Page 117 of 2 Books in One Bundle

“Call the orchestra and tell them what happened.”

“It’s not like taking sick leave at work. There’s one semi-final audition date, and today is it.”

He didn’t miss the slight crack in her voice, watch as she pulled herself back together and tried to yank the emotionless mask back in place.

“So what? You’re going to bury yourself in medical debt and spend your best years working to pay it off instead of going after your dream? You think that’s what Constanza wants for you?”

“You don’t know her.” Evolet’s whisper came fiercely, adamantly. “And you don’t know me, Damon. Don’t act like you know what’s important to me.”

His hold on his temper began to slip. “If you need to use me as a punching bag, fine. But,” he added as he closed the distance between them once more, stopping so his body was just a breath away from hers, “don’t you stand there and say I don’t know you. I know you better than anyone.”

Her chin came up, eyes blazing. “We had sex. That’s it. Over and done.”

Perhaps this was the punishment he deserved after his casual liaisons, the coldness he’d wielded like a weapon to keep previous lovers at bay. The savage decisiveness he’d used when ending his affair with Evolet. Had his past partners experienced the powerless pressure of shock, the swift anger that raced up the spine, only to peter out into a desperate hopelessness that left one empty?

“Is that all we were, Evolet?” He leaned down, knowing he should leave, that now was not the time or place to be having this discussion. “You asked me to be your first lover.”

“Lovers implies love. We didn’t love each other. We had an agreement. We had fun. We had sex. Now it’s over.”

But I do love you.

The realization hit him hard. He was in love with Evolet. It stunned him into silence. He couldn’t say it now, not in the midst of so much fear and pain, not when she was so angry and might not believe him. Not when she had every reason to doubt him with how he’d kept her at arm’s length even as he’d greedily taken everything she’d offered.

Had she been in love with him? He was certain she had at least cared for him. But she had told what had happened the times she had loved and lost. She’d shut down, withdrawn so deeply into herself it had been years until she’d finally opened her heart again. Would there ever come a time when she would believe him? Or had he lost his chance?

“Go away, Damon,” she said suddenly, weariness creeping into her voice as her shoulders slumped. “You shouldn’t even be here. You have your party tonight.”

He hadn’t just made one mistake or two. No, he had to have made at least a dozen where Evolet was concerned. She had been a crucial part of landing the Royal Air contract. Her passionate defense of Bradford Global and the work they did had meant something to Bryant Bengtsson. He’d almost invited her to the party half a dozen times over the past week, each time coming up with excuses that in retrospect were ungrateful and cowardly. Chief among them had been that he knew if he invited her, it was admitting that he wanted more from her than just a brief affair. He hadn’t wanted to make himself vulnerable, hadn’t wanted to risk showing his hand.

“Evolet—”

“Please.” Her plea cut him so deeply he wondered if he’d ever heal. “Please, Damon. Just go, and don’t think of me again.”

He wanted nothing more than to go to her again, to draw her into his arms and stroke her hair, her back until she melted against him and laid her cheek over his heart as she sighed. He wanted to carry her to his bed and curl up with her under the covers and hold her through the night.

He wanted everything she couldn’t give him right now. His very presence hurt her.

Love, he realized, didn’t always mean getting to be with the one you wanted. Sometimes it meant walking away.

So he did, without another word or a backward glance at the woman he had loved and lost.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

EVOLETLEANEDHERforehead against the cool glass of the hospital window. The morning sun that had taunted her when she’d burst out of the subway this morning, bright and warm as she’d gone cold with fear, was now buried behind dark gray clouds that eclipsed the tops of New York’s skyline. Lightning forked across the sky, a brief flash of brilliance, followed by a very angry grumble of thunder.

It was almost as if she’d summoned the weather with her own foul mood. Once the last of the tests had come back negative and Constanza had eaten an early dinner before settling into the comforts of her pillows for a game show, the lingering fear that something else would end up being wrong had slowly ebbed away.

Unfortunately, it had left room for other emotions to creep in. Ugly emotions she couldn’t seem to control. One minute she was furious at Damon for daring to question her, push her during one of the worst days of her life. The next she was livid with herself for losing control.

Beneath it all, heartbreak pounded so fiercely she could barely keep her tears at bay. When she’d seen Damon standing there, looking so handsome and commanding, she had wanted to run to him, to throw her arms around his neck and seek comfort and strength. She’d had to wrap her arms around her waist to keep herself from doing just that.

The more they’d talked, the angrier she’d become. As if breaking up with her hadn’t been enough, he’d made his stance perfectly clear at the helipad when he’d held his hand out and shaken hers like they were nothing more than business associates. By not inviting her to be a part of the celebrations for the Royal Air contract. By not contacting her at all for nearly a month.

By doing what he always did and never letting her into his life.

And she’d accepted it. Yes, it had hurt, but she had respected his decision and stayed away, begun the slow and laborious process of rebuilding her life.

A process he had disrupted by reappearing at one of her most vulnerable points. Why had he bothered coming all the way uptown to the hospital? He’d reopened the wounds she’d worked so hard to close, kindled hopes that his presence meant something more than just concern. His offer to pay for Constanza’s medical bills had infuriated her. She didn’t want him to have any kind of presence in her life, any kind of impact. She wanted—needed—a clean break if she was going to survive this.

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