentrate on Isla. She’s the important one in this. Anyway, you’ll be busy. And I will, too. I have a lot going on right now. I’ll be on night shift, I have a lawyer to deal with to stop Carlyn from getting anywhere near you again, and then I need to work out what the hell’s going on with Belle’s artwork.” He shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. “And at some point I need to get sleep.”
Meghan pulled her lip between her teeth, her brows pulling together. “I don’t understand. I can concentrate on more than one thing. I just want to talk to you.”
The way she was looking at him felt like a knife to the chest. She wanted him to make it all better. And he wanted to as well – so damn much – but he knew he couldn’t.
He only made things worse.
One of the first things he’d learned during his rotations was that clean breaks were always easier to deal with than messy ones. Sure, that was bones, but it was true of relationships, too. He would be doing her a favor if he walked away.
Saving her from pain, from hurt.
“You should call your parents,” he said. “Talk to them.”
Meghan laughed, though there was no humor in it. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah. You should call them.”
“So that’s it?” She lifted her hands, palms to the ceiling. “You’re not interested in me now that Dylan’s here? What was I, some kind of charity project? Did you feel sorry for me, Rich? And now that you can’t do your knight in shining armor act, you’re walking away?”
The pain was making it hard to breathe. Was this what a heart attack felt like? He took a deep breath, avoiding her eyes.
“I just think we both have enough to deal with. It’s been fun, but maybe it’s time to concentrate on other things.”
“It’s been fun.” Her words were dull. “Is that what it’s been?”
