I knew where he was going. “Not even a Tinder date,” I said, trying very hard to pass it off as a chuckle and failing. “Harvey, the guy I was having dinner with when I met you, was my first attempt in eleven months at breaking that spell.”
Desmond turned away and whistled under his breath. “Are you serious? How could men stay away from you for eleven months? Didn’t men show up at your restaurant? I can’t believe someone didn’t ask you out.”
I shook my head at his unbelievably good opinion of me. “I don’t think I can claim to have that kind of effect on men.”
He smiled. “If I remember, Jack Li and Mark Becker both stopped talking to me after I started dating you in high school. Jack was voted the Most Popular boy in our class, and Mark was?—”
“The prom king,” I said, now unable to stop from smiling too.
Yes, most people had thought I was crazy to turn Jack down back in high school when he asked me out. But dating Desmond had left me with no regrets. Until his mother’s death. Until we had parted ways.
When I looked up, Desmond was smiling at me.
“What?” I asked, as his six-foot-three-inch body moved closer to my shorter five-foot-six-inch frame.
Desmond drew me to him, running the palm of his hand up and down my back and sending tingles of anticipation down my body. Desire flared up between us, and I wondered how we’d managed to stay away from each other for so long.
“There is something I have to tell you,” he said in that quiet way of his.
I felt a sense of fear flitting around me, inching closer and closer.
“A few minutes before I left work today, we found out that the reporter who investigated our acquisition of your restaurant also made some relationship allegations,” he said with a sigh.
Shoot.
I looked away, feeling despair.
“No, it’s not news about us—not yet anyway,” he said, running his hand through his hair and looking a little distraught. “It’s just a nasty piece of gossip about”—his lipspressed in a flat line—“well, that Kyle bedded you just so he could embezzle from your restaurant.”
Damn.
I would be lying to myself if I said that thought hadn’t taken up residence in my mind in the past. In the dark days after Mom’s death, I had almost convinced myself of it. It had taken the strength of my friends and hours of therapy to stop blaming myself for what had happened.
I looked at Desmond, and I saw that his jaw was clenched and his light-brown eyes showed a hint of the turmoil I felt myself.
“When I read that, I almost wanted Stan to drive me over to that journalist’s place to have it out with them. How dare they insinuate something so pitiable?”
So far, this had been a wonderful night. The idea that a gossip article could ruin it was ridiculous. And yet, here we were, talking about Kyle on our night together.
I put my hand over Desmond’s. He felt cold.
“I’ve gotten over it, darling. It was so long ago.”
He nodded. “And there’s another thing,” he said, taking my hand in his and rubbing his thumb on the back of mine. “When I saw Hank waiting for you in the lobby … well, when I watched you two talking and flirting, my heart twisted with jealousy. I’d been longing for you for so long, and the thought that I couldn’t have you made me jealous like I’d never been before.”
Desmond, back in high school, had not been a guy who did jealousy. Back then, I’d looked up to him as the calmest and most sorted person I’d ever known. Which meant his mother’s death changed quite a few things about him. A lot had changed with him and with me, and yet we were around each other, wishing we could go back to a relationship.We wanted to go back to a time and a feeling that couldn’t be re-created. Not when we both were so different.
He continued, “And the odd thing was, every time I came across one of these malicious articles against any employee in my company, I always felt anger on behalf of my company first. Anger at these magazines for bringing down my company’s brand. Even when it involved an accusation against me.”
He gave my hand a squeeze, and his full lips parted in a small smile. “Today was the first time I felt angry on someone else’s behalf. I was mad that someone would try to ruin your image more than I was mad at someone trying to ruin my company’s image.”
He let go of my hand. “To be honest, I’m not sure what to do with this revelation,” he said.
I watched him for a bit and then leaned over. “Well,” I said slowly, working through my feelings, “when I saw you that night at the party with Ellie, I felt like I wanted the earth to just swallow me up. Like I couldn’t stand seeing you with anyone else but me.” I looked at him, feeling vulnerable. “That feeling only intensified as the days passed and after we shared the most wonderful kiss. A kiss that made me feel like I was floating on clouds.”
I paused. “So, if I were to read an article about you having a relationship with anyone else, I’d be upset. I’d be upset about being the woman Desmond wasn’t supposed to kiss.
“And every time I look at Ellie, the woman youaresupposed to kiss”—I spoke fast before he could interrupt—“a beautiful woman, a woman who probably makes the right decision when she has to choose between chardonnay and pinot noir on a hot summer day, I think to myself,Why would Desmond want to see me again?”
