Page 35 of The Honest Affair

Nina sighed, slumping against the railing. We stood there for a moment. She shivered, and I reached out and pulled my jacket closed across her body, then kept my hands locked in place, as much for proximity as to keep her warm. Nina blinked, her eyes wet. They still hadn’t lost that haze of fury. Not completely.

God, she really was magnificent. Enough to make me forget about the cold December weather. I was happy to be here, free again to look at her.

“What about me?” I asked cautiously. “Do you hate me too, doll?”

The air around us stilled as she looked up. Our eyes locked, green to gray. It was slightly uncomfortable—there was this feeling that this woman could see straight into the depths of my sad, sorry soul.

But even so, I’d never look away from her. I couldn’t. And I no longer cared what it cost me.

“No,” she said. “I could never hate you, Matthew.”

What about love?I wanted to ask. But I held my tongue, sensing that would push her too far over an already precarious ledge.

Instead, with my grip on the jacket, I pulled her a little closer, off the rail so that our chests were only an inch or so apart.

“How about forgiveness?” I asked, searching her face for a change. “Do you forgive me yet? Maybe a little?”

She examined me for a moment, and I thought she might say no. I thought she might say she could never get past my betrayal, my refusal to believe her in her worst moment, my insistence on believing the worst when I was presented with the truth. I wasn’t sure I would ever forgive myself for that.

But if she could, I’d find a way.

But instead of answering, she did something else entirely. She stood up straight again, looked me in the eye, and kissed me.

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