“Maddy...” He reached for her again.
She came into his arms with a soft cry. He lifted her stubborn chin and he kissed her.
So sweet, that kiss.
He wished it might never end.
But it did. She pulled away and looked up at him, her gaze unwavering. “I love you, Sten Larson. I love you and, no, I’m not sure how it would work, exactly, given the zoo that is my life, but I think if we both just started with agreeing that we want to stay together, that we both want tomakeit work, we could take it from there, we could start figuring out how to create something that feels like forever.”
“Maddy,” he said. He had no idea what to say next.
But she knew. She got it. She caught her lower lip between her teeth and whispered, “So, then. That’s a no?”
He didn’t want to say it. But he knew that he had to. “I’m just not a Hollywood type of guy.”
“And I’m not asking you to be one.”
He wished he could believe her. But she wasn’t facing the way the world really worked. “Look, eventually, you’re going to start thinking about how the life you say you’re done with matters to you, after all. You’re not going to want to give up what you’ve worked so hard for, the kind of life most people would kill for. You’ve earned what you have. Why should you leave it behind?”
“I just told you why. Because I want something different now.”
“Uh-uh. Maddy, come on. It’s not going to work out for us. You’re America’s Darling and I’m just a regular guy. We need to face that, not start making promises we know we won’t keep.”
“Iwould,” she insisted. “I would keep my promises to you, Sten. I swear to you I would.”
It was so hard, not to grab her close, not to start promising things back to her, not to join in her delusion that love could magically make everything right. “No, Maddy. I can’t.”
* * *
Madison longed to keep trying, to keep pushing, start begging.
But she not only loved him, sheknewhim. Already. In just a few short, beautiful weeks.
He was her guy, her forever.
But he couldn’t—or simply wouldn’t—open his heart and let her in.
And she was no miracle worker. She couldn’t make a blind man see. She wouldn’t convince him of anything if he was set against believing in all they could be.
Somehow, she spoke reasonably. “I don’t know who broke your trust, Sten. But I really hope someday you realize that there are women in this world who actually mean what they say.”
He only stood there, saying nothing, looking at her with bleak acceptance in his eyes.
She longed to ask him for this one more night.
But please. A girl needed to have at least a little pride.
“Thank you,” she said, knowing she sounded stiff and fake and not really caring all that much. “Thank you for everything, for all the ways you’ve made my visit here amazing. I will always remember this time we’ve had together.”
“Goodbye.” He kind of growled the word at her. “That’s what you mean, right?”
“Yes.” Her heart was in a million pieces. But she wouldn’t start crying over that. Not till he was gone. “Goodbye.”
Chapter Twelve
Araw emptiness in his chest, as though he’d somehow scraped his own heart out with a rusty spoon, Sten went home.
He knew he’d done the smart thing, to refuse her. It really couldn’t work with them. He was right to say no.
