Page 65 of Surrender to the Ruthless Billionaire

She already cared far too much about Luis. Soon she’d panic like she always did, about losing her place in his affections and then it would just be a matter of time before he realised that she wasn’t worthy of his love, his time or his attention.

Better to get out now, with her dignity and her heart intact.

Gently, she slid her hands from beneath his. ‘One day you are going to find thewoman who will make you happy.’

There was a long, loaded silence. He stared at her, a flicker of confusion in his eyes, as though he hadn’t quite understood what she had said—as though she had spoken in a foreign language.

‘I have found her,’ he said finally.

She shook her head. ‘I like you, Luis, and I’m grateful—’

‘Grateful!’

The word sounded harsh as it echoed around the beautiful room.

‘Yes, for everything you’ve done, for your help and support. But that’s all I feel.’ She clenched her jaw, biting down on the lie. ‘We said we didn’t want anything serious. Don’t you remember?’

She watched his face shift and harden as anger replaced confusion.

‘Yes, I remember. But that was before all this.’

‘This doesn’t change anything.’ She spoke quickly, for with every passing second it was getting harder to believe that leaving Luis was the right thing to do. ‘I’m sorry if you thought it did, but it doesn’t. My life is a big enough mess right now—I don’t need or want any more complications.’

‘And that’s what I am, is it?’

His voice was steady, but the expression on his face made her want to curl up somewhere dark and private.

‘A complication?’

Luis stared at her in silence. His head was spinning; anger and misery were rippling through him in waves, tangling up with his breath so that his chest felt full of knots. He knew she was scared of being hurt, and that she found it hard to trust. So he’d offered himself and his feelings up like a sacrifice to prove that he could be trusted.

He’d thought it would be enough.

But he’d been wrong.

Trust wasn’t the issue. She just didn’t want him.

For her this had only ever been a fling. A short-term sexual liaison.

His anguish felt like a living thing.

Not just because he was losing her but because he saw now that he’d never really had her.

Something seemed to fall forward high up inside him.

He’d fallen in love and he’d wanted her to feel the same way—so much so that he’d trusted his emotions over the evidence, put feelings before facts. It was the emotional equivalent of a HALO jump without a parachute. The ultimate gamble.

And he’d lost.

He hadn’t heard her leave the room but she must have done, for suddenly she was standing there with her bag.

‘I’m going to stay in a hotel.’

‘There’s no need,’ he said flatly. ‘There’s no reason for me to stay now, so you might as well use the apartment.’

Cristina shook her head. Her body was so rigid with misery that it hurt to make that tiny sideways movement, but she didn’t care. In fact she was grateful, for it gave her something to concentrate on aside from the crack opening up inside her heart.

‘Thank you, but no. I’d rather stay at a hotel.’ She hesitated. ‘I’ll write to your parents.’

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