boy, Michael, who was feeling better already when Daphne and I left because of the Tylenol the doctor gave him.
As the hotel elevator doors open and Daphne and I step out, a concierge approaches us.
“Mr. Durand, is there anything else we can do to make your guests more comfortable?”
“I think they’re good for now, but please look in on them in the morning,” I say.
A man in a suit approaches us, smiling from ear to ear.
“Mr. Durand, I’m Matthew Curtis, the manager here. Is there anything I can do for you or your guests?” he asks. “Perhaps a room for you tonight, or a drink?”
I look at Daphne. “Anything you want?”
“No, thanks.”
Several people stopped close by are taking pictures with their camera phones. Daphne releases my hand, and my good mood slips away. She doesn’t make anything easy when it comes to us.
“We’re good,” I tell Matthew. “But please take good care of our guests. They’ll be here for several nights.”
“Yes, sir. Consider it done. May we have our driver take you home?”
Ben dropped me off at Safe Harbor earlier, but I insisted he take the rest of the weekend off and told him I can either take an Uber or drive myself places.
“Is Alfred sending the Batmobile?” Daphne asks me, her expression dead serious.
“The Batmobile is in the shop,” I say wryly.
Matthew doesn’t react, but I’m sure he thinks we’re a few fries short of a Happy Meal.
“A ride would be great,” I tell him. “We’re going to Miss Barrington’s place near Wicker Park.”
“Well, I am,” she says.
“We both are.”
“Olivier.”
I turn to look at her. “Daphne.”
“I don’t think—”
I stop her. “I need your help filling out that check to the Southern Poverty Law Center. You’ll have to remind me how much to send them.”
She reluctantly turns her lips up in a smile.
“Olidaph!” someone calls out from the group of bystanders with camera phones. “Can I get a picture with you guys?”
We pose for a few photos and then Matthew tells the bystanders a car is waiting for us and he helps us get through the growing crowd of people to get to it. Once we’re alone in the back seat, Daphne sighs heavily and leans her head back.
“It’s not that I don’t like you,” she says softly. “You know I do.”
“I know. It’s that you’ve convinced yourself we wouldn’t work together.”
She stares me down with an aggravated glare. “My reasons are legitimate, Olivier. You’re used to getting your way, because if the answer is no, you just put enough money on the table to turn it into a yes.”
“Not all the time. If you’re talking about business, I walk away from deals all the time. More often than not. I don’t pour money into anything just to say I won. Everything has to line up.”
“Do you think everything lines up with us?” I can tell from her tone that she’s unsure about the answer to her question.
“I think everything that really matters is there, yes.”
“I don’t want a billionaire lifestyle, though. Or even a millionaire one. There are things like that—big things—that keep me from melting into your arms like I sometimes want to.”
Her admission makes me feel hopeful. I take her hand in mine.
“What if it ends up being worth it? There are lots of excuses for both of us. I’m not a broke poet and you’re on the rebound. You’re stubborn as hell and think it’s fun to befriend drug addicts while they’re high. People take photos of us everywhere we go. All that’s true, and yet…it doesn’t change the way I feel when I’m with you.”
Her eyes don’t leave mine. I feel her weighing my words, and finding herself unable to argue with me. Daphne is afraid to leap, and I know it’s not because I’m wealthy and it’s not because of her broken engagement. It’s because she’s scared.
I feel it, too. Daphne has the potential to wreck me. This isn’t just physical attraction, even though I feel that too—she’s the only woman I’ve ever known who makes me crazy in the best possible way.
I’ve never felt like this or taken personal risks this way before. The only thing I know for sure is that I don’t want to go back to a life without Daphne.
“I want to come in with you when we get to your place,” I say, our gazes still locked. “And if a check to a charity would make it easier for you to say yes, name the terms and it’s done.”
I