Chapter Thirteen
Alexander shovedhis hands into the pockets of his coat as he strode towards Terminal A at Logan Airport. Only one flight was arriving from Vegas at this God-awful hour, but he’d already arranged for a back-up plan in case he’d been wrong. Samuel waited at Elizabeth’s apartment with a note Alexander had poured over for severalhours.
An influx of weary travelers streamed through the security gates, and Alexander scanned the crowd. His heart inched north into his throat as the throng of people started to thin. As he wrapped his fingers around his phone, he spotted her, and his entire world righted until he got a good look ather.
The bright, shining light thatwasElizabeth had faded, leaving an empty shell: sunken, puffy eyes, slumped shoulders, pale skin. Heading for the T on auto-pilot, she didn’t even look up when he approached, just whispered a quiet “sorry” and veered out of hispath.
“Elizabeth.” His voice cracked, and he reached out to touch herarm.
She jolted, her hand flying to her mouth to cover her gasp. They stared at one another as tears welled in her eyes. “What are you doinghere?”
“Trying to apologize for my truly abhorrent behavior on the phone. I was a sodding bastard, and I’ve no excuse for it.” He stepped closer, too afraid to touch her, but aching to embrace her and never let hergo.
“Y-you s-said…” A tear tumbled down hercheek.
Alexander pulled Elizabeth into his arms. “I know what I said.” He’d thought of nothing else since he’d hung up on her. “I’m sorry. You were so far away, I could do nothing to help, and I couldn’t see past my ownfrustration.”
“I just needed two days.” Her muffled words cut him even deeper, and he wasn’t sure he could ever bleed enough to make this up to her. “Why couldn’t you give methat?”
“Because I’m an idiot.” Alexander drew back, hoping that seeing his face would help Elizabeth believe him. “Can I bring youhome?”
She chewed on her lip for a moment, and he held his breath until she nodded. With his arm around her shoulders, Alexander guided her to the curb, then into thelimo.
The silence ate away at his composure, as did the sight of Elizabeth shying away from him, braced for his rejection. Why hadn’t he called to apologize? Or even sent atext?
Once they were on their way, Alexander cleared his throat. “Have youslept?”
Whatever she’d expected, it hadn’t been that. “N-no. I can’t sleep onplanes.”
“You’ve never been on the right plane.” He slid closer to her. “I missedyou.”
Another tear fell. “If you missed me, you wouldn’t have ignored me for twodays.”
Alexander cursed under his breath. “I deserved that. When I hung up on you on Monday night, I was hurt and frustrated. This was never about the tax fraud.” Elizabeth’s eyes widened, and Alexander took her hand. “It’s not a stretch to realize that’s what’s going on. And you should have told me about it from the start. You knew my company was involved. But that’s not why I was angry. You feared I wouldruin you. I care about you, Elizabeth. Even if we break up and never speak to one another again, I wouldneverruin you. You should have trusted me—” Alexander held up his hand when she started to protest. “But I should have trusted you as well. In the middle of a very long, sleepless night, I finally realized I hadn’t given you the very thing I was demanding. By then, however, I imagined this chasm between us, and I had no idea how to atone for my mistakes. Will you forgiveme?”
Her lower lip quivered, but she didn’t look away. In her eyes, a storm raged, and when the turmoil broke free, her words tumbled out quickly, as if she couldn’t hold them in another moment. “We didn’t have a relationship when I got the summons. I couldn’t find a lawyer here. No one would represent me because CPH has ties toeveryone. That’s why I called my lawyer back in Seattle. I wanted to tell you. But then I saw the photographer at the ice rink. He was outside my building after you dropped me off on Saturday night too. I was scared. I’m going to—” Elizabeth choked on a sob, but wouldn’t let Alexander pull her closer. “I have to go to the federal prosecutor. Clancy is filing the paperwork now. But until I know I’m protected by federal whistleblowerlaws…”
“You’ll be protected by a lot more than that,” Alexandermurmured.
Elizabeth lost all fight and crumpled into his chest. “I’m sorry. I can’t be with you. I can’t drag you further into thismess.”
Alexander reclined in the seat and pulled Elizabeth closer, a hand in her hair angling her face up to look at him. “Do you want to be with me? If this whole cock-up wasn’t an issue, would you want to see where thisgoes?”
The look in her eyes calmed his raging emotions. “Yes.”
“Then everything else will wait until you’ve had some sleep. We’ve a bit of a ride in this traffic. I’m afraid you would have been home sooner if I’d let you take the T, but then I wouldn’t have been able to do this.” He cupped her cheek and brushed his lips to hers. “Rest a bit. I canceled my meetings this morning so I could stay withyou.”
“You don’t have to,” she said against hisneck.
“I have my laptop. I’ll work while you rest. I’ve missed you,chérie. And I feel terrible about how I treated you. I was upset, but that is no excuse. You don’t do that to someone you carefor.”
“S’okay,” she murmured. Her breathing evened out, and the tension in her shoulderseased.
He stroked a hand down her back. “No. It isn’t. The partners are guilty, aren’tthey?”
“Uh-huh.” She burrowed closer to him. “They can’tknow.”
“Theywon’t.”
