Page 54 of Until He Confesses

I nodded as well, and we went silent again. I know I had brought this up several times and she had rejected the offers, but once again I wanted to extend the invitation.

“I want to spend the week with you,” I told her. “Tell me what’s holding you back.”

She stilled at my words and then straightened. To my surprise, she turned to look into my eyes as she spoke.

“I don’t do casual relationships.”

“There’s nothing casual about anything between us,” I told her, and her brows slightly raised.

“Within this week,” I said. “We’re exclusive. Let’s do what we want with each other and then afterward we can call it a fling and go our separate ways.”

She smiled and shook her head in refusal.

“No,” she said, and turned once again to stare at the ocean.

“You might not be affected by it, but I will be if I’m being honest. It would be the same with anyone else,” she didn’t forget to add. “I just can’t be casual with strangers in that way.”

“I’m not a stranger,” I reminded her.

“Exactly,” she said. “So, it makes accepting this proposition even more dangerous.”

“Mn, dangerous,” I repeated, and she smiled.

“You’ll have more fun with me though,” I told her. “There are six rooms here so you can take whichever you want. Save on the expenses and then we can go out to dinner and eat when the time allows. Rather than being fixed to an inn wouldn’t you rather be out on the sea?”

“Wow,” she said. “You drive the hardest bargain I’ve ever heard in my life.”

I smiled.

“Think about it, will you? You won’t be restricted. All I’m proposing is a little companionship so we can make the best out of these few days as possible.”

She began to nod, and I could tell that I was somewhat getting to her.

She remained silent but thankfully just then one of the kitchen stewards came out to speak to us with the news that breakfast was ready.

“Ready?” I asked and she seemed slightly hesitant. I didn’t want to pull her along, so I went ahead on my own and soon headed down to the galley.

The round table had truly been filled with almost every breakfast food I could have thought of, so I immediately grabbed a cup of coffee. I looked out to the pier and the boats all around as well as the people on the beach and took a deep breath.

It wasn’t my plan to leave the boat for the day but now that she was here, and given her indecision on staying for long, it seemed as though this was all the time that would be allowed to us, so I intended to spend it with her. I felt unhappy though because even though she’d been the one to break up with me I was still the one unable to keep from associating with her. When she eventually came over and took her seat by my side, I decided to get to the root of what exactly had been the problem between us but she had other plans.

“Do you have meetings?” she asked as she grabbed a glass of orange juice.

“Not today,” I said, and she nodded and set the glass down.

“Why do you ask?” I asked as her eyes widened at the spread.

She reached for a croissant and just before she took a bite she replied.

“I don’t know. I was thinking maybe you’d like to take a stroll in the city with me. You’ll be sailing away from here tomorrow, right?”

I was just about to reach for a piece of fruit when she brought up this suggestion and I was pleasantly surprised.

It was what I had been considering earlier but now, I wondered if I should give in.

25

CALLIE

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