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He practically leaped out of the car when they arrived at her office building. The elevator was out of service and he took the stairs two at a time up eight flights, all in a suit and tie. He pushed open the door at Costello PR, the office eerily quiet, except for the chime that announced the arrival of a visitor and his heavy breaths.
“Mel? Are you here?” He straightened his tie and jacket, striding through reception and back to the hallway leading to her office. He craned his neck around the corner. Her door was open. He heard sniffles. Oh, no. She’s crying. He cleared his throat loudly, not wanting to frighten her. “Mel?”
She peeked out of her office, cheeks red and tear-stained, still as beautiful as could be. “Adam. I told you not to come. I don’t want to talk about it. Just go away. We can’t do this. I won’t do this. It’s not right.”
“Mel, it was just a close call with my dad this morning. He doesn’t know or suspect a thing. It’s fine.”
She ran her slender fingers through her blond hair, leaning her shoulder against the wall as if it was too difficult to stand. “That’s so easy for you to say. You don’t have as much to lose as I do. This isn’t just my business or my profession. It’s my whole life. My entire identity is tied to this stupid office I can’t afford. My whole life revolves around keeping the lights on and moving forward. I have nothing else. I can’t afford to make a mistake.”
His heart twisted in his chest. How he hated that word—mistake. “And do you think last night was a mistake?”
“If I get fired from the most important job of my career, then yes.”
His mind scrambled, unwilling to believe that she would really be that bad off if she got fired. There had to be a way around it. “What if I pay you the fee that he’s promised you? Or let me buy your office space for you. Let me fix it if it all goes south.” He stepped closer, longing to touch her, all the while sensing the impenetrable fortress she’d built around herself, and most important, her heart.
“Do you really think I want your money? That I want you to rescue me? I have to do these things for myself. I’ve been on my own since I was eighteen. I don’t know any other way. And don’t forget that the entire world knows I’ve been working on this project. Every future client is going to ask me about it, they’re going to want to know what Roger Langford had to say about the job I did. If he has to tell them that he fired me because I slept with his son, I’m destroyed. I’m done. There’s no coming back from that.”
“If I came back from my scandal, you could absolutely come back from that.”
“Our situations aren’t the same. You’re Adam Langford. Your family represents the American dream and you’re smart and handsome and a self-made man. The world wants to love you. I just had to show them the good in you. I’m nobody, Adam. If this comes out, I’ll become a footnote, and I can’t turn into that. I won’t slink back to Virginia with my head held in shame and tell my dad that he was right, that I had no business moving to New York and thinking that I could run my own PR firm. I just don’t think you understand the ramifications.”
He did understand where she was coming from, but it didn’t change the fact that standing here, even with her trying to claw her way away from him, he wanted her in his arms. He wanted her in his life. “I hear everything you’re saying, but taking a chance on what’s between us is more important than all of that. I think this is about more than your career or my family.”
The look that fell on her face was one of utter confusion. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. There is nothing else.”
He dared to inch closer, grasp her elbow. The instant he touched her, he felt exactly how much she’d closed herself off from him. “Think about what set you on this path. Your ex. He’s the reason you’re in this situation with your finances and your career, but I think he’s also the reason you’re so afraid to let somebody into your life.”
Her eyes swept back and forth across his face. “No. You’re wrong. It’s been more than a year, and I’ve made it work without him.”
He nodded in affirmation, seeing that she was struggling with this particular revelation. He knew how she felt. He’d given in to tunnel vision before, focusing on a single goal so hard that he’d forgotten what mattered. “I care about you, Mel. A lot. I understand what it means to be hurt. We’ve all been hurt. Maybe I haven’t gone through exactly what you have, but I understand. I do. And I know that there could be something real between us if you’ll just let me in.” He gazed into her stormy blue eyes, which were clouded with bewilderment. She needed time. He could see it. As hard as it would be to give her time, he had to. “I want you to think about that. I really want you to think about what that means.”
