Page 58 of Tempting Her Forbidden Boss

‘No.’

‘Do you know where she is?’

‘Yes.’ He’d had someone track her from the moment she’d left—as awful as that was. He’d never used a private investigator in his life before, but in the last month he’d spent more on one than an Instagram influencer spent on fillers in a year. ‘But that’s not the point.’ He wanted her to come back. He wantedherto want to. But it looked as if that wasn’t going to happen.

Lorenzo stared at him, his eyes darker than the moonless night. ‘You’re not going after her?’

‘No.’

Alex sat in the silence after Lorenzo had gone. Eventually acknowledged to himself that he’d lied to his friend. Another lie—this time to try to stop himself from hurting. It hadn’t worked. He could wait another day, maybe two, but then he had to go after her. He didn’t know what he was going to do when he got to her, but somehow he would win. He checked his phone again, saw the little icon flashing. There’d been many messages now, and he’d ignored every one. But he couldn’t ignore it anymore—had to have closure on something at least.

‘Alex?’ Patrick answered right away, sounded surprised.

‘Yeah, ah, sorry I haven’t got back to you sooner.’ Alex grimaced, what washedoing apologising? A spurt of irritation heated him, driving his words. ‘Look, I had a great father. He was fantastic. 1 don’t need another.’

Samuel had been there for him, had loved him. He truly was his dad and Alex wasn’t going to let anyone take that from either of them.

There was a pause. Patrick cleared his throat. ‘I understand.’

Elbow on his desk, Alex shut his eyes and massaged round them with thumb and middle finger. Was that edge of disappointment genuine?

Yeah, he thought it was—it resonated with the disappointment deep in his own bones. ‘But maybe, um...’ his voice failed ‘...maybe I could do with a friend.’

He didn’t really know if it was going to be possible. It was a huge chasm between them, a pit of bad history miles wide. But he’d learned from Dani: things were never black-and-white and, hell, it was so hard to tell someone you loved something that was going to hurt them. Every instinct was to protect, as his mother had wanted to protect both him and Samuel—he could acknowledge that now. It didn’t make it right, but he understood why people sometimes lied. And he so badly wanted to be given another chance, surely he could offer one himself.

‘That would be great, Alex,’ Patrick said quietly. ‘Thanks.’

* * *

‘I thought you’d have been on a plane back to Oz days ago.’ Dani looked up from where she was staring at the bowl of sugar sachets in the cafe down by the waterfront.

Lorenzo. Looking as unreadable as ever. Although his vibe was definitely one of disapproval.

‘I am. Tomorrow.’ She was working up to it. But there’d been one last thing she’d had to do first. Now even that was done.

‘Then you need to go and see him today.’

Dani shook her head. ‘He was doing me a favour because he felt bad about the video thing. He felt responsible. That’s all it was.’

He was doing what he thought he should. His sense of duty had driven him. And with all the stress he was under, things had got confused. But she was as right for him as an electric blanket was right for a snowman. She’d wanted to get out before he woke up to that fact. She just couldn’t handle the heartache.

‘Look, I’ve known Alex a long time and I’ve never known him to do something he doesn’t want to. He’s a smart guy—he knows what he’s doing,’ Lorenzo said. ‘I’ve never known him to move a woman in with him. He could have put you up in a hotel. He could have given you some money and walked away.’

‘He’s too meticulous to have done that. He wanted to be sure I was okay.’

‘No. The Alex I know would never have taken a woman to his home in that situation for fear she’d get the wrong impression. He’s always been very careful not to lead anyone on.’

Yeah, she knew that—for him it was ‘just sex, just fun’.

‘But it seems you’ve got the totally wrong impression anyway.’ Lorenzo pulled out the chair beside her and sat. ‘I don’t like to see my friend hurting. Seems to me you’re not that happy, either.’

Dani shook her head. For her it hadn’t been just sex. It had been everything. Deep inside her that flicker of hope had refused to be snuffed. Lorenzo’s words made it burn brighter than the sun.

It took her three minutes to summon up courage to ask him. ‘Do you think he meant it?’

‘I think you need to ask him that yourself.’

Her heart thudded, more adrenalin flooding her than that time she’d been too scared to even blink. Could she ask him?

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