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How the hell could he ask for their forgiveness?
Jesus, he was such a fool.
Swirling in his own hellish darkness, he flinched and jumped when he heard the knock on the door. No one came to call, ever. Especially not without the concierge calling first to see if he would accept a visitor.
Must be the hotel staff.
Knowing they might come in with their key if he didn’t answer the door, he used his palms to rub the distress from his face and walked toward the sound.
Chapter Fifteen
Demi rubbed her palms on the side of her jeans. A headache had begun to pound in her forehead, and she understood the stress had become a lot more than she’d bargained for.
Hadn’t she promised herself she’d be cool? Not put any pressures on either of them? From the minute that Tanner had suggested she see Whit in person, she’d known he was right.
How else could they get past this ridiculous impasse? Though she knew Glen had answers to her questions of why and what had happened, she’d refused to put him on the spot. He’d made promises to his friend, and it felt wrong for her to make him break that pledge for her. He’d already felt torn, disloyal… and frightened she’d make him leave.
Not that she ever would. In fact, the opposite. Knowing his fierce loyalty, understanding how hard it must have been for him to stay silent, she felt nothing but empathy. And so she refused to put him on the spot.
Standing outside Whit’s room, the one Tanner had told her was his, she decided that if he rejected her, she’d smack him good. Yes! That’s the attitude. He deserved a good talking to, and she was just the person to give it to him.
While all this ran through her mind, her pissiness level ramped up and she couldn’t wait for him to open the fucking door. She knocked louder.
“I’m coming for Chrissakes. Give me a minute.”
Oh I’ll give you more than that, you asshole, see if I don’t.
Then he opened the door.
And all that angst died, floating away on her soft-hearted awareness.
He stood back, saying nothing, as if waiting for her to move forward. Then his expression changed, and his face crumpled. That’s when she flew into his arms.
“Oh, Whit.”
“God. Demi. Sweet Jesus, it’s you.” He held her so close, she felt as if their bodies were merged into each other’s. “I can’t believe it. You came. I wanted you here so bad… so fucking bad. You wouldn’t understand.”
She went to pull back, and he stopped her. “No… wait. I have to tell you myself. I’m blind, honey. I haven’t been able to say those words to others. It’s like they stick in my craw, and I can’t get them out. But you need to know.”
Demi pulled herself from his grasp. “I don’t care. It doesn’t matter to me… not even a little bit.” She poked him in the chest as if to get his attention but more to make her point, so he’d never have to wonder.
“You are Whitaker Hart. A man whose been looking after me since I arrived in Alaska. A wonderful, kind-hearted, honorable, stubborn asshole who I never once questioned his morals. Never. The outside package means nothing to me, Whit, never has. It’s the inner you that has always attracted me, the grand soul you have inside that big heart. That’s the magnet that’s always drawn me to you.”
“Oh, Demi. I’m such a fool. And I basically just realized it a short while before you knocked. I’ve been sitting here feeling lower than I’ve ever been before – I mean hitting the bottom low. And it wasn’t self-pity that induced it, but the knowledge of how much I’d hurt the people who care for me and those I most care about.”
He reached for her, not realizing his arms were slightly off kilter and that alone… that simple display of his flaw… made her let go of the pain still lingering.
“I think we both need to say were sorry and move on. Put this behind us.”
His raw laugh held no humor. “What do you have to apologize for?”
“Better not go into it too much other than to admit I had a lot of anger inside just waiting to flay you with before you opened the door.”
“Wait, you didn’t know what was wrong with me until you saw me?”
“Exactly. Other than you were waiting for an operation, I had no idea what to expect. Tanner found you and gave me the address but would say no more. And Glen had promised a friend to keep a secret, and I could never ask him to break his word, so I came not knowing what to expect.”
“And yet you came.”
