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The man beside her was Drake Morrison. Tall, dark, and handsome like Damen, but the similarities ended there. He was not a seductive and silently brooding Mediterranean. He was not a powerful and arrogant billionaire. And he was, most importantly, not a man who made Mairi think he loved her back, only to break her heart over and over again.
The man beside her was not quiet and observant, his friendly charm something she now knew he effectively used to conceal the darkness inside him, the danger that he represented. He was a man who could kill with his bare hands, but for some reason that fact didn’t scare her. Maybe because she was already dead when they met, and Drake was the one who had brought her back to life.
She whispered, “Last night...”
“...will not be repeated unless you want it to happen again.”
It was her choice, always her choice, she thought painfully. It was her choice if she wanted to prove to herself that she would no longer be the same stupid girl who would let Damen sweep her into his arms every time he came back to her side and tell her he was sorry.
Because he would always be sorry.
She understood that now.
He would always love her, always want and need her, but somehow he could not find it in himself to trust her, and love without trust –
It was nothing.
“Mairi?”
She blinked, not realizing that so much time had passed. Most of the passengers had already exited the plane. Drake was on his feet and he was offering her his hand.
Slowly, she took it. His hand was large, making her feel small as her hand was engulfed in his hold. His touch was hot, protective, but there was also no denying the intense awareness that blossomed from their entwined fingers. His touch told her he wanted her still, but it was her choice. It would always be her choice.
They didn’t speak as they walked past immigration and she only nodded when he told her to wait while he got their luggage.
The one small part of Drake that had a conscience told him he was being too hard on Mairi. He was almost a hundred percent sure of how today would play out, and yet here he was, leaving her alone. He stopped midstride, slowly turning around to look at Mairi.
She was a solitary figure in the crowd, her sadness making her pretty face become hauntingly beautiful. The whole time he had spent with her, she had not shed a single tear. It should have made her seem strong, but somehow it only made her look frailer in his eyes – like she was now a vessel of tears, and they were all just waiting for what would make that vessel crack and allow the tears to flood out.
As Mairi waited for Drake to come back with their luggage, she kept her mind blank – it was all she could do not to break down. It was only now that she was beginning to realize that she had really gone and left her haven in Rhode Island, and that she had to face the realities of her life.
The whole world thought of her as Damen Leventis’ gold-digging lover, and soon they would know that Damen believed the same thing, so much so that he had thrown her out in the cold of the night.
She inhaled sharply, the rush of tears in her throat making her want to cry out. For a second, everything was completely black. She was no longer at the airport, no longer one person in a crowd of thousands. For that one second, she was drowning in pain—-
“You’re really here.”
That voice.
It lassoed Mairi out of her world of pain and she shook her head, wondering if she had mistakenly heard that voice.
She looked up.
No.