Page 46 of Seasons of Sin

“I googled you,” she mumbled, squeezing her eyes shut on the admission.

“You googled me?” His response rang with icy distaste.

It spurred her to defensiveness. “I needed to talk to you and I only realized once I got home that I didn’t even have your number.”

“No,” he drawled, hardening his heart.

“But you’re a … you’re a … person of public interest, I guess. There were photos of you here. At this apartment.” She squeezed her eyes shut again and fidgeted her hands behind her back. “Once I knew you were working from your Athens office I guessed you’d come home eventually.”I just hadn’t realized you wouldn’t be alone.

“Like some kind of Macgyver?”

She might have laughed if her feelings weren’t so completely tangled.

“What do you want, Mrs Arana?”

Another sob clawed at her throat. Her eyes moved beyond Thaddeus to the glamorous woman still on the opposite side of the street, watching with undisguised interest. Saphire’s cheeks burned.

“Can we speak privately?” She asked self-consciously.

He followed her gaze and then turned back to Saphire, his expression one of unconcealed impatience. “I’m on a date.”

It was like a knife stabbing through her heart. “Why are you being such a bastard?” She murmured, anguish obvious in her features.

“Why do you care so much?” He retorted. “You are married, remember? What difference does it make to you who I am screwing when you have your husband to keep you warm?” He leaned closer, his face only inches from her. “Tell me, Saphire, what did he think of my name on your back?”

“I didn’t … we didn’t …” She rubbed her fingertips against her temples. “It’s not like that. It’s not like I was going to go back and act as though everything was normal.”

Thaddeus felt a swelling of satisfaction at the hints she was dropping. “You haven’t slept with him,” he prompted, suddenly desperate for clarification.

“I don’t know if that’s any of your business,” she whispered, her eyes again moving betrayingly to his date.

“Fine. Have it your way. It’s none of my business. So why are you waiting outside my apartment in the middle of the night?”

“I thought we should talk,” she said, so softly he barely caught the words.

“We already have.” He pulled away from her and stuffed his hands in his pocket. His body language spoke of a finality that chilled her.

“Is this really over for you, Thaddeus?”

He shook his head in frustration. “Of course it is, Saphire. Over as if it had never begun. Do not torment yourself looking for something I am not willing to offer.”

She swallowed; her throat felt coated in acid. “I thought we were in love,” she whispered shakily, her eyes beseeching.

“Love?” He laughed angrily. “You are married. You used me to fix your marriage. You used me then went back to your husband.”

“I didn’t use you,” she promised urgently.

Thaddeus cast a glance over his shoulder and waved at his date. “I do not have time for this now.”

Stones dropped inside of Saphire’s heart. “It’s important.”

“No.” He breathed out impatiently so that his nostrils flared. “If it had been important you would have stayed.”

“I couldn’t,” she sobbed. “I had to go back.”

“Fine.” He shrugged. “And you made that choice. So live with it.”

“Please,” she raised her voice; it shook with emotion. “I love you.”