Page 81 of His Innocent for One Spanish Night

All the reasons his father had used on his mother to keep her from leaving, to try and hold her back...

Four weeks into a relationship, was he starting to do the same?

‘As I said, I’ll know more once I get to NYC...’

‘Of course.’

‘Are you okay?’

‘I’m fine.’

‘Only you seem distracted.’

‘No.’ She turned and faced him. ‘I ought to get back to my office...the translator wants to go through some things again.’

He caught her wrist as she went to walk out. ‘Don’t I even get a farewell kiss?’ he asked, looking into her suddenly guarded blue eyes and completely unable to read her.

‘Of course.’ She kissed him lightly, briefly. ‘Have a safe flight.’

‘Emily?’

‘What?’ she snapped. ‘Do you want me on my knees under your desk, or pleading with you not to leave?’ She shook her head. ‘I thought you didn’t like drama and emotion.’

So had he.

‘We always knew this was ending,’ Emily said.

‘We did.’

‘So you don’t get to demand tears when it does.’

He would never quite know her, Alejandro realised as he watched her stalk out. He hopped on international flights without a thought, he was used to leaving with little notice, he didn’t want tears over open suitcases.

He’d had a gutful of that growing up.

But he hadn’t expected that he’d feel shut down by the sudden removal of her smile. That the end of them would be so...

Well, by his own standards this ending was perfect.

Emily Jacobs had given him everything he wanted: four weeks of passion and an easy parting.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

BYSECONDBREAKFASThe had left the bodega. And now his plane would be well and truly in the sky, Emily knew as she stood in a pharmacy.

While her Spanish had vastly improved, she’d still had to look up the words for a home pregnancy test, but she had been sensible enough to dig out her own phone from the depths of her bag.

Prueba de embarazo.

She bought the kit and stuffed it down in the bottom of her bag, and then carried on with her long working day, sitting with the translator and the IT guys until late into the night.

Finally, she headed back to her apartment, listening to the music coming from thetabernaand looking at the couples who dined in the courtyard.

Emily hated going up the stairs and knowing that there wasn’t a chance of him being there.

More than that she hated the way they’d parted—how horrible she’d been when in truth she’d been panicking and scared.

She was oddly calm now, as she stepped into the apartment.

---