The idea was ridiculous, anyway – as if I could sneak off while Ryder was watching me so closely.
Aside from giving me privacy in his bathroom, he'd been looking at me non-stop. And I'd been looking at him, devouring the sight of him while the storm raged outside.
Apparently, most of the island had already lost power, but you'd never know it here, where the hotel's backup system was keeping things surprisingly normal.
Night had already fallen, and we'd just spent a few hours catching up – not rehashing our argument, but dancing around it like neither of us wanted a repeat performance.
But finally, I just asked it, the question that had been on the tip of my tongue for the past hour. "So, what have you been doing?"
"Working."
"On what?"
He shrugged. "Eh, the usual."
I laughed. "Gosh, could you be any more vague?"
He smiled. "I couldalwaysbe more vague."
"Fine. Then could you belessvague? Seriously, what have you been up to?" I picked up another pillow and turned it over in my hands. "I'm guessing you went back to Chicago?"
"Yup."
"For how long?"
He gave it some thought. "About six hours."
I blinked. "Wait…did you say…hours?"
"Yup."
I couldn't decide if I should feel happy or insulted. "So you've been here the whole time?"
"More or less."
I leaned back on the sofa. "Oh."
"Is that a problem?"
"No. Not at all." But then I paused. "I guess I just figured that, well…if you were still here on the island, I might've seen you."
He leaned forward then, resting his forearms on his knees. "Just because you didn't see me doesn't mean I wasn't around."
I gave a nervous laugh. "Well, obviously. But why weren't you…?" I let the words trail off, too embarrassed to say them.
Ryder finished on my behalf. "Hounding you?"
"I wouldn't have put itthatway. But yeah, I guess I'm a little curious why you haven't stopped by the coffee shop."Or texted. Or called.
His gaze locked on mine. "You think I didn't want to?"
"Honestly? I don't know."
Softly, he said, "Trust me. I wanted to."
At this, a happy little glow settled in my stomach. And yet, I just had to ask, "So why didn't you?"
"Because you said you needed space."
