‘Also?’
‘Nothing,’ Erin said quickly as her thoughts turned to her parents again and this time anxiety nudged past the rose-tinted memories.
‘In that case, let’s go ahead and establish a few boundaries right now. No more favours.’ He held up both hands in a light-hearted gesture but his blue eyes were steely. ‘I won’t be asking you to buy any flowers or jewellery or whatever else I’ve asked in the past. I will instruct any woman I date to refrain from making personal calls to my office. If anyone gets through, feel free to cut her off without explanation and you can simply tell me that there’s been a call. Likewise, there’s no need for you to make small talk if one of them happens to inadvertently stray into my office. That way, none of them will be encouraged to think that they have any kind of personal relationship with you. You can be what you’re paid to be in situations like that…namely, my very efficient gatekeeper.’
‘Raffaele, that’s not what I’ve been saying. Because I… I mentioned that—’
‘Let me finish,’ he interrupted coolly, ‘on another note and while we’re setting down boundary lines, you should refrain from making personal observations about my life choices when it comes to women. They’re not “those poor girls”…’
‘I didn’t mean—’
‘Oh, but I think you did, Erin. Don’t think I haven’t glimpsed a certain expression on your face when you haven’t seen me looking, an expression of disdain. Why do you think that the women I date are poor girls?’
‘Perhaps I used the wrong phraseology.’
‘They’re anything but poor girls. In fact, I’m a one-woman man and when I date a woman, she has one hundred percent of my focused attention. She has whatever she wants, money no object. You know that well enough because of the things you’ve booked, which I now discover you booked with simmering resentment.’
Erin could only look at him miserably, hating the horrible vibe between them, desperately wishing they could return to their familiar footing.
But things had to be said. She told herself this and swept aside her discomfort.
‘Okay,’ she agreed. ‘You won’t hear another word from me about what I think about your love life.’
‘I don’t use any of the women I date, Erin. It’s not a revolving door, as you put it, of tormented, discarded exes weeping into their hankies and thinking that their lives are over.’
‘I never said that!’
‘I’m not interested in commitment and I tell that to every single woman I date from the outset. I make it crystal clear that while I’ll enjoy them,enjoy us, for a while, it’s never going to last. Alexa was upset when we broke up but she knew from the outset that it wasn’t going to lead to a walk down the aisle, so guilty conscience? You couldn’t be further from the truth. Block her from communicating with you and I’ll contact her and repeat what I patiently told her four months ago when we started dating.’
‘Two and a half months ago.’
‘Come again?’
‘Nothing,’ Erin said quickly. His eyes were still flint hard. She loathed it. She took a deep breath and went for it.
‘I probably wouldn’t have mentioned anything about the texting, Raffaele, but…’ Erin hesitated because this would be the first time she’d ever said anything really personal to him and it felt as though she might be jumping off the edge of a precipice. Yes, she might tell him vaguely what she did on the weekend, share one or two details about a holiday she might have had, but that was where the sharing ended.
‘But…?’
‘I’ve been a little stressed lately.’ She lowered her eyes and felt her heart begin to thump. ‘It’s…it’s my dad…’
‘What about your dad?’ Raffaele looked at Erin’s downturned head, the glossy hair dropping in a heavy curtain to her shoulders. This was the first real awkwardness to ever crop up between them, which was amazing considering the length of time they’d been working alongside one another.
He knew that he could be a tough taskmaster but not once had he ever thought that she didn’t keep pace with him.
She’d opened a can of worms by telling him what she thought about his private life. Naturally he had had no choice but to pull up the drawbridge. He was as transparent as a pane of glass when it came to the world knowing what woman was on his arm, but judgement on how he conducted his private affairs? Out of bounds.
He certainly wouldn’t be lectured on commitment. It wasn’t on the table. Never. Not for him. From nowhere, he thought of his parents, a marriage that was a sham, a pretence that made him realise a long time ago that behind what passed for love between two people was often a very different reality underneath. And into that cold union, a child with wants and needs could get lost and forgotten.
He slammed shut the door on those uncomfortable thoughts. Erin could make her own decisions, but for him, safety lay in relationships that promised nothing.
Still, it was inexcusable that she have to contend with the fallout from a relationship gone wrong. He was also shocked at how much it cut to the core to have had this stupid spat with her.
He didn’t like to see that wounded look in the eyes of someone who was always so calm and cool and composed and efficient. He didn’t like to see the slump of her narrow shoulders.
She was about to confide in him and maybe, he mused with a spike of interest that he instinctively knew had always been there, the sound of a door slightly opening between them was a good thing…
It was bizarre that he didn’t have any insight at all into her personal life. He wasn’t asking for a ring side view of what she did and thought but a few details might not be a bad thing…
