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A slight smile crosses his lips. “What direction is that?”
I shake my head and look away. “I don’t know. A serious direction? I’d like to meet someone who doesn’t look at me like a trophy, and ditch me when the next hot piece of ass comes along.”
Ronan watches me with a hand to his chin. He’s so sexy when he does that. He has this air about him, like he doesn’t have a care in the world. It makes me want to crawl across the table and—
“You deserve that,” he says.
I suddenly feel like I shared more than I meant to, and I’d like to get him talking. “Are you like me? You’re a successful business owner. You just bought a new company. But you aren’t married. Is your professional life on track, but your personal life is a mess?”
He hesitates, his tongue darting across his lips. “I guess that depends on who you ask.”
“I’m asking you.”
“I don’t know,” he says. “I think my criteria might be changing.”
“Well, I hope you figure it out,” I say.
He tosses back the last of his whiskey. “I have a confession. I lied to you about something.”
“What?”
“I told you on the plane that I already planned to attend this conference before the sale of VI went through.”
“That isn’t true?”
“No,” he says. “I found out that you were going a few days ago, and I switched the former employee’s pass into my name. Then I changed your flight so we could fly here together.”
I can’t decide if I should be angry or not. “Seems like you went to a lot of trouble for nothing.”
“Why nothing?” he asks, his brow furrowed.
“It’s not like being out of town is going to give you a better chance of getting me into bed.”
“I didn’t drop everything to come to Denver with you for three days because I thought I’d get laid,” he says. “I couldn’t stand the thought of being away from you for that long. Believe me, I don’t know what to do with that any more than you do.”
I have no idea how to respond to that, and I touch my glass with my fingertips, wishing it wasn’t empty.
“Don’t get me wrong,” he says, a hint of mischief in his tone. “If you invited me upstairs with you, I’d be there in a heartbeat. But I didn’t come here expecting that.”
“Good.” I can’t quite meet his eyes.
“What is it that’s holding you back?” he asks. “Is it what happened before I left for San Francisco?”
“That’s part of it,” I say. “That and the fact that you’re my boss. If something happened between us, everyone in the office would look at me differently. And when it’s over, what am I supposed to do? I love my job, Ronan. I told you, it’s the one part of my life that I’m proud of. I can’t risk that.”
“When,” he says. It’s not a question.
“Excuse me?”
“You said when it’s over,” he says.
“Ronan, we slept together once and I never heard from you again,” I say. “Yes, I realize you were moving to California, literally that day. But would it have killed you to call? Send me a text? You didn’t even say goodbye. Am I supposed to assume that five years later, you’re not still that guy?”
He puts his hand to his chin and looks away. “I guess I deserve that.”
“Yes, you do.”
He pauses for a moment, then stands and meets my eyes. “Good night, Selene.”
He walks away before I can reply.
