AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Tess snorted.
“Do you think I would have come if I knew you were here?” he asked.
She arched an eyebrow. “It’s Easter, Graham. Where did you think I’d be?”
“I don’t know, but I’m not stupid. I’m not trying to cause you pain.”
“You’re not that important to me. You could be anyone who took over Ullo. You don’t matter to me. My anger is directed at my father.”
“And me.”
Tess tugged on the handle, but Graham still held the door shut. “Fine. I’m pissed at you. You’re a bastard, not just because you happen to be the person my father hired over me, but because you aren’t a man of your word.”
Graham sighed and with his other hand he brushed back the dark hair falling into his eyes. “I really liked you, Tess.”
“I could tell. Enough to screw, but not enough to—”
“You’re wrong.”
“Don’t think so. You never proved any differently, and I got the message.” Tess looked pointedly at Graham’s hand flat against the window. “If you wouldn’t mind taking your hand away, I really want to get the hell out of here. I’m tired of thinking about you, that night and… everything. So move.”
“Tess.” His voice was raw, full of emotion.
Her heart ached. But only for a second. “There’s no need for any more words. You’ve apologized… .I just can’t accept that apology right now. Things are too shitty. Or maybe I’m too immature to be the bigger person. I don’t know, but I do know I want to leave. Now.”
“I wish things were different,” he said, lifting his gaze to hers. In his eyes she saw the regret, and it gave her a flicker of understanding. “I wasn’t ready to offer someone a relationship. I wish you understood that it wasn’t you, it was—”
“Me? Yeah, I’ve heard that one. Might have even used it a time or two myself. Truth is you didn’t want me enough to fight through all that stuff.” She hardened herself against the self-pity that thought inspired. “What happened was a one-time thing—just another one-night stand with some guy in a moment of weakness.”
“No, it wasn’t,” he said, pulling his hand away. “You can tell yourself that. I can tell myself that. But we both know it wasn’t.”
“Yeah?” she asked, pulling open the car door. “But here’s the question. If this”—she swished her hand back and forth between them—“wasn’t sitting between us, would you ever have called?”
He stood silently for several seconds. “Yes. I had every intention of calling you, and I would have been prepared to grovel at your feet for forgiveness for my bad behavior.”
Inside Tess the tangle of emotion that had been knotting for the last several hours rolled over, crushing even her anger for a moment. She wanted to believe him. Wanted to push aside the wall between them for a moment, so they could go back to being just a girl and just a guy who had found a piece of magic on a rain-dampened night. But—
“Too late,” she said softly sliding into her car and starting the engine. For some reason tears pricked her eyes and her throat tightened with emotion.
Pulling the door shut, she buckled up, put the car in Reverse, and eased out, peering over the other parked cars on the shady street.
She no longer had the luxury of looking backward.
Only forward.
There were new paths to blaze and new men to love. If only she could believe her own decree.
STANDINGINTHEUllos’ driveway, Graham watched Tess drive away.
She hated him.
Fine.
She didn’t forgive him and she likely never would.
Fine.
What more could he do?
