AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He presses his lips together, bites down on them and I feel the shudder that runs through his broad frame.
‘It’s my daily reminder. That and my voice. Prolonged intubation can do that to you.’
I shake my head, press my palm to his cheek, my heart bleeding for what he went through and the pain he’s still in. ‘You need to put the past behind you. Life’s too short to live it constrained by what happened. There was nothing you could do to prevent it, but you owe it to her to live your life fully again.’
His lashes flicker as the setting sun glistens in his gaze.
‘You need to let go of the guilt and live your life again, Valentine.’
His laugh surprises me, the sudden brightness in his eyes too. ‘Believe it or not, I’m starting to realise that. I’m not sure I can ever let go of the guilt, but the living again...’ He turns to look at me, his eyes warm, his smile small. ‘Thanks to you.’
My heart pulses in my chest, warmth radiating out from my core as I smile, my vision blurring with fresh tears. ‘So, what you’re saying is, I helped you just as much as you’ve helped me?’
His eyes are back on the road, but his smile grows. ‘Yes, I guess I am.’
‘Seems like we have quite the arrangement!’
He gives a soft laugh. ‘Only I want more than just this arrangement, Olivia.’
He flicks me a look and I frown as a tiny flutter of panic erupts.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Isn’t it obvious?’
‘I... I don’t know. I like what we have.’
‘I like it too, a lot.’
I wet my lips, pull my hand away to grip my other in my lap. ‘So why change things?’
He spies the move, his smile dying on his lips and he doesn’t answer. We slip into an awkward silence punctuated by the windscreen wipers as rain begins to fall. I think back to the first day he came to my house in the torrential rain, and how different things were then. My chest aches as I realise the truth of it, that I want more too, but I can’t. We can’t.
He pulls up outside my place and as I turn to look at him I can’t bear to say goodbye.
‘Will you come in?’
‘I think you should hear me out first.’
I grip my hands tighter in my lap and I want to tell him to stop but I can’t find the words.
‘Firstly, I’m sorry for how I spoke to you at the track. I have no desire to treat you like Nathan or your father. I would never, ever do that to you.’
‘I know you wouldn’t.’
‘But—’
‘Please, Valentine. We have a good thing going on. Let’s not get all serious and...and ruin it.’
‘It’s too late for that. I already am serious about you.’
‘But we’re working together, we have the business—’
‘And that’s pretty much done and dusted. I have a few more suggestions to discuss with you and the board but I can wrap them up into a report and send it to Alan. You can take them or leave them, but our business relationship has no bearing on this now.’
I swallow down the lump wedging my throat shut. ‘There might be other things you can advise on, other contracts...’
‘It was never a contract in the first place; it was a favour to a friend, my mentor.’
