Page 42 of One Sweet Day is Never Enough

He gazed down at her porcelain skin, her soft pink lips in the low light.

“What is it? What’s wrong, Seth?” Gia’s face was taut. “Did something happen?”

She was really—so beautiful. He honestly wanted to wrap his arms around her right then. “No. No, nothing like that. It’s just—“

She was searching his face. He’d better just come right out with it all. His fingers itched to stroke her cheek. “There’s something I haven’t told you.”

* * *

Gia gazedinto his deep-brown eyes. “Okay.” Her heart pounded. It was finally happening, wasn’t it? He was going to tell her he felt the same way about her that she felt about him. She reached out and softly took hold of his forearm. “What is it? You can tell me.”

“Okay.” He cast his gaze to the ground. “First of all, this has been on my mind constantly lately—I need to apologize to you first. I probably should’ve told you this before, but I’ve tried to keep my personal life separate from my professional life. It’s just that we became friends pretty quickly…”

Hewasgoing to tell her he liked her. She could feel it. She felt the strength of his forearm. She wanted to stroke it and pull herself closer to him. He smelled so good.

He went on. “But still, I just—I couldn’t find a way to make it an appropriate conversation.”

“What is it?” Gia said slowly, trying to be patient. She swallowed.

He looked back into her eyes. “Okay, here it is. I had a serious girlfriend—in California—and I just broke up with her. We’d been dating since I moved back here. I probably should’ve told you before. I didn’t want you to get the wrong idea about us. I’m sorry.”

Gia’s eyes flew wide and she sucked in a breath. “You had a girlfriend?”

All this time? And apparently he knew she had feelings for him or he wouldn’t have said she’d gotten the wrong idea. How on earth did she get this so wrong?

“Oh.” She let out a breath, her heart beginning to pound. “Wow.”

“I know, right? I didn’t want you to think…”

Oh, gosh, he’d noticed her lingering glances, her tendency to hang around too long. He’d interpreted her interest in him correctly, but the feeling wasn’t mutual. He’d been seeing someone else the whole time!

She had to say something. She couldn’t let him know how this was affecting her.Just play the friend.

“So when did it happen—the breakup?”

“Sunday night.”

Sunday night—the night after they’d sat outside his winery, talking and laughing all evening. She’d almost thought he might kiss her that night. What an idiot she was.

But why was he telling her all of this now?

Maybe because she’d practically been throwing herself at him for the past two weeks and it was his way of asking her to stop—without ruining their professional relationship? She was mortified. After all, they were doing great things together professionally. She’d become valuable to him because she could make him good money with the agency’s well-paying event customers. She looked at the ground and took a small step backwards.

Courtney and Kira had been sure he liked her. What a fool she was! Her cheeks felt warm. This was definitely not what she’d expected to hear tonight.

And she wasn’t about to ask who dumped whom. The girlfriend had probably broken it off, right? Or he wouldn’t be upset enough to have told her about it tonight.

“Well, I’m so sorry to hear that. How long did you date her?”

“About a year.”

Oh, my gosh. This was awkward beyond belief. She shook her head.Just let him think you’re the supportive shoulder to cry on.That was the only way to save her dignity, right? “That’s a really long time. I’m so sorry. Are you doing all right?”

“Oh, yeah. I’m fine. It was over between us, for a long time, really.”

“Oh, okay, well that’s good,” she said clumsily. “I guess some things just aren’t meant to be.” Wasn’t that the understatement of the year? She took off his jacket and handed it back to him.

He took it from her, hesitating. “I just didn’t want you getting the wrong idea. We’ve had a really good working relationship going—and now, a friendship, I’d say. I just wanted to clear the air. I hope I didn’t give you the wrong impression.”

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