I shifted my weight from one foot to the other as Ciro stared at me, with a look of determination to get what he wanted. I hated how he unnerved me and how my body reacted with want and need.
“Do you have a boyfriend? Is there a man in your life who took my place?”
“Your place?” I scoffed, shaking my head. “How can you say that? You didn’t want a place in my life.”
“Is there? Has he been a father to my daughter?” Ciro’s nostrils flared. I didn’t want to torment him. Finding out he had a daughter couldn’t have been easy for the man who didn’t want children. Strangely, he didn’t seem furious anymore. Maybe he didn’t want her and was only curious about her.
“No. There’s no one.” Pippa and I had no one.
“I’m relieved.” He exhaled a deep breath. “I won’t have to fight another man for you.” He winked, bringing the charm back. His cocky bravado infuriated me.
“I’m not a prize to be won.”
“I know you’re not,” he calmly replied.
“No, you don’t. You’re still so damn arrogant. Cocky. Self-serving. Everything is always about what you want.”
“It’s not like that.”
“Sure, it is.” I paused for a second then continued. “You can’t just show up and take what you want. You can’t seduce me with your charm and make me fall back into bed with you.”
“I’m up for the challenge.” He gave me a wicked smile, that got my juices flowing.
“It’s never going to happen.”
“Yes, it will.”
I took a step back and prepared to bolt out the door. “Listen to you. You don’t give a damn about what I want.”
“I’m sorry. For everything.” His eyes softened. I almost believed he meant it.Almost.
“I don’t care. What about Pippa?”
“Why are you acting like this?” He stood. Genuine confusion flickered in his eyes. “You left me. You kept my daughter fromme. I should be furious with you. But I’mtrying to be rational. Calm. And you’re acting like I destroyed you.”
“You did destroy me. You broke my heart when you didn’t want me,” I shot back. “You sure as hell didn’t want kids. So please just leave us alone.”
“Goddammit, Isla!” Ciro charged toward me and gripped my shoulders, faster than I could run away from him. “I’m fucking sorry for everything! But I did lo… lo?—”
“Don’t say another word.” I jerked myself out of his grasp and spilled coffee on the floor. “Shit,” I hissed and went to retrieve a paper towel.
If he thought telling me he loved me after all this time would make up for the thousands of lost opportunities before, he had another thing coming.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t what you needed at the time. I was scared.”
“Pippa… She’s all we’re going to talk about,” I said, soaking up the coffee from the carpet. Luckily it was already brown.
“You can’t avoid us.”
“Oh yes, I can.” I went to toss the paper towel into the trash. “I’m going to finish getting ready, then we’ll go see her.”
“We need to talk,” he growled.
“We’ll talk in the car.”
“Jesus, Isla,” he hissed, brushing his fingers through his wavy hair. “This isn’t what I expected.”
“Well, it’s a good thing you can return to your perfect, uncomplicated life tomorrow.”
