Not that she’d ever asked for or coveted them, he realized now.
But his inadequacies had always marked him. It was the way of things in Serendipity and his dad, bless him, was the high school janitor. It didn’t make Trevor’s life easy. So when he and Lissa had a stupid teenage argument, they’d broken up. And when she’d turned back to Brad, even for one night, all Trevor could think was that she’d proven him right. And when she’d ended up pregnant, all hope of fixing things came to an abrupt and ugly end.
Trevor met her gaze. She’d waited quietly as processed her words. “It’s in the past,” he said gruffly.
But was it?
“So you’ll do the interview?” she asked, hope shining in her eyes.
While he’d been rehashing the pain, she’d been worried about her career. Okay, that made sense. It wasn’t like she was here for a personal reason. “Yeah. I’ll do it.”
“Thank you!” She squealed and impulsively jumped up from her chair, throwing her arms around him in gratitude. In that instant, she was the Lissa he remembered, the full of life, go for the gusto, happy girl he’d fallen for.
And when she pulled him into an embrace, he buried his face in her hair and her familiar scent enveloped him. Desire licked at him, scorching him from the inside out. He remembered how good they’d been together and suddenly he knew what that empty hole was in his life. He missed her, the girl he’d told everything, including his dreams, hopes, and secrets. Since Lissa, he’d never let anyone get that emotionally close, afraid of experiencing that kind of pain and loss again.
She pulled back, an embarrassed flush on her cheeks. “Sorry. I got carried away, but this series of interviews means so much to me. I mean, I didn’t think I’d ever get to stop slinging coffee for a living and now ...” She trailed off. “I’m rambling.”
He laughed for the first time since she’d walked in. “You think?”
He couldn’t stop thinking about her words. Serving coffee? Didn’t Banks have so much money that after any divorce settlement, she should be able to sit back and eat bonbons if she chose?
Clearly Trevor had a lot to catch up on, and suddenly he wanted to. Now that he’d seen Lissa again, his curiosity was piqued and he wanted the information he’d deliberately ignored over the years. Thinking back to the schedule his secretary had handed him first thing this morning, he figured they had time. Because if Lissa was going to pump him for information about who he was and what made him tick, damned if he wasn’t going to do the same thing to her.
“So when do we get started?” he asked her. “On the interview.”
Her eyes opened wide. “Right now, if you’re ready. I’ll do a combination of observing you at work and, when we’re alone and you aren’t busy, asking questions and talking.”
“Now is fine,” he said, suddenly revved up and exhilarated. “Did Collette give you a copy of my schedule for the next few days?”
“She handed me a sheet of paper when I walked in. I haven’t had time to go over it.”
He nodded. “You might want to. There’s a formal event on Friday night and a dinner party Saturday,” he said, deciding that wherever he was going, so was Lissa.
She paled visibly. “Formal events and dinner parties?”
“All part of the life you need to write about,” he reminded her. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s just that ...” She drew a deep breath. “I didn’t bring those kinds of dress clothes with me. But I’m staying at the Marriott on Broadway and this is Manhattan, right? I’m sure I’ll find something.” Her voice trembled and he couldn’t understand the cause.
“You sure?”
She nodded, putting on a bright but clearly forced smile. He still knew her well enough to pinpoint that.
“I’ll just leave after lunch and go shopping.”
“Okay.” He narrowed his gaze, knowing that as soon as she left, he’d be on the phone with his mother to find out exactly what had gone on in Lissa’s life that he deliberately hadn’t wanted to hear.
Now he wanted to know everything.
Trevor didn’t understand his sudden turnaround, not completely. But one thing was clear. Their forced time together would provide him with a way to get Lissa out of his system and allow him to move on with his life.
One way or another.
Chapter Two
Lissa checked into her hotel room, needing time to regroup after this morning. No matter how well she thought she’d prepared herself, the meeting had been worse than her most awful nightmare. She’d pictured their reunion often over the years, sometimes in wistful daydreams, more recently since Trevor had become her assignment. In none of them had his explosive reaction been part of the scenario.
Anger she’d accounted for, but one look at his disgusted expression and Lissa’s knees had nearly buckled and tears had threatened. Somehow she’d held herself together. Then he’d surprised her again, going from “No fucking way” to all in—and she had to wonder why.