“He’lldefinitelythink we’re sleeping together if we send a joint fruit basket.”
As I reached the passenger’s side of his Porsche, I whirled to face him. “This isn’t funny.”
“I didn’t say it was. I’m just pointing out that a fruit basket would look suspicious.”
“Thatwould make him suspicious?” I shot back. “Not being together late at night? Not your reaction in there?”
David didn’t respond as he opened the car door for me and made his way around the trunk to the driver’s side.
I looked at him over the roof of the Porsche. “Why were you so upset?”
“Notwere, Olivia.Am. Iamupset, and for a lot of reasons. For one, it pisses me off that your husband’s not—”
“Wait,” I said, holding up my hand. “It’s fine. I don’t need to know. Let’s not drag Bill into this.”
“This ishisgoddamn mess. I can’t stay silent. Why isn’t he on a flight right this minute?”
“He offered, but I’m a big girl. He has work to do, and so do I.” I slipped into the front seat, pulled the door closed behind me, and buckled my seatbelt.
David got behind the wheel but didn’t start the car. “I saw your face out there. You’re in pain. You’re scared—and I don’t blame you.” He gripped the steering wheel. “That fucker invaded your space. He . . .”
I wanted to tell David that I wasn’t upset because of Mark. I fought the urge to share Davena’s death. Who she’d been to me, and how the world had dimmed in her absence.
How my life had turned upside down overnight, and that I was realizing just how quickly things could change.
But opening up to David wouldn’t be fair to Bill.
“This goes deeper than someone threatening you,” David said more calmly than I expected, shifting in his seat to face me. “Tell me what’s running through your mind. Even if it feels stupid or insignificant.”
Cars passed as we sat unmoving. I’d been strong for years, keeping the hurt inside and managing from one day to the next. Couldn’t I make it one more night before dissolving? Because that was what I wanted to do. To let someone else take over for a while.
The silence became uncomfortable. I kept my eyes out my window. “I need to get to my office.”
“What about after tonight’s event? Will you be okay?” David asked. “You can’t stay alone.”
If he evenconsideredsuggesting I spend the night again, then he was delusional. I turned to him. “Both Cooper and Bill confirmed we’ll be safe.”
“That doesn’t put me at ease.”
“You’re in as much danger as I am,” I said. “Willyoube okay?”
He snorted. “I’ll be fine.”
I tilted my head. “You shouldn’t be alone, either. Perhaps you should find someone to stay with you.”
“I could find someone faster than you could snap your fingers, honeybee,” he said. “In fact, I already have a dinner date. I was going to cancel, but maybe I’ll just bring her to the party.”
I resisted from clenching my teeth. David’s bachelorhood could make my career, but that didn’t mean I didn’thatethe thought of him with other women. The idea of someone else having his undivided attention, his big, strong hands, his strength and support . . .
“Bring her then.” My surroundings focused sharply as I forced a smile. “An event celebrating your single life is kind of a weird first date, but I doubt she’ll even notice. She’ll be too grateful for just theopportunityto spend a few hours with you.”
David’s knuckles whitened around the steering wheel as he stared forward. “I’m not the one making it seem like I’m some hotshot bachelor. You want me to be some kind of womanizer, either because it’s easier for you to handle or because it’ll sell magazines—”
“You agreed to this.”
“Foryou,” he said, turning his beautiful brown eyes on me. “To spend time withyou. I’m putting my reputation on the line to spend a little time with you, and your shitty husband won’t even fly a few hours to make sure you’re not murdered in the middle of the night.”
I blinked at him. I didn’t even know where to begin with that. “You can’t say things like that.”
