“I came to see you, Eden.”
“Why? If I recall -and I honestly do -you made it clear four months ago that you didn’t want to see me again. So, I will ask one more time, Drew. What are you doing here?”
Instead of answering her, he glanced at the other man who stood leaning against the closed door. “I would like to have a private conversation with Eden.”
The man looked at Eden. “You’re okay with that?”
She nodded. “I’m okay with it. He won’t be here long.”
The man nodded, grabbed his jacket off the chair. While putting it on, he said to Eden, “I’ll check back with you to see if you want to go to the pub with me later.”
Then, in a surprising move, the man approached Drew, extended his hand, and said, “Nice meeting you, Drew Steele.” Then, in a low voice, he said, “Good luck.”
His words surprised Drew. He nodded and accepted the man’s hand. “Nice meeting you as well.”
When the guy had left, he turned back to Eden. “Who is he?”
“Renard.”
She said it like the man was someone he was supposed to know. He must have had a dumbfounded look on his face because she then added, “I’ve mentioned him to you before. He’s Sophie’s ex-boyfriend. The man her parents had hoped she would marry one day.”
He then remembered that Renard was gay, and was relieved that the man wasn’t the competition he thought that he would have to deal with. “I’m glad to hear that.”
“Why?”
“When he opened the door like he lived here, I didn’t know what to think.”
She placed her hands on her hips. “It’s not your business to think anything when it concerns me. What brought you all the way from Phoenix to talk with me?”
He drew in a deep breath. He saw the glare in her eyes, the way she had squared her shoulders and stiffened her spine, and knew he had his work cut out for him. Eden Tyson wasn’t going to make this easy on him. She would give him hell, but whatever he had to go through, he would, if he could make her see just what she meant to him and how wrong he had been.
“Do you mind if we sit down?”
At first, he thought she would deny his request and show him to the door, but he was glad when she crossed the room and sat on the sofa. Deciding not to press his luck, he took a chair near her, instead of sitting beside her. He glanced around, really seeing the place for the first time since his primary focus had been on her.
“Nice place.”
“I’m sure you didn’t travel thousands of miles to compliment me on my Paris apartment.”
“No, I didn’t. I first went to New York to see you, and when I realized I didn’t have your address, I went to see your agent, and she told me you had returned to Paris.”
“It made sense for me to be here. But the question is, why are you? You made it perfectly clear four months ago that you wanted me out of your life so you could return to being you, the man who enjoys the company of many women, the man who will never allow himself to fall in love. You made it pretty clear that I was not the one you wanted.”
“Yes, I did. And I was wrong.”
**
Eden met his gaze, fighting back her rage when she remembered the words he had spoken, when he’d basically told her that he’d been using her, before delivering the final blow -that she meant nothing to him. That he had had his time with her and was ready to move on.
She doubted he knew how much he had hurt her. He likely hadn’t realized that she’d fallen in love with him almost a year ago, during their stay at the lodge. But he had hurt her, and she didn’t think she’d ever get past it.
“Eden?”
“What?”
“I said I was wrong.”
She lifted a brow. “Just what were you wrong about, Drew? You seemed to believe everything you said that night. So please explain things to me, because I am somewhat confused.”
