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“Good.”
When he finally lets me go, I sink back against the table, grabbing it to steady myself, and he takes a step back, his hands shoved in his pockets.
“We need to talk. But not here.”
I pace back as far away from him as I can. “I don’t know, Kingsley. Maybe this is it. This was all a mistake.”
“No.No.I made the mistake of leaving you last night. Let me make it up to you. Give me a chance to explain.”
I throw my hands up in surrender. “What’s there to explain? You regret what you did, and now… it is what it is.”
In two steps, he’s in front of me again. Too close. Consuming the air in my lungs.
“Luna, I asked you to trust me once. Remember?”
I nod.
“I’m asking you again. I’m begging you, Luna.”
I take a breath. “Why?”
He cups my cheek, his palm molding against the shape of my face. “Because you’re my undoing. And I need you to put me back together.”
I don’t go with him.
He knew I wasn’t ready, but he said when I was, he’d be waiting.
I go home with Alex, who doesn’t force me to talk or ask me any questions. He shows me to the guest room in his apartment, respecting my request to just let me sleep, and I do.
And when I wake, I have no more answers than when my head first hit the pillow.
“Coffee?” Alex says when I stumble into his breakfast nook the next morning, and I take the cup gratefully. “I’ll have an office set up for you today.”
“Why do I need an office?”
He frowns into his coffee cup. “I mean, we haven’t talked about it, but I assumed you’d work at Hamilton. Might as well get you an office.”
“Alex, I have no idea what my plans are right now.”
“Is this about Kingsley? Is something going on with you? I mean, intimately?”
My finger traces the curve of the cup handle as I avoid his eyes. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t ask me that, Alex.”
“It’s just, I’ve never seen him like that before. He’s always so calm and collected. I thought he was going to burn the whole building down looking for you.”
I stare straight ahead, remembering the way Kingsley burst into the office. How I seesawed between pure joy at seeing him and the pain for remembering how he’d hurt me.
He huffs when he realizes I’m not going to answer and gets up to refill his cup. “Okay, fine. But that doesn’t change that you need to decide about Hamilton. It’s 26% your company, Luna.”
“Trust me, I’m more than aware of that, Alex. A company I knew nothing about a month ago. I feel like I’m drowning in all the information I need to know to make good decisions for myself and the company.”
“I can teach you.”
“That’s what Kingsley’s been doing.”
The scoff is more derisive than I expect. “He’s not a Hamilton. He’s a Baxter.”
“And? Are they not good people?”
