“Fine. I’m going. Since it’s near dinnertime, why don’t we just meet tomorrow. Isabelle, you can text me when you’re ready to work on the club.”
The club. The reason I thought I’d been summoned here. The reminder brought the real world crashing back.
I waited for Lucy to disappear before sitting up in bed. “This really was a setup. Invite me here to work on the club as a pretext to getting me into bed. I told Lucy I didn’t have the experience, but she assured me I could handle it. I knew you’d had a hand in it, but I didn’t think…” I shook my head. “Never mind. I’ll see if Joely can bring me back to Miami first thing in the morning.”
His hand gripped mine. “Did I set you up to come here to meet me? Yes. Because you wouldn’t have come otherwise.”
I shook my head, biting down on my lower lip. “I needed the time apart,” I said. “It was the only way to get through each day and build myself into a worthy woman. Instead of respecting that, you set up a way to get me a job.”
“You’re wrong about one thing. You were always a worthy woman. Worthy of a lot more than the hand you were dealt. Success is all about who you know and what you make of the opportunity.”
“You and Lucy are drinking the same Kool-Aid.”
He cupped the back of my head in his hand, subtly controlling my ability to move. My body responded as if we hadn’t just made love … had sex. An insistent throb began low in my belly. I didn’t recognize the woman whose sexual need was so strong, who wanted … so much.
“The fact is, I gave you as much time as I could take. Patience is not my strong suit in general. When it comes to you? It’s nonexistent,” he said, his voice a guttural rumble.
“You let me go so easily. I thought you’d forgotten me.” I blinked up at him. “And before you say it, I know. It’s a contradiction to think that way considering I’m the one who walked out on you.”
His perpetually stormy eyes darkened further. “I gave you what you wanted—what you needed—for as long as I could. I always will. But make no mistake. You were never alone.”
Whatever he meant by that, I wasn’t sure I needed specifics. I’d always sensed that if something went wrong, Gabe would be there. He wouldn’t have let me fall. He’d provided an inherent safety net I hadn’t known about, and that was the key. I. Hadn’t. Known. I’d been on my own.
But the truth of this trip settled over me, dulling the good feelings. “So the job? I can’t imagine Lucy really needs me. She’s put together every club you already own.” So why had I come here?
He shook his head. “Lucy’s in charge of the décor in the clubs. She looked at the portfolio of the things you’ve done with Lisa, and along with my recommendation, she wanted to give you a chance.”
I blinked. “The opportunity is real?” I asked warily.
“As real as you want it to be.”
“In other words, if I want to come back home with you and play house, you’d prefer it.”
“Not prefer. I want whatever makes you happy.”
Lance had said the same thing, and yet slowly, subtly, he’d taken away everything I’d ever loved.
I realized he’d pulled me into his arms, and I was wrapped in him, just the way he liked things. I felt so safe, so wanted. How, when he’d manipulated the situation to get me here? My heart and my sense of self-worth warred with each other.
“I want you happy, but make no mistake. I want you with me. And this time? You aren’t going to disappear.”
I shook my head. “You’re playing me, and I don’t like it. So don’t ask me to make any promises about the future.”
He exhaled hard, and a few uncomfortable moments passed. “Then make a promise for now. Stay with me on Eden.”
I didn’t know how long he meant or what he intended for us while we were here. I did know that despite the circumstances, I wanted to decorate that club as much as I wanted this time with him. Standing on my own two feet had felt great—but I felt even better here in Gabe’s arms.
I didn’t trust that he’d allow me the freedom I needed to be me in the real world. And that scared me as much as leaving him did.
Still, I managed a nod. I wasn’t going anywhere. For the moment.
“Are you hungry?” he asked.
“I worked up an appetite,” I said, somewhat cheekily. After all, my body still hummed with aftershocks of pleasure, and I was deliciously sore.
He groaned and pulled me into a long kiss. We didn’t eat or think about food for a long, long while.
* * *