Page 66 of Nothing Breaks Like A Heart

"Have you remembered anything else that you want to share with me?"

"No." I didn't want to get into another tense discussion when I had no new facts to relate.

"Are you sure? You can talk to me. I hope you know that."

"As long as I don't talk about Allison."

He frowned as anger flared in his gaze. "She's not the horrible person you think she is."

"She told me she knows you better than I do. How was I supposed to take that? It certainly wasn't a compliment. And I can't help thinking she's right, because I certainly didn't know about her or Paris."

He let out a sigh. "She doesn't know me better on a personal level, just on a business level. She and I have never had the connection that you and I have. Our attraction was instant. Don't you remember how quickly and how hard we fell for each other? We stayed up talking all night after our first date. It was the best first date I'd ever had."

"I thought so, too," I admitted. But now, looking back, I could see that what I'd thought were deep conversations hadn't been deep at all. We'd talked about books and movies and places we wanted to travel to. We'd shared little about our actual lives. We'd just lived in a happy bubble where we were having fun, having sex, and falling in love. But who had I fallen in love with? The little discrepancies, the omissions, the second phone, the trip to Paris…it was all adding up in a way that made me nervous.

And Andrew was making me nervous. Even now, he was staring at me and getting bothered by the fact that I still didn't trust Allison, which meant I didn't completely trust him. It had been a long day, and I didn't want to get into an argument.

"I want to get back to you and me," Andrew continued. "I hope you want the same thing."

"I do want things to be the way they were before," I said with complete honesty. Because those days had been good, much better than the last few I'd lived through.

His tension eased at my response. He put his hand on my shoulder and leaned in for a kiss. Then he said, "I'm glad you feel that way, Lauren. When I saw you in the water, so far away from me, I felt a distance I'd never felt before. I didn't like it. I want us to be together always."

"Then maybe you should tell Allison to go home. Or maybe you could ask Victor to terminate his deal with her," I suggested.

"That would raise questions, and I don't think Victor would appreciate me telling him what to do with his business."

"So, she stays," I said, feeling deflated by his response.

"Look, I'll talk to Allison about leaving. And if she doesn't want to leave, I will tell her that she needs to stay away from you and me for the duration of our time here. We're only here until next Sunday, unless you want to leave earlier?"

"We can't leave before Thursday at the earliest. The grand opening on Wednesday has events running all day and into the evening."

"Exactly. But it's Monday night and Thursday will be here before we know it. Then we can go home or anywhere else you want. We can have a real honeymoon."

"That would be nice. Let's talk about it later. I'm hungry. Do you think you could order room service?"

"Of course. What do you want?"

"Anything sounds good. Chicken or fish."

"I'll order a bunch of stuff. Victor is picking up the tab, and I'm sure he'd want you to have anything your heart desires."

"As long as I tell the right story," I said cynically.

"You've always told me your job is important to you. But whatever you want to do, I'll support you."

I wasn't sure that was true, but Andrew knew I was going to go along with the spin, because that's what I had to do. "I'll be a good team player," I said.

"I'm sure that will be appreciated. I'll go order us some food."

As he left, I couldn't help thinking that while I loved my job, I didn't want to die for it. And I really hoped I was making the right decision by staying silent.

ChapterSixteen

After my bath, I changed into my comfy PJs and made my way into the living room. Andrew was sitting at the dining room table, his computer in front of him. When he saw me, he immediately gave me a smile. "There you are. I was wondering if you'd fallen asleep in there."

"I wasn't going to take that chance after almost drowning earlier. What are you doing?"

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