Page 27 of Reveal

“Maybe if you’d stop being so stubborn, we could—”

“We could what? Pick up where we left off? I find that a hard pill to swallow, Mr. Lockhart.”

He shakes his head ever so slightly and just stares at me for the longest of moments. Each of us tries to decide what we want out of this conversation and if it’s possible to achieve it in the midst of a room full of people.

I don’t know the answer to that question. I thought I did . . . but seeing him here, having him near, I hate that my need to forgive him despite the things he did is gaining strength.

“I miss you.” His voice almost breaks, and so does my resolve at the sound of it.

“That doesn’t fix things.”

“Then what does?”

“I don’t know.” It’s the most honest thing I’ve said, and I wish I knew the answer myself.

“Do you know anything about patching drywall?” he asks, throwing me so off kilter that a surprised laugh falls from my lips.

“What . . . ?” And before I can even ask what he means, the woman who walks up to him and slides a hand around his biceps in a clear stake of ownership has the question dying on my tongue.

And snapping closed the damn lock around my heart.

“Excuse us.” She smiles at me briefly before turning her attention solely to Ryker. “You have some people who want to meet you, Ryk.”

She’s the complete antithesis of me. Tanned skin, jet-black hair in a pixie cut that perfectly accents her cheekbones, and green eyes framed with long lashes. Where I’m average in height, she’s almost as tall as Ryker in her heels.

His jaw may clench and his eyes may still burn into mine, but Ryker makes no attempt to tell her he’s currently occupied or to shake her hand off him.

“I can see you’re busy,” I say before turning on my heel and walking in the opposite direction with tears burning in my eyes and his murmured lies repeating in my ears.

My chest burns, and I feel like I stumble aimlessly until I find a set of doors that lead to an outside terrace. It’s done in all stone with ivy climbing up the walls and a view of the city beyond, but all I can think of when the fresh air hits my lungs is that I can finally breathe.

With my hands braced on the railing in front of me, I close my eyes for a beat to collect myself.

And of course, when I do and finally look up, Ryker is standing beside me.

“Stop referring clients to me.” I say the words in a huff, and they’re nowhere near the things I want to say, but they fall out nonetheless.

Good, Vaughn. Fricking perfect.

“Okay.” He draws the word out and just stares at me with expectation in his stance and a plethora of emotions in his eyes.

“I don’t need your pity, and I sure as hell don’t want to owe you anything because you’re referring people my way. It might assuage your own guilt for doing what you did to me, but it doesn’t fix a single thing on my end.”

“I wasn’t aware that’s what I was doing.”

“Pretty damn obvious to me. Fifteen new clients calling out of the blue? All given my number by you? Really?”

“Giving business referrals to clients of mine is just that, a referral. It’s part of the reason you took me on in the first place. I won’t apologize for that.”

“Good.” I snap the word out, knowing I’m throwing the whole kitchen sink at him and that I just agreed with him when seconds before I was arguing the opposing side of it.

“Good,” he says, and I detest the amusement that laces his voice and ghosts in the curve of his smile.

I hate that I almost smile in response, that he can come out here and think he can charm me with his patience so that I forget what he did and how quickly he found another to take my place.

“You sure move on fast.”

He grits his teeth, and I can see him fighting back the urge to shake some sense into me. “She’s the president of the charity’s daughter.”