be right.” Ella has a twinkle in her eye, and she brushes her locks over her shoulder. I can’t help but stare at that bare neckline. Her shoulders are soft and smooth and all I want to do is run my fingers over her skin. Feel the lusciousness of her neck under my fingertips.
When I blink and meet her eyes, I realize that she has been staring at me too. What is she thinking about? I know there’s something on her mind. I can see it. Ella looks down at her plate, but I’ve seen a shadow of doubt in her eyes.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I ask.
“Talk about what?”
“Whatever’s on your mind. I can see something’s bothering you,” I say.
“No, really, it’s nothing.”
The evening is going so well so far, and I don’t want to do anything to ruin it.
“Do you want to tell me what your journey was about?” I ask.
“Journey?”
“Yeah, back in London that night, you said you wanted to be left alone because you wanted to go on this journey by yourself. You said there was no room for anyone else in your life.”
She blushes but nods.
“Yeah, I guess I was just trying to leave behind some elements of my past and move on.”
“Can we talk about it now?” I ask.
Ella leans on her elbows on the table. I can see she’s trying to decide what to do. She doesn’t have to tell me anything.
“It sounds silly, but it was over a guy. We’d been dating for a few months and things got pretty serious.”
I should have known. Somebody had hurt her.
But now she is here, with me, and I want to take care of her if she lets me.
“And then you broke up? Did he dump you?”
“Not exactly. He wanted to stay in the relationship but suggested some rules and terms I wasn’t comfortable with.”
“Rules?”
“Yeah.”
She knows I’m going to glare at her all evening if she doesn’t tell me now.
“He wanted us to have an open relationship. See other people.”
“What?”
“Yeah, which, I guess would have been okay if it was the start of a new relationship. But I thought we were going somewhere. It was serious. My family and I were all expecting a proposal.”
I put down my glass of wine and stare at her in surprise.
“What a dick!”
She gives me a half-smile and shakes her head.
“That’s the thing, he was never a bad guy; he was a great boyfriend, and just when I thought we could start settling down, he suggested this.”
“I’m glad you walked away.”
“I had no other choice. I know I am not cut out for a relationship like that. I guess loyalty is pretty important to me.”
She shies away from me, fluttering her eyelids, and I want to reach for her again, hold her hand in mine.
“Yes, loyalty is pretty important to me too.”
“Europe helped. You helped,” she said with a short laugh.
“I’m glad I could be of some service to you.”
We are smiling at each other again. Her cheeks are flushed and I can imagine why—this must be a difficult thing for her to talk about.
“So I just needed some space and time alone. Male-free,” she adds.
“Yeah, I get it. But the universe has a way of working itself around. Now you’re here, and this could be our second chance,” I say.
“Second chance at what?” she asks. Now she’s sitting up straight in her chair, looking at me intently.
“Second chance at giving us a shot.”
“Us?”
“Being together,” I admit. I hadn’t prepared this speech; the words are just flushing out of me and I’m starting to lose track.
“You want us to be together?”
“Don’t you?”
“As in, in a relationship?”
“I want you, Ella; isn’t that simple enough for you to understand?” I insist. Probably a little too harshly.
She gulps, and I realize I’ve said the wrong thing. After her ex, she wants honesty and clarity. The last thing she needs is a man trying to push her into doing something she doesn’t want to do.
“Yeah, I understand perfectly. You’re like every other man: you want me in your bed tonight just because I’m available and vulnerable and opened myself up to you,” she hisses and stands up from her chair. She has thrown her napkin to the floor and is now proceeding to walk out of the restaurant.
I know I have to go after her. This time I’m not just letting her walk away.
Ella hasn’t gone far. She’s just at the side of the road waiting to hail a cab. It