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“Say yes,” he whispered, his thumbs brushing the corners of her mouth, his incredible slate eyes beseeching her to agree.
For one heart-rending, hope-filled moment, Beth wanted to throw caution to the wind and say yes.
She wanted to fling every reservation she’d ever had about relationships out the window and go for it.
But she couldn’t, for while her heart was screaming ‘yes, yes, yes’, her head resurrected memories of her father and how he’d fallen apart when her mom died, how he’d never recovered, how loving and losing could be devastating for the rest of one’s days.
She never let anyone get too close because she didn’t want to feel that kind of soul-deep pain. Nobody was worth it. She’d made sure of it her entire life and she couldn’t change now, even for the most spectacular man she’d ever met.
“I can’t.” She turned away and dashed a hand across her eyes, simultaneously dashing any faint hope they might’ve had.
Aidan didn’t reach for her again.
He didn’t move, didn’t speak, and she finally raised her eyes to meet his, his pain quickly masked by a puzzling perceptiveness.
“I’m sorry. I’m not cut out for a relationship.” She lifted her hands in a helpless gesture before letting them fall uselessly to her sides, trying not to take gulps of air to fill her oxygen deprived lungs, to ease the pain squeezing her heart in a vice.
He studied her through narrowed eyes, his expression inscrutable. “You’re the one who prompted me to take a risk, to confront my dad, to toss in my job, and you were right. I’ve spent a lifetime trying to get the old man’s attention and it took a headstrong, talented, intelligent, beautiful woman to make me see what a senseless waste of time it was. And the funny thing? I thought you had a hell of a lot more gumption than this.”
She wanted to go to him so badly her body ached. “I didn’t know all that stuff about your dad.”
He waved away her concern. “It’s not important. What’s important is you and me getting on the same page. I’m there. How about you?”
She shook her head and turned away, unable to look at him a moment longer. “Relationships aren’t my thing.”
She stiffened as he came up behind her and rested both hands on her shoulders, bending to murmur in her ear. “The plane ticket is yours. I leave in a week. I’ll wait for you at the gate.”
“Please don’t.”
Her whispered plea sounded pathetic in the loaded silence and, with a gentle squeeze of her shoulders and a tender, lingering kiss on the nape of her neck, he walked away.
Leaving Beth more conflicted than ever.
* * *
Beth stumbledfrom the gallery in such a daze it took her a full half hour and a tram ride to Lana’s house before she realized she still had the plane ticket clutched in her hand.
She thrust it into her jacket pocket where it burned a hole, a reminder of what she could have if she took a chance.
How ironic, that risk was her middle name, yet when it came to taking the ultimate gamble—with her heart—she was as yellow bellied as a snake.
“You better come in before you wear out my footpath.” Lana held open her front door and it took Beth a full five seconds to absorb what was different about her cousin.
“Hey, no crutches.”
Lana did a little twirl, ending in a stumble. “Great, huh? Almost as good as new.”
“That’s fabulous news.”
That made it official: Beth’s stint at the museum had finished, along with her all too brief fling with Aidan.
“I thought you’d be happier?” A tiny worry line creased Lana’s brow and Beth shook her head, knowing she shouldn’t have come here, but having no one else to turn to.
“I am happy for you being back on your feet, especially as you you’ll be at the museum rather than me.” Beth screwed up her nose. “I’m in a funk because I’m a stubborn mule.”
Lana chuckled. “Is that all? For a moment I thought it was serious.”
“It is serious, if you consider me being offered the world by an amazing guy and turning it down serious.”
