Seduced The Unexpected Virgin - By Emily McKay Page 0,57
hide, but somehow couldn’t. Finally, he shook his head. His eyes were sad, his tone gentle. “I don’t believe it,” he said slowly. “But it’s pretty obvious to me that you do. Otherwise, you would have laughed it off. Or more likely, you would have socked me in the jaw.”
She pressed her lips in a compact line, blinking back tears that she refused to let him see. “So what was that? Some kind of test?”
“No. I was making a point.”
“Why would you say that to me? What kind of point would be so important you’d have to—”
But she broke off. If she wasn’t going to cry in front of him, then she damn well wasn’t going to tell him point-blank that he’d just skewered her emotionally.
Just when she least expected his tenderness—when she least wanted it—he gently cupped her chin and tilted it up, forcing her to meet his gaze.
“I said those things because I had to.” His tone was gentle. As sincere as she’d ever heard it. “You have it in you to be an incredible nonprofit director. But you have to get over your fear that the community will reject you if you reach out to them. You can do amazing things for Hannah’s Hope, but I won’t always be here to push you.”
His words sucked the air right out of her lungs. Actually, suffocating couldn’t have hurt more.
There it was. He’d all but announced his intention of leaving her. Now that they’d had sex, he was no longer interested in her. He was being as polite as he could about it, but it still hurt.
She’d known their relationship wouldn’t last forever. Known she’d never live up to Cara’s memory. But she’d never dreamed him leaving her would feel like this.
She pulled her gaze away from his. Focused her eyes on an obscenely cheerful blue-and-yellow tile behind him.
“Well, then,” she said. “I guess you have me all figured out. It’s good to know that your duties as a board member extend to psychoanalyzing the employees.”
“I didn’t say that as a board member.”
“Yeah, I knew that.” She forced herself to look him in the eye again. She wanted him to know that she’d gotten the message. He hadn’t said it as a board member, but as her boyfriend.
Or rather, not her boyfriend. But the guy she’d slept with the previous night. What was it he’d said a moment ago? He wanted to say this now because he wasn’t always going to be around to push her. Yeah. She got that. Good thing she hadn’t expected him to be around forever.
She just hadn’t expected the breakup to hurt this badly.
It was obvious from Ana’s expression that she didn’t want him touching her at all. Probably ever again.
“Okay, then,” she announced roughly. “As long as we’re putting it all out on the table and being completely honest, as long as we’re talking about what would be best for Hannah’s Hope, I don’t really think you’re stepping up and doing your part, either.”
He had not seen that coming. He’d heard the pain in her voice, but he still hadn’t expected her to lash out. “How’s that?”
“What about Rafe?” she asked sternly.
Her words were so unexpected, it took a second for them to register. “What about Rafe?”
She gave a shrug that was part false confidence, and part pure, ballsy anger. “You’re his friend. You can talk to him. Influence him.”
“Whatever influence you think I have over him,” he said slowly, “it doesn’t extend to business decisions. If he’s thinking of closing the factory, there’s not much I can do about that.”
“I’m not talking about the factory.” The water she’d been running in the sink had nearly reached the edge and she reached over to turn it off with a jerk of the handle. “I’m talking about his involvement with Hannah’s Hope. Or rather his complete lack of involvement.”
He stepped away from her, once again propping his hips against the counter. He kept his tone carefully blank. “What exactly do you expect me to do?”
She picked up one of those long-handled scrubbers that people used to wash their dishes. But instead of using it, she gestured with it. “For starters you can talk him into coming to the street fair on Saturday. No matter how many times I’ve called him, I can’t get him to commit to being there. But the people of this town need reassurances that only he can give them. They need to know that even if he dismantles Worth Industries