Page 50 of The Billionaire's Kiss
“Shh,” he hissed in my ear. “Don’t worry about me. I want you to take care of yourself. We can’t worry about each other constantly. We have to let each other go now.”
“I left the painting that man did of me on Sixth Street in my room. I want you to have it to remember me by it. Don’t forget to take it before housekeeping picks it up and throws it away. Don’t forget me, my prince.”
I thought I might burst at the seams with sadness. Nothing had ever been so hard for me in my life. Nothing at all had come close to hurting me as much as this did.
“My Irish princess, I will never—not ever—forget you. No matter what life has in store for me, you will always live right here,” he pressed his hand against his heart, “inside of me. For eternity.”
“You are coming, aren’t you, Orla?” Mona called out to me.
“I don’t want to go,” I whispered as I looked into Warner’s blue eyes.
“You know you have to.” He pulled my hands up and kissed each knuckle. It did little to settle me. “What we had was special.”
“What we had was amazing.” I took a deep breath and steadied myself. Standing up straight, I shook my head to clear it. “It’s been a pleasure in all ways, Mr. Nash.”
“Ditto, Miss Quinn.” He chuckled. “Everyone’s in the van but you.”
Nodding, I knew it was time to leave. “I know.” I pulled my hands away from his. He held mine so tightly that it made it hard to free them. But finally, I did, and his hands dropped to his sides. “Silly.”
“Gorgeous.”
“Handsome.” I pointed at his beard. “You can shave it off now.”
He nodded. “Only for you, my sweet princess.”
I backed up until I got to the van and had to turn away from him to get inside. The door slid closed, pushed by a porter. Warner lifted his hand, slowly waving goodbye.
I put my hand to the glass, tears beginning to stream down my face. I knew this was it—the last time I would ever lay eyes on the man. The tears blurred my vision, and I lost sight of him as we drove away.
An arm came around me, and I didn’t even care whose it was. I leaned into their shoulder, sobbing and wishing I hadn’t been so stupid as to think that I could do everything I’d done with Warner and not fall in love with him. “I’m a fool.”
It was Mona’s voice that said, “You’re not a fool. You’re lucky to have had the experiences you’ve had with him. And he was lucky to have had you, Orla, even if only for a short while. It’s going to be okay. You’ll see. You’ll both be okay.”
I didn’t feel like I would ever be okay again. And Mona was the last person I’d ever thought would be nice to me about this. But we came from the same place, and that made us something like family to each other.
Family—the last people I wanted to be thinking of just then. I love my family dearly, but they were the reason I had to let go of the man I love.
But it was the way it had to be.
