Page 153 of Worth Every Penny

“Sit,” I say.

A muscle in his jaw tenses and relaxes as he pulls out the chair and sits down. The server buzzes around him, laying out cutlery and glasses.

He unfolds the starched white napkin and places it on his lap, then his gaze fixes on mine. We breathe in tandem across the table; two people fused by the weight of unspoken words.

Finally, he breaks the silence. “I owe you an apology.”

47

NICO

Itake a deep breath. I can hardly believe Kate is sitting before me. My muscles are fatigued with tension. I’m expecting her to up and leave at any moment.

She’s as beautiful as ever, dark hair falling around her shoulders, a simple yellow dress hugging her curves. It’s warmer in New York than London, but the air con in the hotel is cool, and her nipples know it. I note their outline through the material, and an electric pulse rips through me.

I’m here to grovel, but the effect this woman has on me is insane. I drag my eyes back to her face and keep them there. I can’t look anywhere else, not without undermining what I’m about to say. Coming to her hotel was a risk, but not as big as the one Kate took to be here. I’ve got to respect that because, what’s life without a little risk-taking?

I inhale, filling my lungs deeply, but as I open my mouth, Kate speaks.

“I owe you an apology, too.”

I close my mouth and press my lips. That’s not what I expected her to say. My brows flex together, and then we speak at the same time.

“If you’ll let me—”

“I felt so dreadful—”

We stop, and for the first time, a hint of a smile touches her face and lights her eyes. She lifts her napkin and dabs the side of her mouth, even though she hasn’t touched a bite of food.

She nods to give me the go-ahead and the words tumble out. “I should have told you about your father as soon as anything happened between us. This was never casual for me. The way I feel about you…” I shake my head, letting out a sigh. “I’ve never felt like this for anyone. I know trusting me might be difficult, but I want you to know that, going forward, I’ll put you first. My loyalty will be to you, and you alone. I'll make no oaths or bonds that require me to lie to you. Nothing will come before you. And I will never, ever keep the truth from you again.”

She hangs her head, fiddles with her cutlery, shifting both knife and fork until they’re exactly parallel to the plate.

“It hurt, you know,” she whispers.

I wait, sensing she’s not finished. She’s still not looking at me, and seeing her pain makes my heart ache.

“Martin Brooks humiliated me, and he enjoyed it,” she says. “He tore me apart that day at lunch. It felt like you’d thrown me to the wolves, left me out in the cold completely undefended. And you could have given me that protection. You could have told me the truth.”

I pause, weighing her words before I speak. “Can you forgive me?”

Kate rolls the edge of her napkin back and forth on the table, curling it up and letting it unfold. My heartbeat swells until it feels like I might explode if she doesn’t speak.

“In an ideal world,” I continue, “I would have told you. But I swore I wouldn’t. And that duty, that honour, is important to me. Jack… your father—”

She holds up a hand, and I shut my mouth. Swallow. Clench my teeth so hard the muscles in my jaw ache.

“I understand why you did it.” Unshed tears rim her eyes, trembling on her lower lids. “And I can forgive you. I do forgive you, with my whole heart. But I wish it hadn’t been like that.”

She forgives me. “Like I said, going forward—”

“You sound like you’re negotiating a business deal.”

I slowly lever my upper body away from the table until it hits the chair behind, keeping my palms flat on the tablecloth.I’m doing this wrong.Fuck.

“What I’m trying to say is that I’m not entirely sure what you’re negotiating for,” Kate clarifies. “You’re making suggestions about what you plan to do as we ‘go forward’”—she air quotes with her fingertips—“but you haven’t asked me anything. I don’t know what your idea of ‘going forward’ is.”

Her comment silences me as I realize how presumptuous I’ve been. I run my tongue over my teeth as I decide what to say next.

---