"You haven't actually offered anything, Burke. You've asked to take me to dinner and drive me home. I've inferred the rest, and I don't like to make assumptions, but come on. Be realistic."
The sapphire in his eyes blazing, he leaned toward me. "So, you figure I'll seduce you, then drop you off at your doorstep and leave town."
Except I couldn't imagine him wanting to seduce me. Just another notch on his bedpost, I suppose. "Wouldn't you?"
"Maybe, if you were an Emma."
"Emma is married."
Clearly the king of his castle, he sat back with an air of authority. "Yes, well, she didn't act that way yesterday. That was a harmless flirtation on my part, anyway. She doesn't hold my interest."
"Five more minutes and she'd have been blowing you behind the desk."
He choked on his wine. "Excuse me?"
"That's what she's known for, and seeing as how I don't actually know you, I can only surmise that's what you'd want out of an Emma."
"But you're not an Emma." He leaned over and brushed his hand down my hair. "You're a Kinsley."
"And Kinsley doesn't do that sort of thing." I moved away from his touch. "Not only that, you don't want me for me. I represent a conquest because I turned you down."
"Why are you so certain you have me pegged?"
Sensing his frustration, I nonetheless plowed forward with the truth. "Because I went to school with you and you never even knew I existed. Because I was at the diner the other night, two steps in front of you, and you looked right through me."
His brows drew together. "You were?"
"See?" I pushed my plate away. "If not for my distress yesterday and today over my father, you would have continued to look through me. Kinsley Hawthorne doesn't exist in Burke Gallagher's world."
He had nothing to say to that.
Standing, I stared down at him expectantly. "I'd like to go home now, please."
"All right."
I told myself to be happy I could still look at my reflection in the mirror come morning, but nothing made me feel more miserable than to walk into the dark house alone and watch his limo disappear down the block. The sleek vehicle was a dichotomy on my street all on its own, not to mention its occupant.
Telling him to leave me alone was the right thing to do. After all, I'd seen the blank expression on his face when he tried to picture me in the diner, or in our school. Climbing the stairs to my bedroom with lead feet, I hoped I could sleep late the next day without being disturbed. All I needed was a good night of rest and to ensure I ate breakfast in the morning, and I'd be fine.
I'd be just fine.
Days went by where I didn't see him. Dad left the hospital, went back to light desk duty, and still, I didn't see Burke. I could comfort myself with the knowledge that I'd been right all along, but him proving me right was a hollow comfort. He had a life outside of Chester, but it was my entire world. He'd come to his senses, that was all.
A week later, I was doing the breakfast dishes on my day off when there was a knock at the door. Wiping my temple on my sleeve, I pulled off the bright yellow dish gloves on the way to the front of the house and smoothed the sides of my ponytail.
"Yes?" I said as I pulled open the door.
Burke stood on my stoop with a veritable field of sunflowers in his arms. "Okay, so maybe I didn't notice you in high school, or at the damn diner, but here I am, Kinsley. I see you."
"Uh." Embarrassed to have a mafia Don standing in clear view of the neighbors, I reached through the flowers and yanked on his tie to bring him inside the house. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Hell if I know." He thrust the bouquets at me. "I spent the whole ride over here trying to decide what to say."
"Okay, then, thanks." Taking the flowers to the kitchen to find something to put them in, I knew I'd have to hide them in my room unless I wanted to fend off twenty questions from my parents.
Burke followed me, standing too close. "I don't know what it is about you, Kinsley, so if you ask, I can't describe it."
"There's nothing about me. I'm as plain as can be. I'm not even pretty."
