Page 46 of Kiss Me Forever

"So it's truly the games that drive you and not the money?"

"Yes. I can't deny that I enjoy having money now. Not having had it for a lot of years has made me appreciate my good fortune. I don't take it for granted, and I do try to share."

"Which brings us to philanthropy. I've been researching your long list of charity donations. You do spread the wealth around."

"I try."

"I noticed that you've been part of Big Brothers and have been supporting women and family shelters here in the city. Did your experience with foster care lead you in that direction?"

"Absolutely."

"I also read that you're starting a foundation to oversee your philanthropic efforts. Will that foundation be exploring other areas in which you might want to invest?"

"That's their mission. What else?"

She sighed, knowing that she just wasn't asking the right questions, but she couldn't think of how to get him to crack, other than to kiss him. That was the only thing that seemed to loosen him up. But she'd already told herself that wasn't going to happen again.

"Are we done?" Alex asked.

"Not quite. I asked you before about a girlfriend and you said you hadn't been seriously involved with anyone in a few years, but I wonder if you have ever been in love?"

He hesitated. "I don't know about love, but when I was in my early twenties, things got serious with one woman."

"Really?" she asked, surprised that he finally hadn't dodged a question or given her a one-word answer. "Who was it?"

He hesitated as a trio of women came down the trail. After they passed by, he said, "Her name was Valerie. We were together almost a year, but we were young. I was twenty-one and had little to no money at that point. I was scraping by, working a bunch of jobs. She was also twenty-one and eager to live the good life, so eventually she left me for a better prospect. Looking back, it was a good thing. She hated to fly, and she thought video games were stupid."

Andrea saw the hint of pain in his eyes. "You're making light of what must have hurt. No one likes to be used or pushed aside for a better prospect."

"Honestly, she hurt my pride more than anything else. I hated the fact that I had misread her so badly. I thought I knew what she was about, but I didn't. And that surprised me, because even then I considered myself good at being able to read someone's motives. It was a skill I had to learn to survive."

"What do you mean?"

"When I was a teenager, I trusted the wrong person, and I learned a hard lesson. I tried not to make that mistake again, but with Valerie I did just that."

"Who was that first person who abused your trust?"

He didn't answer right away, and she could see conflict in his eyes. "It was one of my foster parents. She wasn't who I thought."

"What did she do?"

"It doesn't matter now."

She hated that he'd cut her off just when things were getting interesting. But with Alex she had the sense that she had to tread carefully or he'd shut down completely.

"What about you?" he asked. "Were you in love with Doug?"

"I thought I was at the time."

"Anyone before him get your heart pounding?"

"I had a high school boyfriend that I adored, but we broke up after graduation, and he moved back east to college. He married someone he met there and I think they already have two kids."

"Did he break your heart?"

"He did," she admitted. "When you're sixteen, a lot of things break your heart. But I try to remember the good times. He was the first person who made me feel happy. For those years after my dad died, I was a little lost, and Charlie made me laugh. He was a funny guy, and he helped me not take my life so seriously."

"It seems like you could still use someone like that in your life," Alex suggested. "You seem to have a one-track mind, and it's all business."

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