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I roll to my side to face him.
“You spent the night at the hotel. And I spent the night at the hotel. You didn’t even call me, let alone stop by to see if I was okay.”
His jaw locks while he observes me in silence.
“You didn’t need me. You needed someone else.”
“You didn’t know that.”
“I didn’t have to. I saw it. Something happened to Kai when he and I got into Roman’s bedroom last night. We watched everything from the side. Remember? Alejandro went to the bathroom and came back while the two of us sat in the chairs. Kai looked like he could kill someone. I was actually surprised he didn’t leap out of his seat and stop the whole thing.”
“Could he have done that?”
He breathes out a faint chuckle.
“Of course, he could’ve done it. Everything is possible. Kai and Roman are business partners. One of Kai's firms has partly financed Roman’s one hundred million dollar deal. No matter how much he wanted you, Roman would’ve stepped back if Kai intervened. Kai didn’t do it because that’s his life philosophy. Every life lesson is worth paying for it. I don’t know what he wanted to learn. But that’s what it was…”
He pauses before continuing.
“Alejandro has a different theory, and I agree with him. He thinks Kai did it because he was jealous of us, not Roman. Yeah… That’s possible. And he’s given you a way out. Sure. That’s true too. But there must be something else.”
“My theory is…” I say, dipping my gaze briefly to his chest. “My theory is he wanted to see if I’m capable of loving someone…”
A smile threads through his gaze.
“I think we’re all capable of love…” he says. “When we reach a certain point in life.”
“You mean it doesn’t have to do with meeting the right person?”
“It has to do with many things, but if we’re not ready, none of them matter. People settle down when they’re ready. I’ve seen it many times. Sometimes their choices are puzzling, but they do what works for them.”
“We’re talking about two different things. Kai doesn’t want to know if I can settle down. I don’t think so. Does he?”
He thinks about it.
“No. He just wants to know if your heart is ready to pull all the stops for him, so he can pull all the stops for you.”
I freeze as the reality of his words hits me hard.
I don’t think he realizes what an immense truth he just said.
“Is that what you’d do?”
He rolls his lip under his teeth and drinks me in.
“That’s what we all do. He just has the most to gain from this story. That’s why it’s difficult for him to reconcile his feelings with his wants. He has a lot to lose which makes him act erratically. I disagree with what he did. It was damaging for all of us, but a few good things came out of it, and one of them is us being here. I’m sure there are good things for you too. Just not now.”
“Things must be easier… They should be easier than that.”
He laughs, amused, and rolls to his back, the sun shining over his lips. He protects his eyes from the sun and pulls them shut when speaking again.
“Easy things rarely work. There is value in fighting for something or someone.”
“He wants me to fight for him?”
“No. That’s not what he wants. He wants the kind of love that hurts sometimes.”
He no longer smiles.
