"Why? So you can convince me to sleep with you again?" I quickly shake my head. "Been there, done that. Not interested in repeating history."
"I'm not trying to get in your pants," he growls. "I miss the fuck out of you. Jesus, pretty baby. What do I have to say or do to convince you that I didn't just check out and leave you there?"
"Reverse time and not just check out and leave me there?" I suggest sweetly.
He growls in frustration. And somehow, that drains the fight right out of me. I don't want to fight with him. I don't want to argue with him. I just want him to go to his room and let me finish my shift in peace. I want to make it through the rest of the day without crying. Is that too much to ask?
"I can't go to dinner with you, Cortez," I sigh, massaging my temples. "I have plans tonight." Studying probably doesn't count as plans to him, but he doesn't have to like my plans for them to classify as plans. I am studying tonight. I have a test next week. That trumps dinner.
"With who?" he growls, glowering at me.
"With none of your business, that's who."
"Piper."
"Cortez," I say, mimicking his pissed-off tone.
"If there's another man in the picture, end it or I will."
"Another man?" I gape at him, pretty sure he's lost his mind. "I'm not seeing any…" A look of intense relief crosses his face, halting my confession in its track. "You know what? Even if I were seeing someone else, it wouldn't be any of your business!"
"I already told you, everything about you is my business, sweet little Piper," he says. "You may be mad as hell at me right now, and I get that. But I didn't lie to you. I didn't just use you and then leave you there. I'm not asking you to believe me, pretty baby. I'm just asking for a chance to prove that I'm not the man you think I am."
I bite back an automatic denial, knowing I can't issue it. I'm carrying his baby. I owe him a chance to prove he's not the guy who left me there. If not for my sake, then for the sake of our baby. No matter what happens between us, I won't stand in his way when it comes to our child. If he wants to be in this baby's life, then I have to give him that chance. Which means I have to get to know him…and find a way to tell him that I'm carrying his kid.
"Fine," I say, giving in to the inevitable.
"What time does your shift end?" he asks.
"No way." I shake my head, holding firm on this one point. "If you want to prove you aren't that guy, then fine. I'll give you a chance. But it won't be tonight, Cortez. I have things to do tonight."
"Yeah?" He makes a slow perusal down my body, his eyes heating. "Now you've got me wishing I was those things, pretty baby."
I smile despite myself. "You never give up, do you?"
"On you?" He lifts his gaze to mine again, his expression glittering with sincerity. "Never, Piper. Not fucking ever."
"I'm looking for Piper."
I glance up from the computer to see a young man standing at the desk with a giant bouquet of flowers in his arms. There's no way he's a florist though. He's dressed in a suit, and it doesn't look like he's handled flowers a day in his life. The glass vase is about two seconds from slipping from his hands and shattering at his feet. He can't be older than eighteen or nineteen.
"I'm Piper Daniels," I say. "Can I help you?"
"Oh, hey." He grins at me in obvious relief. "I'm supposed to give these to you." He shoves the vase onto the front desk, sloshing water over the side in the process. It splashes against a legal pad, the blue ink bleeding along the bottom.
I pull it away before my class notes at the top are destroyed.
"Um, which room are they for?" I ask, eyeing the vase. Red and pink roses mix with pink oriental lilies and red carnations and greenery in a gorgeous display. There are dozens of stems. The intoxicating smell swirls around me, and I lean in closer, sniffing them.
"They're for you," the guy says.
"For me?"
"Oh! The card." The guy pats his pockets, searching for it. He finds it in his pants and pulls it out, presenting it to me with a flourish.
I eye the wrinkled card for a moment before reluctantly taking it from him.
Sweet Piper,
When I realized you were gone, I knew how Dante felt without his Beatrice. And like Dante searching hell for her, I scoured Nashville in search of you. I won't rest again until you're back in my arms where you belong. Please, have dinner with me tomorrow.
Yours always,
Cortez
I read the note twice, my hands shaking. He only left the desk an hour ago. Already, it feels like a lifetime. I can't focus on anything. I just keep replaying every moment of our conversation over and over again, obsessively trying to see what Gretchen saw this morning. Obsessively trying to figure out what he meant when he said he'd never give up on me.
Did he really look for me?
"I'm supposed to wait for your answer," the guy says.
"Do you work for him?"
"I work for his sister. I'm the driver."