Paige turned to face him. “I hear what you’re saying, but . . .”
A rumble of thunder cracked the sky. Andrew looked out over the water and noticed the wall of clouds building in the distance. He’d read there might be a storm, but hadn’t paid the weatherman any mind. Especially since they’d forecasted storms for the last few days that had never happened.
She turned to watch the lake as well, and he inched closer to her. “Storm’s coming,” she whispered. “It looks like a bad one.”
“It does,” he agreed.
“I need to close the windows.” Without another word, she left him standing on the porch.
Andrew waited there, turning over the conversation in his head again and again. The first drop of rain fell about ten minutes later, and he ventured back into the house.
Paige breezed past him toward the sunroom. Several minutes later, she walked by him again. The third time, he gently grabbed her arm to stop her retreat from him. Because he didn’t want to watch her walk away from him again.
“Are we going to finish this?” he asked.
She wrenched her arm from his grasp. “We’re done.”
“We’re not done.”
“Andrew”—she blew out a hard breath—“I don’t have it in me to have this conversation. I heard what you said. I’m done.”
“So that’s it?”
“Yes.” She smacked her hands against her thighs. “Thank you for explaining, but it’s not good enough.”
“You asked for the truth.” He inched forward. She retreated backward. “I told you the truth. I gave you my reasons for stepping back. In hindsight, I can agree it wasn’t the best decision. But I did it for the right reasons.”
Except he’d yet to disclose the rest. It was one thing to distance himself from her for noble reasons. If that had been all it was, it might have been easier to explain at the time. But there was more . . . More reasons, more confusion, more of everything.
Andrew couldn’t stand to watch Paige with Julius because he wanted Paige to be withhim. It wasn’t a new feeling. It wasn’t something that had just snuck up on him. It had been building for years, through shared experiences and quality time, through victories and trials. It had been all-encompassing and unconditional. It covered everything, faults and all. And it had scared the hell out of him, because he shouldn’t have felt anything even close to that for her. He’d been trusted to handle her career, to guide her. What had blossomed between them wasn’t supposed to be part of the plan. But it had happened. And he couldn’t tell her. Not now. Not like this.
“Your reasons suck,” she told him. “You basically confessed to leaving me in the lurch because you couldn’t control your temper.”
When she said it like that, it did make him sound like a selfish asshole. “That’s not . . .”Truedied on his lips, because that’s exactly what his explanation sounded like.
“Just stop.” She shook her hands in frustration. “If that’s your reason, fine. But I’m not about to keep letting people hurt me time and time again.” She rose her chin and squared her shoulders. “I’m not that woman anymore. I’m not going tobethat woman ever again—for any man, not even for you. So thanks for coming to check on me, but I’m good.”
Another roll of thunder pierced the air and the sky lit up as lightning flashed in the distance. Rain fell, hard against the house.
“I better go,” he said, after a moment of silence. “I should probably hit the road back to Detroit.”
“Don’t do that,” she said. “I have plenty of rooms here. You can stay tonight, but you need to leave in the morning.” Paige asked him to follow her, and he did as he was told. She led him up the stairs to a spare bedroom. Andrew looked around the room. The queen-size bed took up most of the room, but there was a television, a bedside table, and a large window. She pointed to the en-suite bathroom. “Everything you need is there. Towels, soap, and an extra toothbrush.”
“I have those things in my car,” he told her. They both stared at the bed for a long minute. He’d never been in a “bedroom” with her before. “I should go get my bag out of my car.”
She nodded. “Okay. Sounds like a plan. I’ll grab the sheets out of the dryer.” She hurried out of the room.
Andrew ran out to his car and pulled his bag out of the trunk. By the time he made it back up the house, he was drenched. Shaking himself off, he cursed the erratic and unpredictable Michigan weather. Once he entered the house, he kicked his shoes off and made his way up the stairs. The spare room was empty, so he peeled his wet shirt off.
A throat cleared behind him, and he froze. Turning slowly, he smiled. “Um . . .” He scratched his temple. “It’s coming down pretty hard out there,” he offered lamely.
Paige stepped forward, pausing in the doorway for a moment before she entered the room. Her gaze dropped from his face to his chest. “Yes,” she said, her voice slightly shaky. “I turned on the news. Supposed to get worse.”
“I’m not surprised.”
“Here.” Paige handed him the sheets, jerking away from him when their hands touched. “I’ll be right back.”
“Thanks.” He stared at the doorway for a while after she’d left. It was an innocent touch, just a slight brush of skin, but it felt like more. Because that one touch had lit his body up like a live wire, awakening something in him that had been dormant for quite some time.
