He stopped eating and set his fork down, his eyes filled with troubling thoughts. He didn’t wear that handsome smile or show affection in his eyes. Something weighed his shoulders down, haunted him.
I knew what it was. And I knew what was coming.
“I can’t do this anymore…” He lifted his gaze and looked at me, apology in his eyes. “You used to be mine, and now I have to share you. Every time we’re in bed together, I have to see the ring on your finger. Every time we’re in public, I have to pretend to be just your friend…”
Even though I knew this was coming, it still hurt.
“I know you aren’t sleeping with him and I trust you, but I still feel like the other man.”
I wanted to fight for us, to tell him nothing had changed. But I cared too much about him to persuade him to stay with me. All of his points were valid. He wanted the real thing, a real relationship. I couldn’t give him that.
“We can never go out to dinner, hang out with my friends…do anything. And I met this woman…”
Now it really started to hurt.
“I told her I was seeing someone, so nothing has happened. But being around her makes me realize what I want… I’m sorry.”
He wanted her—not me.
“I wish things could be different.”
I wasn’t going to cry over a man. I’d cried so much in the last few weeks that my tear ducts were spent. He wasn’t worth my heartache. If he wanted to be with someone else, then it was over before I even saw him this evening. Maybe Maverick was right. Maybe this man wasn’t good enough for me. If he really loved me, he would love me despite the restrictions…or he would fight for me. Dante wanted to do neither. “I understand, Dante. You’re completely right. This isn’t a relationship, it’s an affair.” It was just sex behind closed doors. All the romance died when I forced Dante to be a secret. I swallowed my pain and my pride and just let it be.
He rested his hand on mine. “I really am sorry. I know you’ve been through so much—”
“Really, I’m fine. Please don’t feel bad for me.” I looked him in the eye to give my words more credibility. “This is my life, not yours. There’s no reason for you to drown just because I’m obligated to go down with the ship.”
Dante studied me, true pain in his eyes. He clearly hated this conversation, hated to hurt me.
Despite what he’d just done, I knew he was a good guy. He would make a woman very happy. He would be a faithful husband and a good father. With enough time, he would forget about me entirely and struggle to remember when there was someone else in his life besides his wife. That was how it should be.
And he deserved that.
I cleared security at the gate at one in the morning.
I drove to the house up the road and pulled into the enormous garage that housed his expensive toys. Instead of driving a Bugatti or a Ferrari, I drove a Mercedes. He offered something more luxurious, but I didn’t want a car I was terrified to drive.
I slipped off my heels and walked into the house, relieved it was so quiet. Abigail had gone to bed, and the rest of the servants went home for the day. That allowed me to take my time going up the stairs, to let my shoulders sag from the sadness and exhaustion.
I made it to the second landing and almost bumped right into Maverick.
In just his sweatpants, barefoot and bare-chested, he stood in my way, his tanned skin tight over strong muscles. The veins ran all the way from the tops of his arms to his hands, a design of webs that showed just how fit his physique really was. His skin had its own smolder, like a drop of water would immediately turn to steam because he naturally ran so hot. His hair was a little messy because he’d obviously been sleeping when I pulled up to the house. The slightly tired look in his eyes was somehow sexy, probably because he had to let his guard down to fall asleep. “Why are you home so late?”
I didn’t feel like being interrogated right now. I walked around him and headed to my room, my heels in one hand and my purse in the other. “You said I could come and go as I wished.”
His footsteps sounded as he followed me. “You told me you wouldn’t be home until tomorrow.”
“Well, I changed my mind. What’s the big deal?” I made it to my bedroom and stepped through the doorway.
He joined me, coming inside, something he rarely did. “It’s a big deal because my security calls me every time someone drives to the gate past ten.”