What I can't get over is the fact that he believed that I was responsible for the leak of his book.
"I don't think that's possible," I whisper. "You don't even know me."
"I know me," he counters. "I know that I felt exposed and vulnerable. I know I lashed out at you without considering who you are. I regretted what I said to you immediately, Sophia. I knew that I'd made a mistake before I left this place."
I glance around the room. "I don't think we can come back from this."
"Do you want to?"
"Do I want to?" I parrot back. "What does that mean?"
His hand brushes my forearm. "Do you want to try and rebuild this? Are you open to giving me another chance?"
"I can't answer that," I say honestly. "I thought what we had was special. I felt a lot of things when we were together. Now, I feel let down and bitter."
"Sophia." I hear a deep voice call my name from behind me. "Come here. I want you to meet someone."
"Gabriel needs me." I don't look at Nicholas. "I have to go."
"I'll be waiting by the door at midnight. I've told you before I just want thirty minutes, Sophia. Give me that."
I glance back over my shoulder to where Gabriel is standing next to a woman I don't immediately recognize. When I turn back, Nicholas is staring down at me. "I'll have one drink with you, Nicholas. You can say your piece and then this is over."
A smile ghosts his perfect lips. "I'll count every second until midnight."
I will too. In three hours, I'll be sitting face-to-face with the man who broke my heart.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Nicholas
It's do-or-diefor me at this moment. I have one chance to convince Sophia that I'm the man for her. I've watched her all night. She confidently moved through the crowd, talking to countless people. Her gaze never wandered from the face of the individual she was engaged in a conversation with. She took her time, smiled, laughed and then at the end of the night, gave an eloquent, off-the-cuff speech about what fashion has meant to her life.
If there was any doubt that I was in love with her before tonight, it's been erased.
This is the woman I want in my life. She's everything I need and more.
Now, all I have to do is get her to understand that I'm not the man who stood in front of her in one of the private rooms of this restaurant a few weeks ago. I'm not the guy who spat out hate-fueled words.
"Your thirty minutes starts now, Nicholas." She glances down at her watch.
"It'll start after we order a drink." I push open the door of the restaurant to allow her to step through and onto the sidewalk. Most of the partygoers have already left, but there are still a few people hanging back to enjoy the free drinks and food supplied by Foster Enterprises.
"I set the rules." She tosses me a look over her shoulder. "I say your time starts now."
I won't argue. I saw the hesitation on her face when I caught her eye at five minutes to midnight. I thought she might bail although if she had, I would have argued my case.
"Now it is." I rest my hand on the small of her back to guide her down the street. "We're going to that bar over there. A friend of mine owns it."
That's not meant to impress her. It's not a warning either. The owner is a woman, twice my age who is close friends with my mother. I don't want Sophia to question the embrace I'll receive when I walk through the door.
It happens as if on cue. Shirley Bartlett rushes toward me the moment Sophia and I step through the nondescript glass door of the small establishment. It's been a neighborhood staple for years. It's also where I took my first swallow of a cheap whiskey that burned my throat. I was fifteen at the time and the memory of that day, sitting next to my father at the bar, is as vivid now as it was then.
"Nicky." She yanks me toward her. "Look at you. You're a big deal now."
Sophia eyes me up before her gaze moves to Shirley. The long dark braid down her back is a signature look for her. That and the dark rimmed glasses she's always wearing.
"Shirley Bartlett, I want you to meet Sophia Reese."
