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He took off his glasses for a moment and scrubbed his hand over his face, smiling broadly. He moved to stand in front of me, one hand braced on the counter, the other on his hip. We’d bonded more than once over our shared Greek heritage and all the little idiosyncrasies that were inherently a part of it. Greek hospitality and nosiness went together.
“They wouldn’t sell me any dolmadakia for you. Told me you didn’t need my dolmadakia, and said, quite belligerently I might add, that they’d give you all the dolmadakia you want.” He pretended to gripe.
I laughed, but I was touched, both by their protectiveness and his memory. I leaned my hip against the counter across from him and crossed my arms over my chest. His smile warmed me. “You were going to buy me dolmadakia?”
“You still like it?” He asked softly, turning to face me, both hands resting on the edge of the counter now.
“I do,” I smiled, drawn to him as ever. “That’s why I went over there. I’ve got four cans of it in the back.”
“They warned me not to break your heart again. I promised them I wouldn’t,” he said softly.
The smile slid off my face. The funniness of the situation wore off, and I stepped back from the counter.
He sighed and dropped his chin to his chest for a moment. He looked up and peered at me from beneath his heavy brows. “You’re going to make me work for it.”
“For what?” I asked, crossing my arms protectively over my chest.
“Your love.”
I guffawed. “No. That you have. It’s my trust that is beyond your reach.”
He studied my face for a moment. “I have your love, Ruby-mine?”
“Always. What? Did you think I’d be able to take it back?” I snarked. “But it doesn’t mean anything.” I shrugged and tried to rein in my swinging emotions.
He leaned his forearms on the counter and leaned over to meet my eyes. My gaze flickered up to his. He studied me intently. “How? How does it mean nothing? You don’t believe that I love you, Ruby-mine?”
I shrugged again and edged further away from the counter, away from him.
“Not enough to stay.”
He opened his mouth to protest, but I raised my hand to stop him. “I understand why you did it. I even agree. Mostly. But, watching you walk away from me has gotten old. I’m old enough now to know I deserve better.” I shook my head when he tried again to speak. “Even if I don’t deserve better, I’m old enough to know I don’t want this anymore.”
“Don’t want what anymore? Me? Us?” He asked, his head cocked to the side, his dark eyes holding mine, a tiny thread of doubt weaving through the determination in his gaze.
I hated to be the one to put that there. The threat of tears stung my eyes. I rubbed Vander’s cross under my shirt. Could I really turn him away?
“I just can’t.” I said softly, my plea for mercy welling in my eyes. Hurting him again was the last thing I wanted to do.
God knows, we’d hurt each other enough already.
“Can’t? Or won’t?” He murmured. “Would you wish me away? Would you take one night, or a single weekend, then wish me away, so you don’t fall any deeper? Because I gotta tell you, Ruby. There’s no further down I can go. I’ve loved you with my whole heart for more than half of my life, and I’m not going to walk away so easily.”
I took a deep breath. I didn’t want this uncertainty: torn in two, afraid, my world turned upside down. I needed to be straight with him, and end this before he got his hopes up.
“Every single person I’ve loved has left and taken a piece of my heart with them. There’s simply not enough left to risk giving it to you again.” I explained firmly.
“I’m giving you mine,” he murmured softly.
My eyebrows pinched together with irritation. He wasn’t listening. Pushing me, pulling at me, like everything else in my life.
“I don’t want it!” I snapped.
He grinned now, the tender moment over. “Too late. No takebacks.”
“You’re not listening to reason!” I hissed, and watched, unwittingly fascinated, as his smile dropped, his jaw tightened, and his beautiful mouth flattened into a firm, unyielding line.
He leaned over the counter and pinned me with dark eyes, flashing with anger and years of hurt. “Look where listening to reason got us. I’m done listening.”
My heart rate picked up, from anger or anticipation, I couldn’t tell. What I could identify, and it made me angrier still, was hope.
We glared at each other across the counter for another moment, then he stood up straight, knocked on the counter briskly, and stepped back, his eyes trained on my face.
My stomach dropped, and I worked hard to ensure my dismay didn’t show on my face.
He walked to the door and opened it, then turned to look at me.
His eyes softened.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Ruby-mine.”
