I turned around, focusing on stirring the eggs. I knew what had to be done. What had to be done to keep us both from making promises we couldn't keep.
“I think we should just end it.”
“What?” Bastian's voice cracked slightly.
I turned the heat down on the eggs and turned around, biting my lip. This needed to be done. I was giving him his life back because I wouldn't fit in it. I never would have fit.
“I have to go back home,” I said slowly. “You have to go back to New York. I can't work in NY. You can't work in my tiny town.”
“We could find a way,” he insisted. He set down the bowl of waffle batter.
I shook my head. “Bastian, you're a billionaire. I'm not. You drive luxury cars and I drive my cousin's hand-me-down car. You deserve someone better than me.”
There. I said it. The truth was out now.
“No, I don't,” he growled.
“Yes, you do,” I insisted. I motioned to my sunburned nose and cheap clothes. “Look at me. I can't go to your fancy galas and dinner parties. I don't fit in that world.”
Bastian's gray eyes narrowed. “You could.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “When I leave tonight. I leave.”
“Ava...”
“It's been a wonderful trip, but that's all it was.” I swallowed down the ache in my heart. I wanted to throw up, but this was how it had to be. He deserved someone worthy of him and his world and that person wasn't me. He would drop me just like Chad did, only harder. It was only a matter of time before he saw that I wasn't worthy of him. I couldn't take that pain. The kn
owledge that I didn't deserve him and he just hadn't realized it yet pounded in my head like cruel drum beats. I had to make them stop. “Let's not make this into something more than the two of us having a good time.”
The waffles started to burn.
Hurt painted across his face in broad strokes. Shock and anger replaced it. His scar was livid against his pale cheek as he processed my callous words.
He ripped the waffle iron out of the wall and threw the entire thing in the sink. I jumped at the loud and angry motion. The iron clattered and hissed against the stainless steel sink, smoking and steaming as the ruined waffle ran out the sides.
He turned and stormed out of the kitchen, leaving the mess of waffles in his wake. I held my wooden spatula in shock as I heard him thunder up the stairs. The slam of his study door made the mansion shake and I could hear the harsh turn of the lock even from the kitchen.
My eggs were burning.
I didn't care. Saying those words had hurt far more than I had expected. They were lies and I knew it, yet I had said them.
I pushed them to the side, sliding down to the floor and sobbing for the man I knew I couldn't have.
Chapter 22
One week. One glorious week.
I put my swimsuit carefully away in my suitcase. I couldn't believe how fast the week had gone. I needed to find my sandals and put them in next, but I was taking my time and moving as slowly as possible. I didn't want the week to end yet. I wasn't ready for it to end yet. I didn't want this dream to end.
The week had been a glorious blur of Bastian, paddle-boarding, art, and the most mind-blowing sex I had ever had. Up until this morning, it had been heaven.
I was going to miss Bastian, but I knew it was better for him for me to end it. It wasn't just the sex that made him so amazing, though it certainly didn't hurt. If I ever told him that he was sweet, he would most certainly deny it, but it was true. He was incredibly intelligent with a sharp sense of humor that had me laughing and smiling without realizing it. He deserved someone worthy of him. Someone better than me.
He was perfect. And wonderful. And everything I ever wanted.
And I had to leave him. For his own good. He deserved someone who could be his equal. Past experience had taught me that it wasn't me.
I had no reason to stay. The appraisal was done. I had completed it in time and was actually quite proud of my work. It had been hard, and there were a couple late nights, but between sending pictures to my father and working every moment that I wasn't with Bastian, I had gotten it all done. It was the biggest job I had ever done. It was time for me to go take care of Dad, now.