This is one hell of a party! And a whole lot more fun than any I’ve ever attended.
Tara takes me past all of that to the back, where there’s a metal bench. There is a trash can next to it. It appears to be the place where smokers gather.
She sits down on the bench and folds her arms. “Well?”
The light from the string ofpapel picadoabove catches in her hair, and I don’t know why, but it undoes me. This is her space, and I’m encroaching, I know it. But I love her. I love her like I’ve loved no one but Aubert.
“I’m sorry.”
“You already said that.”
“I know. And I am.Verysorry.”
“About what?” she challenges.
“Tara, I was wrong. I was blind. Simone?—”
Her head snaps up. “Don’t.” Her eyes are wounded. “Don’t you dare stand here and blame someone else. You didn’t believe me.You.”
I step closer, but she holds her ground, fire blazing in her gaze.
“I know,” I whisper. “And I will regret it for the rest of my life. I threw you away. I was a coward. I didn’t protect you.”
“I didn’t need you to protect me. I needed you to trust me.”
“I do. I….” What the hell am I supposed to say? Ididn’ttrust her. I do now, but I didn’t then, when it mattered.
Her laugh is short, brittle. “I lost my job. My reputation. Everything I worked for.”
“I know, and I’m sorry,” I say again. The words are ash in my throat. “The Louvre wants you back and?—”
“I don’t want the Louvre or you,” she shoots back, cutting me off.
My heart shrivels.
I’ve hurt her beyond repair, I fear.
“All you worried about was what people would say if they found out. And the freaking tabloids. You didn’t care aboutme.”
“I know.” I crouch down and set my hands on her lap.
She glares at me. But she doesn’t push me away, so I take that as a positive.
“I don’t care about that anymore. I don’t care what anyone says or what anyone thinks. The only thing I care about is you.”
She shakes her head and blinks, stubbornly holding back the tears pooling in her eyes.
“I don’t believe you.”
“I’ll earn your trust back,mon amour.” I feel the tremor in her breath. “If it takes the rest of my life, I’ll prove to you that I was a fool—that I am still a fool—but one who loves you beyond reason.”
Her lips part, her chest rises, and for a heartbeat, the air between us burns.
The chemistry is still there, bright and undeniable, but her eyes shutter.
“Don’t say that.”
“Say the truth? That I love you? I do, Tara. Very much.”
