blinked back at her from his spot, leaning against the wall. ‘. . . Hi.’ He looked awkward.
It was several moments before she could even speak. How long had he been there? She hadn’t detected the pitch in sound, hadn’t seen the beam of light swing into the courtyard as the door opened.
‘What are you doing here?’ she demanded, but her voice was pale with shock, humiliation a fresh bloom that gathered again on her pale, cold cheeks. It was all she could think about, every time she saw him – his rejection, over and over again. Him walking out, leaving her.
‘I was invited.’
‘Not by me.’ Bart would be lucky to get away with just being fired tomorrow morning; now she was going to kill him. She could just imagine Jacintha’s delight at the invitation, telling her client it would be ‘good for his career’ to be seen here.
‘Liam asked me. I couldn’t get out of it. We’re going on afterwards, but he wants you and me to meet—’
She swallowed again but understood from his look that he hadn’t told their mutual friend they had already met. More than that.
How could this be happening? How hard could it be to avoid one man in a city of almost a million?
‘—which is how I came to be hiding out here. I figured I could pretend to him later that we’d talked. I didn’t expect you to . . .’
He didn’t finish the sentence. He didn’t need to. He hadn’t expected her to burst out here like a lunatic, trying to have a conversation with a person in a war zone on a satellite call.
A silence sprouted, unfurling its petals like a spring flower, and she became aware of how she held her body in his presence now, tense and stiff, her arms crossed like barriers, the easy manner of their very first meetings now long distant. She thought she saw something in him slacken.
‘Look, I had no idea it was going to be you photographing me on Monday. Jacintha had organized a car to pick me up and it brought me straight to the studio. I paid no attention, my mind wasn’t on it. I kept thinking about . . .’ He looked straight at her. ‘Well, you.’ He pushed himself away from the wall but she instinctively stepped back.
He saw the caution in her eyes and stopped where he was, a flicker of concern in his face. ‘Lee, I was going to call you. I was hoping we could talk.’
‘There’s nothing to say.’
‘I disagree.’
She felt his eyes catch her but she wriggled free again in the next instant, a worm off the hook. ‘I don’t want to see you again, Sam. It’s done.’
He straightened. ‘No. Nothing has been done, that was the point!’ He gave a mirthless laugh. ‘Jesus, do you really think I’d have left if I thought I was never going to see you again anyway?’
‘Why? Would you have stayed then? Taken what you could?’
He looked shocked by her provocation, her aggressive words. ‘Lee, I left because I saw how it was going to be with you and I wanted more than just a one-time thing. Is that such a bad thing?’ He gave her a bewildered look. ‘I feel like there’s something between us that could be good. And I think you think so too.’
She shook her head, flatly rejecting the idea. ‘I’ve been clear that’s not on offer with me. I don’t want a relationship. But if that’s what you’re after, then you’ll find plenty of other women on the other side of that door—’
‘I’m not interested in other women.’
‘Then that’s unfortunate, but I can’t help.’ Her voice was stony and cold, but as his stare lengthened, she was forced to look away. Her ribs felt rigid, her breathing shallow. Something about his gaze made her feel like a cornered animal, trapped, with nowhere to hide.
‘This isn’t you,’ he said after a moment.
She scoffed. ‘You don’t know me!’
‘Don’t I? I know what I saw when you were helping those kids in the hospital; I know what it means that you’ve taken those pictures of the women in there. I know how you were surprising your son on Sunday night. And that woman – big-hearted, loving, kind, compassionate – she wasn’t this one. Why are you so threatened by the idea of a relationship?’
‘I’m not.’
‘Really? So when was your last one, then?’
She felt her heart rate move up a gear. ‘I don’t need to answer your questions,’