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I stared at him for a moment, not fully comprehending what he’d just said.
“You…you want to give me the money?” I whispered.
He nodded. “Yes. It’s the least I can do since you’ve had to give up so much to raise Henry.”
It was a generous offer, but I shook my head and said, “Thanks, but no.”
He appeared genuinely surprised by my refusal. “What? What do you mean, no?”
I held his gaze and answered, “I don’t want handouts, never have, and especially not from you.”
His eyes widened, then narrowed in clear irritation. “You’re really going to be stubborn about this? It’s not a big deal for me to give you that money, and then, you’d have your store and wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore.”
I gritted my teeth. His arrogance was astounding.
“Then what? You think everything will be better between us because you threw some money at me?”
“That’s not what I’m doing, and you know it.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re doing, because I don’t know you anymore. Not that I ever really did, and you clearly don’t know me. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have made that offer.”
“I’m just trying to help you,” he insisted with a growl.
I shook my head and pushed to my feet. “If you want to help Henry, we can figure that out, but I don’t need it for me. I have to get back to work.”
I turned to walk away, but he surged to his feet and grabbed my hand, stopping me. He tugged on my hand. I spun around, slamming into his chest with a gasp.
“Ryan, what…?”
My words died on my tongue as I gazed up at him. He stared down at me, and neither of us said a word for several, long moments.
It was as though we were frozen in a haze, and something passed between us that I couldn’t quite explain.
My body grew warm in his arms, and my breathing grew heavy. It seemed that, no matter what my mind thought of him, my body still reacted to him in a way that I couldn’t control.
“When did you get so stubborn?” he murmured.
I opened my mouth to answer, but the words wouldn’t come out. Just a breathy whimper that I wished I could take back because it revealed far more than words could.
Something flashed in his gaze that made my heart begin to race. It was heady and lustful. My fingers curled into his shirt. I realized I wasn’t going to move away from him if he tried anything, and I could see the intent in his eyes.
He slowly began lowering his head, his lips moving closer and closer to mine. I didn’t move. There was a part of me that wanted to know if his kiss was as intoxicating as I remembered it being.
Just before lips made contact with mine, however, I heard the bell above the front door of the shop ring as someone came inside.
Gasping, I realized exactly what it was I was about to do and pulled away, jerking out of his hold.
I could see he didn’t want to let me go. He didn’t try to pull me back, though.
“I need to get back to work,” I said in a breathless tone. “You need to leave.”
“Sam…”
I shook my head sharply. “No, Ryan. Don’t say anything. Just go. Please.”
He clenched his jaw and shook his head, but then he said, “All right, but we’re not done talking.”
“I know,” I murmured, turning away from him. “Please, just go.”
