He bowed his head. ‘I’m afraid there’s … someone else.’
This she hadn’t expected, and instantly she felt her hackles rise.
‘Someone else? You’re telling me you already have a girlfriend? And you’re telling menow– after all this time?’ Annie was incensed. ‘Don’t you think you should have mentioned something before?’
‘I know … and it’s been great,’ he replied. ‘But maybe things have started to get a little out of hand.’
‘A little out of hand?! It’s not as if we just had the odd drunken fumbling one-night stand. We’ve spent the best part of the last two weeks together and now you’re telling me you’re already taken. What kind of an arsehole are you?’
‘It’s nothing like that,’ he replied quickly. ‘Believe me, please. It’s not that. I don’t have a girlfriend, Annie, honestly.’
‘Then what is it? If you don’t have a girlfriend, then what’s the problem?’
‘It’s just … I’ve met someone else.’ His voice was soft and his eyes couldn’t look at her face.
‘Someone else – here in Italy?’
Now Annie felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her. This she didn’t expectat all. So he wasn’t cheating on some poor girl from back home. He’d taken up with another one here.
While screwing her at the same time.
‘Yes,’ he confessed. ‘Believe me, it wasn’t intentional, just a chance encounter, really, but I haven’t been able to get her out of my head.’
‘A chance encounter? You make it sound like something from a romantic movie,’ she spat. ‘So you’ve spent all this time with me, romancing and shaggingme, then you meet this other girl and suddenly,bam! Just like that, everything changed?’
‘Something like that. I didn’t expect it to, but it did. I’m sorry, Annie, like I said, it was completely unexpected, out of my control. Her spirit is just so bright and lovely that you can’t help but fall for it—’
Annie sucked in a jagged breath. ‘You love this girl?’
His eyes fluttered nervously, but he couldn’t look at her. She studied his face. He looked truly penitent.
She’d never seen that before. Every time she’d been dumped or blown off, the expression on the guy’s face was nonchalant – that’s if he bothered to tell her at all. Whereas Harry’s face now was full of regret and confusion, and somehow that hurt even more.
‘Answer me,’ she urged.
‘It’s too early to know,’ he finally replied. His eyes returned to hers. ‘But perhaps … I could.’
There was no holding back the rage now. ‘So what about me?’ she spat. ‘What about us? What now?’
‘Annie, please believe me when I tell you I never meant any of this. When I met you that first night, I thought you so vibrant and alive; it was like a shot of something electric in my veins, and I’ve loved the time we’ve spent together. I really care about you.’
He was breaking her heart while telling her how much he cared? It made no sense to Annie. His kindness in disappointing her was a million times worse than the harshness she’d received all the times before.
‘Obviously it wasn’t enough,’ she answered bitterly. He didn’t reply. ‘Not enough to compete with whatever this other girl could give you, anyway.’
‘She hasn’t given me anything. It’s not like that. I didn’t sleep with her, if that’s what you’re getting at.’
‘No, you just slept with me. Multiple times. And now you’re just casting me aside because something better’s caught your eye.’
He didn’t even try to deny that. ‘I’m sorry. I don’t even know her that well, to be honest. But there’s something there, I’m certain of it. And for that reason alone, I have to be honest with you. I couldn’t live with myself otherwise. I think you know that I’m not the kind of guy to mess people around, or at least, I hope you do.’
‘Damn you, Harry,’ Annie cried as she marched away down the beach. That was part of the problem. She did know he wasn’t that kind of guy. And because of that, because she knew he was different, she’d purposely held back, treaded carefully, protecting her heart.
And then, just when she’d let her guard down, he’d sucker-punched her.
‘Annie, wait – hold on,’ he called out, hurrying after her as she raced back up the steps. ‘That’s another thing I wanted to tell you. My name’s not actually Harry – it’s just what the guys have always called me because of my surname. A nickname.’
She didn’t bother to stop walking. What was the point?
