“Don’t.” I shake my head. “Don’t say anything except the one thing I need you to say.”
“What do you want me to say?”
“Say it!”
“Say what?”
My heart squeezes tight as I march toward him. “That you were wrong! I want you to—”
“I was wrong!” He speaks so loudly the room vibrates. “I was wrong. I knew I was wrong the next day.”
I let out a loud breath, expelling the weight that was sitting in my ribs. My heart continues to race, and now my mind is playing catch-up.
Did he just—?
Is he admitting that he—?
“Then why didn’t you come back for me?”
“I don’t know!” Asher spins around. His back widens as his arms rise and his hands run through his hair, pulling it at the ends. “I don’t know. I just . . . That night when security called, saying Adam Reingold was looking into me, researching me—I was furious. We pulled up anchor and got out of there. I wanted,neededto believe you were like everyone else.”
“I don’t want your money if that’s what you’re accusing me of.” I practically spit the words at him. “I don’t want anything from you. I liked you when I thought you had nothing.”
My words force him to turn around and face me. The look on his face is one of defeat and disappointment. “I know.”
His sullen posture and red-rimmed eyes take the bitterness away. He’s hurting too. “I don’t understand. When you first saw me at the school you were so mad. You have been so mad.”
With my words, Asher is quickly moving toward me. When he reaches me, he places both hands gently on my arms. “I am mad. Hell, I’m fucking furious. I don’t want you here. And, no, it’s not because I don’t want you. I have been fighting the urge to come find you. To go to you and apologize. I came close.”
His forehead leans toward mine, his eyes full of something so sincere, I could swear I am standing on a stairwell in Capri. “But every time I thought about it, I couldn’t. I’m scared, Emma. I’m scared of what might happen if you turn out to be the woman I feared you were.”
My eyes close, and I try to process everything he’s saying. Asher wants me. He’s always wanted me. He knew he was wrong.
“How do you know I’m not that kind of woman? What’s changed?”
He rubs the back of his neck slightly, his head tilting to the side. “Everything. Nothing.”
Those eyes have turned to honey and the look of the man I fell for is back, right here in front of me, saying all the words I’ve wanted to hear.
There is one major problem. He still left and never came back. He lied in Italy and he is lying now. His words sound right, but they’re all wrong.
They’re empty. Like his heart.
I step back from him, attempting to distance myself from his hold on my body and my heart. “I know why you left me. Even that next morning when I stood at the marina, looking for you, wondering why you left. I knew.” My fists clench tight, and I feel the searing pain rising from my hand all the way up my arm. I use that pain as power. I use that pain as a reminder. I use that pain to feel. “You’re a coward and a user. I trusted you. By God, I let you into my heart when I had shut everyone else out. I gave you a piece of me that was so sacred it can’t be given back. You take and take but you never give.”
When the pain of the words matches the pain of my hand, I release the clench and hold my hand up high to my chest, cradling it with care. Asher reaches for me again, his eyes carnal as he takes a step forward and grabs the injured hand with his and puts it up to his heart. “Emma—”
“I’m fine.” I try to pull my hand back but he pulls it toward him. His other hand inches up and rests on the side of my face, his fingers tangle in my hair. My chin rises but my eyes keep their concentration on the zipper of his jacket and the heavy rise and fall of his chest.
“No, you’re not. Neither of us are.” Asher’s thumb grazes my lip, and I let out a sigh at the feel of his touch. I recall the taste of his lips and the feel of his hands as they work their way along my body.
My body may want him but my heart is in pieces.
“I need you to leave.”
His body jolts against mine. “What?”
“Leave.”
